Exclusive Interview
‘Ladies of London’s Margo Stilley Gives Mark-Francis Feud Update After Finale (VIDEO)
What To Know
- Margo Stilley and castmate Mark-Francis Vandelli were at odds in Ladies of London: The New Reign.
- She spoke with Swooon about her feud with Mark-Francis, her undiagnosed health issues, and more.
- The season finale of the Bravo series aired on April 30.
As if international affairs weren’t already tense in the real world, the reality TV world went and gave us the nastiest battle between the U.S. and Britain since the Redcoats. And all over (checks notes)…clothes.
Yeah, sounds about right for Ladies of London: The New Reign.
As fans know, a bulk of the season’s drama has swirled around American actress Margo Stilley and her frequent clashes with castmates Mark-Francis Vandelli and Kimi Murdoch. More Boris and Natasha than Jack and Karen, the thick-as-thieves snipers spent so much screen time metaphorically twirling their mustaches and trashing the polarizing Margo that it began to feel like anything the woman did, they had to be outraged over it, or they’d wither.
Not that Margo didn’t ruffle (and wear) a few questionable feathers of her own. Originally cast as a “friend of” instead of a series regular, “I just assumed that as ‘a friend,’ I would go to the events and then be the person that your friend talks to about their internal experience,” says Margo, a brashly confrontational type with a knack for standing up for herself. Once original cast member Dara Huang left after a handful of episodes amid the gossip Margo spread in the series premiere about Dara possibly being a madame, she was given a larger role that instantly threw her life into chaos.
Nick Wall / Bravo
“I didn’t know that I was going to be invited to be a main cast, so I had plans [back home] that just couldn’t be changed. And in the middle of the filming, I had to go back to LA, and then I was there for three or four days, and I came straight back, landed, and went to Martha’s garden party. It was a lot,” she continues with a laugh. “I thought I was the same person I was in my 20s and 30s when I lived in London and could travel like that. I was young, I had energy, and I had no idea that I wasn’t able to do these things anymore.”
What she also wasn’t aware of was that she was suffering from far more than jet lag. Turns out the postpartum Margo was dealing with the slow creep of a panic disorder and an undiagnosed hormonal condition, which she suspects contributed to some of her less-than-graceful moments on screen.
“I didn’t know that I wasn’t able to give it as good as I was getting it,” she notes of the many barbs she, Kimi, and Mark-Francis would trade. “So, in the beginning, shots are fired, and I’m like, ‘Okay, cool. I’ll just say what I’m thinking.’ And you can see as the episodes go on, I’m just kind of starting to fall apart internally…by the time I get to Longleat [aristocratic costar Emma Thynn’s estate] I’m just like, I’m sure you’re not watching me the whole time, but I am — I see myself in the background, just mouth open, slumped posture.”
By the penultimate episode, just as her ongoing feud with Mark-Francis had hit its fever pitch, the mom of three was struck by a debilitating panic attack. And in true Bravo form, it occurred in a sprinter van.
Nick Wall / Bravo
“I can’t believe how many people have had panic attacks because I didn’t have one until I was 42,” she recalls of her first-ever bout. “Obviously, I’ve heard of ‘Oh, I’m having a panic attack.’ I’ve heard that before, but I didn’t know that people thought they were dying every time they had a panic attack. And I can’t believe we’re all living like that, to be honest with you.”
Once she recovered from the frightening event, she faced something even scarier: The season finale sit-down with Mark-Francis to clear the air over myriad affronts, including his constant insults about her fashion choices and her calling him “a freak.” While some — Mark-Francis and the Ladies included — deemed it a homophobic slur, the voracity with which they sank their teeth into Margo’s choice of words left some viewers wondering if they were weaponizing the term to fuel the usually dismissive Mark-Francis’ sudden attempt to come off as sympathetic. Margo, for her part, sees why he would bristle at the name-calling, yet also stands firm that her issues with him have nothing to do with his being gay.
“You don’t know what’s going to trigger [trauma] if you haven’t gotten to the bottom of it, and that kind of thing. So he’s having his own experience. I am very interested in speaking to people in the LGBTQ+ community because I’ve always considered myself an ally. My actions have always been allied with rights and safety and freedom,” she offers. “It’s just a really crazy place to find myself in because I don’t like Mark, but to me, it doesn’t have anything to do with his sexuality or how he shows up in the world, in his partnerships. It really has to do with a personal experience. And I really don’t know how we’re going to move forward in that way if we can’t have conflict.”
We may have to wait for a second season to see if it’s possible at all, given just how horribly their attempted peace talks went in the finale. And for those who think the pair didn’t give it long enough of a go, Margo assures us that a lot of their back-and-forth wound up on the cutting room floor.
“What you see is not the whole story,” she admits of their edited-down discussion. “We talked for about an hour, and you’re not going to watch an hour of us talking, so you only get snippets of it, and he was absolutely not willing to hear my part or my side or to meet me in the middle. Then you cut to the end of me being like, ‘Look, dude, oh my God,’ getting really frustrated. But there was a genuine, genuine attempt to be like, ‘Look, I know that I haven’t been a good friend, and I do want to squash this. I do want us to come together and make peace.’ And he wasn’t ready to do that. He’s still not ready to do that.”
Ladies of London: The New Reign, Now Streaming, Peacock
