Stefanie Keenan/Getty; David Livingston/WireImage Christine Chiu (left) and Anna Shay
Christine Chiu is defending herself over the drama between her and costar Anna Shay.
While speaking to PEOPLE ahead of the season 3 premiere of Bling Empire on Netflix, Chiu discussed the status of her friendship with Shay after she dropped a bombshell claim about her costar in the previous season.
In season 2 of the hit Netflix series, Chiu broke down in tears, telling her other costar Kane Lim, “Anna is going around telling people that she’s gonna destroy me and she’s gonna take me down… she said it’s um, the verbatim thing was, um, ‘I am gonna end her.'” During her chat with Lim, Chiu claimed she learned about the situation after receiving a call from her friend — which was revealed later in the season as a magazine editor.
Reflecting on the particular scene, Chiu told PEOPLE, “In my defense, the same day I spoke to Kane was literally like five, 10 minutes after I received the call, which had witnesses during which we were filming when I was mic’d, and it was documented.”
Noting that she was “startled by the call,” the Dancing with the Stars alum added, “I even asked to speak to HR at Netflix. That was a real-life emotion for me. I was in a very vulnerable state. And I tried to keep it in because I didn’t want it to be a part of the show, but I couldn’t.”
“I was in a very emotional state, so it came out,” she continued. “It wasn’t like I received the call, sat on it, thought about it for a month, and then decided to start this gossip situation.”
Representatives from Netflix did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, Chiu’s representative clarified to PEOPLE that the reality star “never spoke to HR at Netflix” but did express her intention to speak with HR to one of the show’s producers who was with her when she received the call from the magazine editor.
RELATED: ‘Bling Empire’ Season 3 Returns with More Heartbreak, Heated Confrontations and a Surprise Guest
Netflix
In an effort to mend their relationship, the two later met after Shay invited Chiu over to her house.
Sitting next to each other during the chat with PEOPLE, Chiu told Shay, “I kept my cool during the entire time I was at your house, although there were repeated attacks on me, and I just kept my cool.”
“So as a normal human being, my natural inclination is not to immediately go over to your house after I get a call like that. That would be asking too much of anyone. So I wasn’t trying to start any drama,” she explained. “It literally occurred in real time on the spot. And again, [it] was documented.”
As for Shay, when asked about where she thinks her friendship with Chiu currently stands, she replied, “That is a very good question. I think where we are is where we want to be, in her head, in my head, but I don’t speak as ‘we’. I just think in general, from other people’s experiences, that you can learn.”
“If you wanted to say something, you could have said something to me,” she told Chiu during the interview. “You didn’t have to use Kane. So you can’t blame Kane.”
RELATED: Christine Chiu Says That Friendships “Have Been Put to Test” in Season 2 of Bling Empire
Concluding her opinion on the situation, Shay told PEOPLE, “I think it’s something that we all need [for] everybody, not just this group, but to learn something within themselves [and] to go and talk to that person, thereby avoiding a lot of drama and bullshit.”
As for what they’re most excited for fans to see now that season 3 has officially dropped?
“I continue to experience some friendship trials and tribulations and some betrayal. I am learning a lot of life lessons about others and myself,” said Chiu. “And then I think the saving grace was our trip to Paris, that was such a physical escape from LA and also [an] mental, emotional break. And we had so much fun.”
Added Shay: “I hope that they can see through a lot of the bullshit, that they can see that money isn’t everything. And money can buy people, money doesn’t buy people, but I really, really hope that they see beyond the bling, because the bling really is inside of you.”
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Season 3 of Bling Empire is now available to stream on Netflix.
