Three Sons. One Exit. No Regrets: Lesa Milan on Life After 'The Real Housewives of Dubai'

Lesa Milan is enjoying the quiet life.

Away from Bravo’s cameras and living in the United Arab Emirates, she spends her days crafting a picture-perfect life for her family instead of fighting over lavish dinners that never get eaten amid the drama on The Real Housewives of Dubai. 

But does she miss the mess? 

“I don't,” Milan told THE BLACK SNOB. “I think it's because my real life is so busy.”

Picture perfect

Milan admits she’s a bit of a perfectionist (“To my own detriment!”), but without the reality TV edit, she gets to fully control how her life is presented.

“Even though everything that happened was not scripted, it's still very heavily edited,” Milan said of her time on Real Housewives of Dubai. “I think (the viewers) got to see me, but not like … me. I think I would need my own show for you to see me.”

And what would they see? A life that, at times, appears picture-perfect.

“Life would be easier if I just didn't care,” Milan said. “I give my kids 150% of me, each of them, which is why I told my husband, ‘Don't even ask me to go again for a girl, because I don't think I can stretch myself anymore.’ A simple photo: I'll stare at it for 50 minutes and then decide I hate it. The hair was out of place.”

And while striving for perfection may sound exhausting or demanding for others, Milan says, “I actually thrive on it,” admitting she will walk into a room and, on purpose, look for something to make perfect. “It doesn’t exhaust me,” she said. “I look for it.”

But Milan doesn’t do “perfection” alone. She delegates.

“There's only one of me, and I only have two hands,” Milan said, adding flatly, “I do not clean my house. I told my husband that if I'm going to be a full-time, hands-on mom, that's non-negotiable … I'm not ashamed to say, ‘Come on, Molly Maids.’ That's how I get things done.”

Milan knows her limits, including how, even as a perfectionist, she’s not “great at everything.” In her business, she hires an agency to handle her online promo work, as “YouTube tutorials will only get me so far.”

But she draws a line when it comes to her kitchen.

“I do love to cook, though,” she said, adding, “I'm Jamaican, too. We don't want nobody cooking for our husbands.”

A quiet life for 'a woman for the world’

Milan got into the reality game early on BET’s College Hill, but she isn’t sure she always left the best impression back then. 

“The Lesa from College Hill was a little spoiled,” she said. “Who I am today is, what's the word—’a woman for the world.’”

And that world is very busy.

The Mina Roe founder isn’t sure reality TV would fit in her life today, as she is dedicated to her family, specifically her three growing boys, now 7, 10, and 12. 

“I have a pre-teen,” Milan said, laughing. “He's going through all the hormonal changes, where one minute he's angry, and the next minute he's something else, and I'm going to my baby app that still gives me updates, like, what do I do now?”

All of her sons are into athletics: the older two, Maximilian and Sebastian, play semi-pro soccer, training five days a week with weekly matches, while the youngest, Christian, is a golfer. And when they’re not in sports, they have music and Spanish lessons. 

Milan finds herself in full-time “momager” mode. But life now is “peaceful.”

“I had a very quiet life before (Bravo),” said Milan. “Quiet in the sense that it's not in the spotlight, but super busy.”

Looking back at The Real Housewives of Dubai

Since the show was famously put “on pause,” Milan has stayed in touch with many of her former castmates, specifically Caroline Brooks, who she believes got a bad edit on the show.

“She cracks me up,” Milan said. “If anyone deserves her own show to show who she truly is, it's her, because she's such a good time.”

Milan said Brooks often came across as “angrier” on the show than she actually is.

“We bump heads sometimes because her mouth is reckless, but I love that,” Milan said. “What you see is what you get.”

As for the rest of the cast, she’s “friendly” with them, “and if we see each other in public, we say hi and bye.”

Bravo putting diversity on pause? Milan thinks not

Dubai was one of the few Real Housewives casts that were truly diverse with women from many different ethnic backgrounds, and it, like The Real Housewives of Miami, is no longer on air. Some viewers have criticized the network’s decision to “pause” these shows, accusing executives of not supporting Bravo shows with diverse casts.

But Milan has a different perspective on her show’s cancellation.

“It's a budget thing more than anything,” Milan said. “People don't realize it's a business, and if a franchise isn't bringing in enough advertisers to pay the bills, they have to pause it. It's a numbers game. Look at Salt Lake City. They keep repeating it because the viewership is high, advertisers want to advertise, and it pays the bills.

“Dubai was very expensive to film. Bravo flew over its own production team and housed them there for three months. If they're not getting a return on their investment, they're not going to renew,” Milan said. “Do I see it coming back? It would take a lot, especially with what's going on. I think Bravo loved us. I think the fans loved us. I just don't think, from a numbers perspective, it made them much.”

The real world of reality TV

But Milan still enjoys watching Real Housewives from afar. Among her favs? The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s newest breakout star, Angela Oakley, who she says is playing the game the best.

“She's one of my favorite new Housewives,” Milan said. “She's quick on her feet, and it's not premeditated. I love that old-school, quick-with-it energy.”

She also praised Oakley for quickly monetizing her brand.

“When you're put on a platform, the question is, besides showing up on camera, how are you monetizing this? The Fangela was the perfect first product for her to launch,” Milan said.

But would Milan ever do reality TV again? The former BET’s College Hill star says maybe. 

“I can go on TV anytime,” she said. “If it’s not tomorrow, it's in five years when Max (her son) is a legal adult. I won’t get those five years back (if I’m doing TV).”

A life abroad, beyond the cameras

What’s keeping Milan busy beyond her family? She sold her clothing and skincare brand, Mina Roe, this summer, but still runs the foundation it's based on. The foundation provides aid to pregnant women in less fortunate places. (“Besides being a mom, it’s some of my best work.”) She has also launched an online series about fashion and the business behind it. 

“(It’s) everything I've learned over the last 17 years in the industry,” she said. 

And since the conflict broke out in the Middle East between the United States, Israel, and Iran, she has spent more time at home in Miami with relatives, only recently returning her family to Dubai. 

“The Dubai government has handled it so well,” Milan said. “It brings me back to when COVID happened. The UAE was one of the first places to open, and our kids were back in school while everybody else was in lockdown, because they really know how to handle a crisis.”

Of the war, Milan admits it’s been scary, but that the Emirates “have honestly handled it so well. I feel really safe. I don't know if I'm back forever, but I felt like I was ready for routine. My kids are not ready to move, so let's give Dubai another shot.”

While Milan doesn’t know if she’ll always live in Dubai, she’s glad she took a risk on living abroad.

“If you want to grow up and experience life for real, move outside of your comfort zone,” she said. “I promise you'll become a completely different person, for the better. I do miss living near family, but I wouldn't change it.”