Garcelle Beauvais Jokes About Joining ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills:’ ‘It Is Sort of Like My Midlife Crisis”

At Sean Penn’s CORE gala for the organization’s 10th anniversary on Wednesday, Garcelle Beauvais opened up about her decision to join the cast of ’The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.’

“I feel like, ‘Why not?’ I wanted to do something outside of the box; it is sort of like my midlife crisis.” Beauvais said, according to PEOPLE. “Instead of buying a Corvette or doing something crazy, I joined housewives.”

Beauvais also opened up about adjusting to the cast and how to deal with them, explaining one of the first things she learned was to not “let [her] guard down.”

“Because one minute they are laughing with you and the next minute they are throwing you under the bus,” she explained. “I’m like, ‘we were just cracking up!’”

“It is really interesting for me because, as an actor, you are a character, so it’s really weird to show up and just be me,” she added. “So I’m just going along for the ride and seeing how it goes.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Beauvais opened up about how the show taps into her emotional side, as she revealed that she’s “a lot more sensitive than I thought I was.”

“I put up this tough exterior all of the time; I do my thing, I’m an independent woman. And I find myself… I got emotional on the show a few times,” she said. “I was surprised that could happen so quickly for me.”

Beauvais is the first black Housewife to join the predominantly white cast.