Michaele/Tareq Talk To Marie Claire

Excerpt from Marie Claire.

By Samantha Marshall
Accused of crashing a splashy White House party last November, Michaele Salahi and her husband were totally lambasted, along with social secretary Desirée Rogers, who was eased out a few months later. Now Mrs. Salahi is back in the spotlight, starring in Bravo’s The Real Housewives of D.C. We met up with her to discuss the scandal and the fallout, with her husband, Tareq, by her side.


Marie Claire: Everyone knows about the scandal, but no one knows much about you.

Michaele Salahi: I am someone who loves people. I am a people pleaser. I just want to get along. I love to have a great time. I’ve often been called “the D.C. Barbie” and I think that’s a compliment. I love Barbie! I also have a heart — I care about all kinds of causes. There’s a long list of charitable organizations that I’ve been very involved with over the last 10 years.

MC:: Where are you from?

MS: I grew up in Florida. Tareq grew up near D.C. His family’s winery is in Hume, Virginia. We met through a mutual best friend, and in 2001 I moved to the winery. We were married in 2003.

MC: I’d read there were issues at the winery.

Photo Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Tareq Salahi: I would describe the situation as a Falcon Crest war. We’ve had this ongoing family drama over control of the winery since my father became ill. My mother wants to liquidate and tear the winery apart. My dad’s vision is to keep the family legacy going; I’ve been trying to honor that. We’re planning a grand reopening, after being closed this summer for reorganization.

MS: Arguments with family members and things like that happen. Unfortunately, this had to play out in the press. It is what it is, but I told him, “Don’t be hurt, every family has its pain — it’s just that yours is more visible.”

MC: Michaele, what did you do before you met Tareq?
MS: I started as an Absolut Vodka model in the ’90s. I was attending college at the time. Then I was a makeup artist for Trish McEvoy in D.C.

MC: How did you get labeled a socialite?
MS: I got the social butterfly label because I was active on the social scene and doing it in a way that had style, or so I was told. I would wear different outfits that people liked. And that’s why the Housewives show reached out to me.

MC: You were filming the show before the White House incident in November?
MS: Yes, the filming first started last September.

MC: What really happened at the White House? Were you invited guests or not?
MS: Michele Jones, the Pentagon-based liaison to the White House, had extended the invitation with an e-mail requesting our Social Security numbers and dates of birth, to be cleared for the event. We’d met her through our attorney when she spoke on the D.C. mall in September. There are so many events you’ve probably attended where you don’t go with the actual printed invitation — I didn’t go thinking I was chancing it. No one goes with a film crew to be turned away. How embarrassing would that have been? And we were announced!

For the rest of our exclusive interview with Michaele Salahi pick up the September 2010 issue of Marie Claire on newsstands August 10th!