Monique & Her Husband Chris Samuels Will Be A Power Couple On 'RHOP'

The new season of The Real Housewives of Potomac will introduce one new Housewife into the cast, Monique Samuels, and, like the other women featured on the show, she's a businesswoman who certainly doesn't rely on anyone else's success. But who is Monique's husband, Chris Samuels? While there are plenty of single moms on RHOP holding it down for their entire family, like Giselle, and a few couples who recently separated, like Robyn and Charisse, Monique's marriage is still new and it seems to be doing well. Being half of a power couple like Monique and Chris should impress the rest of the cast, even Karen, who was certainly the most straitlaced of the women last year. However, it remains to be seen if Monique will be as reserved as some of her costars when it comes to "etiquette." Certainly, that was the buzzword of Season 1.

Monique's husband Chris is a former professional football player, who spent the entirety of his NFL career on the Washington Redskins, playing the position of offensive tackle. Chris had a nine-year football career, from the time he was originally drafted to when he retired after the 2009 season due to what ESPN News called "a spinal condition that put his at risk of paralysis with every blow to the heads." He's a native Alabaman, and returned to his home state to briefly work as an assistant college football coach between 2012-2014. In 2015, after getting a degree in physical education, Samuels coached high school football according to The Washington Post, saying "By coaching high school, that way I can still enjoy football, build up my experience and still get time with my family." The family has settled in Potomac, and Chris is starting to adjust to retired life.

When Chris and Monique met, it was actually through a career where neither of them actually work anymore. A Washington Post piece detailing their relationship attributed the beginning of their relationship with Monique's onetime dreams of pursuing hip hop, and Chris' thoughts of potentially starting his own label. While those initial dreams faded quickly, the couple's connection did not. And Chris credits meeting his wife with a lot of personal and professional growth for him. After the two began dating, "He began to go to church with her regularly, and they stopped going out to clubs so often," according to the WP.

Chris is also active in the local community, something that started while he was still playing football. In an interview with Home & Design from before he married Monique, Chris gives back to local Washington, DC kids. "I go down to DC and talk to the kids at Anacostia and Ballou high schools in Southeast. It’s a rough area. I just feel like I can make a positive impact on their lives," he explained. And now, a lot of Chris' work is run through his wife. Monique runs the Chris Samuels Foundation, his charity, which, according to Home & Design, "sponsored a 16-year-old Suitland High School student to attend the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s official school in New York" when the article was written in 2007. "The Foundation also recently donated a house to a family in need in Samuels' home state of Alabama, where he is building a development of 70 homes."

And according to Monique's Bravo bio, she also runs all of his other businesses, including real estate holdings and a "business enterprise." That shows Chris Samuels isn't afraid of being married to a woman who's not just a loving wife and mother, but also savvy when it comes to business. If these two can present a united front to the rest of the Real Housewives of Potomac, then they should be in good shape.