Singer Nivea has rounded up her famous friends for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Vietnam as part of the Peacock series Eat Slay Love. The Grammy-nominated R&B performer is celebrating her 41st birthday along with gal pals Eva Marcille (The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Ex-Wives Club), Tammy Rivera (Love & Hip Hop Atlanta), and London Hughes (London Hughes: To Catch a D*ck).
They venture throughout the Southeast Asian country and immerse themselves in Vietnamese culture. The experience in many ways serves as a spiritual awakening for the ladies. A time from the hustle and bustle of their busy lives to really process past heartbreaks and setbacks and refocus on what’s important. Of course with these big personalities, you know there is some drama that unfolds.
Here Nivea, Rivera, and Marcille spill the tea about their adventure.
Pictured: (l-r) London Hughes, Nivea, Tammy Rivera, Eva Marcille — (Photo by: PEACOCK)
Nivea, why was Vietnam your destination choice?
Nivea: I didn’t want to do anything typical, so why not? It’s so unorthodox. And if you’re trying to do something, not your typical girls ‘trip, I thought that was the perfect place.
Eva Marcille: As much as all of us travel, it’s a place we’ve never been or maybe thought of going. It was actually good for us.
Nivea: Anything else would have been typical, but we also still got to do beach style in the midst of that trip.
Eva: Nivea set up the most amazing trip. This gave us a little bit of everything.
How far does your friendship go? What brought you together?
Eva: Laundry [laughs]
Nivea; I would say it was God-ordained because we really didn’t know each other that well. We had met before, but to come together like that and share personal space and a trip together, we became friends. We got to know each other on this trip.
Tammy Rivera: I feel like even though we didn’t hang out we knew each other. London was the newer person.
Eva: There was probably about three degrees of separation from her.
Nivea: We all have mutual friends that connect us.
Eva: And you connected us to London.
Nivea: She was new to moving to the United States. London is from London. The girls’ trip was one of the first things she did here.
Eva, How did this compare to other girls’ trips you’ve taken?
Eva: I’ve never done a girls’ trip like this. This was a level of cathartic sisterhood I could not even explain. What I learned about myself, what I learned from the other women. Don’t get me wrong. I did take my shirt off and jumped into the pool. That happened a few times.
Tammy: Not just your shirt.
Eva: For me, I was going through a lot in life at that moment. These were my sisters to lean on. Sometimes it’s hard to tell your closest friends things because they are ready to go and fight. You don’t want to tell your family because you can’t un-say things. This for me was a safe place. I see sisters in them. Our realities in life being parents, married, divorce, moving on, and lifestyles in entertainment. It lent a sense that these are my kindred spirits.
I know it wasn’t all peaceful. There was a scene in the trailer that showed London walking off. What was the context of that?
Nivea: We all have big personalities, which is one of our common denominators and why we like each other. Even with London. It’s easy to clash over something very small. A disagreement, a point-of-view. There is a different culture and way we express ourselves. That got misconstrued.
Tammy: Even though we were getting to know each other, we had a conversation when we were in Vietnam. You were like, “Tammy, I don’t understand where she is coming from.” We understand each other, but maybe there is a different culture and way of coming up for her.
Eva: There is a difference between the UK culture and being black in America. Being a black woman in America and the UK are two different realities.
Nivea: We were having this conversation.
Tammy: I think this sort of thing has never been talked about on a show before.
Eva: I was having hot sake. I can’t tell you what was going on.
Tammy: Nivea, you were the calming presence. You were Switzerland.
Nivea: Listen, I’m a mother of four. When we have spats, I believe in justice. I should have been a lawyer. I feel like that is my role. Even in school, I’m diplomatic.
What were some of your takeaways about Vietnam?
Eva: What I took was everything in Vietnam was a bit slower. We’re so used to a microwavable popcorn world while they’re chillin’. It was how things used to be before we started always feeling so rushed and busy.
Tammy: They are not in a rush. And then you think of the quality of the food and drinks. One thing I took was everyone is hustling all around the world. I had to negotiate and put on my hustler hat on.
Nivea: We got so many deals. Tammy was in there bartering. She is someone you want to have on a trip with you so you don’t get got.
I saw in the teaser someone also gets a tattoo.
Nivea: Someone does get some ink, but we made sure to do some memorable things in each city we visited. It’s going to be fun.
Eva: We visited them in different ways. Sometimes it was by bus, plane, and car. We really saw Vietnam.
Nivea: I was excited about the restops. I don’t know why.
Tammy: We had beer in a bag for the first time.
What was something you did that you’d never done before?
Eva: Tammy goes underwater with this astronaut thing on her head. I don’t remember seeing Tammy sea-walk before.
Tammy: I never have. Walking at the bottom of the sea.
Nivea: That was extraordinary. I was too afraid of that.
Eva: You had that Buddha temple moment.
Nivea: It was amazing. It was all very interesting. I’m not sure what they will include, but I’m excited to see it with the rest of y’all.
(Photo by: Peacock)
What did you walk away with through this experience?
Eva: It had such an impact. I was going through one of the most tumultuous times. Nivea could smell it on me. Tammy could see it on me. When you are depleted, you need someone to pour into you. I’m the pitcher that pours into everyone else usually.
Nivea: You were still pouring though.
Eva: You were pouring into me though. I felt what I had been missing for a long time was having someone pour into me, and remind me who I am. I’m the one who is like, “Chin up buttercup.” Or, “Hold your head up, king.” For me to have someone say, “You got this queen.” It meant a lot.
Nivea: I feel we did that for each other. I remember we were having these conversations before London left the trip. We spent our private time with her and talked about body positivity and being confident in who you are. Our stories are different, but we are also the same in many ways. I think we did that for each other this whole trip. We all have something going on in our private lives. Tammy, you had a lot when you landed.
Tammy: I had a lot. I had so much personal stuff that as soon as I landed in Vietnam, it was like my life at home crumbled almost. This was happening behind the cameras. This is not on camera. I had so much going on. They pulled me together a lot. They were like, “I don’t even know who you are even here right now.”
Eva: We had a journey, but with it was a sisterhood that was formed together.
Nivea: I have two older sisters, but I’m really a loner to myself. I don’t have a lot of girlfriends. This showed me they are kind of necessary. A girl group. Female friendships I usually avoid.
Eva: I feel we created a safe space for each other to talk about cultural differences, language barriers, education and all of those things. It was a very come-together moment.
Eat Slay Love series premiere, November 7, Peacock