In the series, Mallory and Sam’s former assistant Brent Adams recall falling for each other in 2013 when the beauty queen came to Oxford, Miss., to visit the Haskell family.
They didn’t go public until Mallory had relinquished her crown to the next winner, and she says she thought Sam would be thrilled by the news when he found out. But when Brent told Sam, she says, his “response was less than positive.”
Brent alleges Sam threatened to fire him several times if he didn’t stop dating Mallory. (He notes that he did not initially tell Mallory about his boss’ reaction because she and Sam still seemed to have a cordial working relationship.)
But, Brent continues, “[Sam]would say these things, she was a slut, or like a horrible person, or whatever—I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ It was about control. He controls everything and everyone else in his life. And if you go against him, you’re cut out.”
Mallory says she eventually broke up with Brent in 2014 because he continued to work for Sam.
“I made a choice,” she notes. “The choice was that I didn’t want to continue being in a relationship with someone who wasn’t standing up for me.”
Brent says he felt “trapped” working for Sam, worried he’d never get another job in L.A. and also not sure that quitting would help Mallory at all. To this day, he notes, “I still don’t know what Sam’s issue was with us dating.”
He eventually left the job around Christmastime of 2014 because, he recalls, Sam would still get mad that Brent and Mallory continued to text, even though they were no longer together.
E! News has reached out to Haskell for comment on allegations made in the series but has not yet heard back.