RHOBH Newcomer Bozoma Saint John Was Surprised by How Quickly She Bonded with Dorit Kemsley (Exclusive)

Bozoma “Boz” Saint John was surprised how quickly she bonded with castmate Dorit Kemsley after joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

The two met at Sutton Stracke’s Surrealism party in the season 14 opener, and became fast friends.

“I was surprised by how quickly we bonded only because it’s hard to make friends as an adult,” the marketing executive turned Eve by Boz entrepreneur, 48, told PEOPLE exclusively. “In the work space, I haven’t been able to make friends because I’ve been in that top seat for a long time, yeah, and it is not always appropriate to make friends, you know?”

“And so your circle of potential friendships becomes very small,” Boz continued. “At Netflix, it’s like there’s six other people, who are also the C [suite execs] in their area. And you know, that makes it difficult to make friends there.”

“I think Dorit opening up to me immediately at that first event took me by surprise,” Boz added. “But I was very open to it because I haven’t had the opportunity to really make friends as an adult.”

Dorit and Boz’s friendship carries over into real life; Dorit went to New York City to celebrate Boz’s 48th birthday in January and her debut on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

Their friendship will be tested in this week’s episode when Garcelle Beauvais accuses Boz of being “Dorit’s spokesperson” when Dorit isn’t present in front of the other women.

Boz feels if they had been as open as Dorit was, her relationships with the cast could have been just as positive,

“Instead of focusing on not liking my relationship with Dorit, or feeling like, ‘Oh, I’m spending so much time with her,’ why don’t you do it in the affirmative? Why don’t you tell me what’s going on in your life? Why don’t you come in and share with me? How about you ask me what’s going on in my life so I can share with you, and then that way you and I can become friends, right? That’s how it should be.”

Boz elaborated: “I don’t want to get to know Kyle [Richards] because she has conflict with Dorit. I want to know Kyle because of what she’s going through with Mau. I want to know Kyle because we have daughters who are the same age. I want to know Kyle because she’s about to be an empty nester and how she’s feeling and how she’s dealing with that. I want to know Kyle because she is one of a group of sisters, and Lord have mercy, that is not for the faint of heart. You know what I mean? I want to know Kyle for those reasons and not because she had conflict with Dorit.”

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With the season 14 reunion still to come, Boz tells PEOPLE she is “hopeful” about forging strong relationships despite being the newcomer.

It’s not the only change in 2025 Boz is aiming for. As part of a healthier diet and lifestyle, she’s partnered with Violife. “They have nondairy products that I can easily substitute for the things that I have in my life,” she explains.

New episodes of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills air on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo and can be streamed the next day on Peacock.