Source: WENN/Avalon / WENN
Garcelle Beauvais still gets emotional when she talks about the moment she found out her ex-husband, Mike Nilon, was having a long-term affair. The 53-year-old, the newest cast member (and the Blackest) on the latest season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills opened up about fresh starts while showing off her new home to friend, actress Ali Landry. During that time, she touched on how Nilon’s infidelity tore apart the life she thought she was going to have indefinitely.
“Mike Nilon and I were married nine years. We were sort of like the Hollywood couple,” she said in her confessional. “I’m an actress, he’s an agent. We would go to fabulous parties, we’ve got these two beautiful boys. Mike was reliable. He was sweet. I really thought this was my last stop.”
That, of course, wasn’t the case, though.
“I remember the day my life changed from what I knew it,” she told Landry, saying the whole situation was like a death she had to grieve.
“And then one day nine years ago, I said, ‘Hey, Mike, can I use your phone?’ And so I look at the phone, and I see a text that says, ‘I love you,'” she said. “I go, ‘Hey, what’s this?’ And his face changed. And he said, ‘I’ve been having an affair.’ And I said, ‘How long?’ And he said, ‘Five years.'”
Despite having two sons, twins Jax and Jaid (now 11) with Nilon and what seemed like a beautiful life, he was carrying a whole separate long-term relationship. Hurt by this revelation, we now know that Beauvais contacted his co-workers and friends to let them know of his betrayal.
“I’m a hothead,” she said in her confessional. “So that night I wrote an email to friends and colleagues at Mike’s work, and the subject was, ‘What does Tiger Woods, Jesse James, and Mike Nilon have in common?’ And that email got leaked to the press.”
In 2010, she filed for divorce from Nilon and sought joint custody of their boys. When asked what became of the other woman, Beauvais said she didn’t know and didn’t care.
“I have no idea what happened. I was devastated, so I didn’t care what happened to her,” she said in a confessional. “My priority was taking care of my children, and now I feel like it’s my time.”
Overall though, the actress could tell Landry that looking back now, she was “100 percent” grateful for the experience, no matter how painful.
“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, but I know who I am and I know how much I’ve grown,” she said
Beauvais and Nilon were married in May 2001 and welcomed their sons in 2007 after more than five years of fertility struggles and treatments. She was previously married to a producer named Daniel Saunders, whom she had eldest son Oliver with in 1991.
