Naeem Thompson is offering up a gesture of kindness to Chandra Chugani as he tries to help her overcome her traumatic past with an abusive ex-boyfriend. In a PopCulture.com exclusive sneak peek of Wednesday’s all-new episode of Love Without Borders, Naeem approaches Chandra with an offer to help erase a physical remnant of her ex in the house.
Entering the room where Chandra is getting some work done, Naeem sits down to ask Chandra about moving forward with some “good news.” He tells her, “I’m gonna contact – if it was OK with you – get a handyman in here to put a new door up for you.” Chandra seems shocked as she acknowledges the offer, prompting Naeem to ask, “You still OK with that? Thoughts?”
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Chandra had previously opened up to Naeem after he arrived to live with her in Panama about her past relationship and asked about a hole that had been punched in the door of her home. “Did you punch this?” he asked at the time, to which Chandra replied solemnly, “No, he did. He did.” Naeem responded sympathetically, “Dang, girl! You’ve been through it,” before assuring her, “We’ll get it fixed though. We’ll work it out. I got you.”
As Naeem offers to have someone come to fix the door, he asks Chandra once again, “I’m not overstepping my boundary? You’re good?” at which point Chandra assures him that she’s OK. “Anything on your mind about the door comin’ off and no one comin’ in or?” Naeem continues, to Chandra’s affirmative noise. “Why? Are you uncomfortable with it?”
Chandra’s emotion begins to surface as she explains in a confessional just how much of an effect that hole in the door has on her. “I lived with my ex-boyfriend for five years,” she shares. “He pushed me down the stairs of the house and he punched me and he punched my door. It was a very difficult time for me, and when I see the hole in the door, it reminds me what I went through. Usually, I don’t talk about it. It hurts.”
Naeem adds in a confessional of his own that as a clinical social worker, seeing that door and knowing it was a trigger for her, “I wanted to work with her to see how we can help her do some things she might not see herself doing alone.” He continues to a crying Chandra, “I can sense the door is still a very sensitive thing and I’m not here to rush you about it or anything. I’m just trying to be helpful.” Love Without Borders (produced by Kinetic Content) airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or the threat of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for anonymous, confidential online chats, available in English and Spanish.
