Beyond the Gates Recap Dec 19: Leslie Drops a Bombshell on Ted, While Anita Receives Support and Bad News
In the Beyond the Gates recap for Friday, December 19, 2025, it was ‘Articulettes strong’ while Anita was devastated, Leslie blew Ted’s mind with some gossip, and Dani found out what a ‘carpet picnic’ meant.
Beyond the Gates Recap
At the Dupree mansion, Sharon and Tracy came to comfort Anita and support her while waiting for the results of her biopsy. Sharon and Tracy encouraged Anita to lean on her support system rather than keep the diagnosis a secret from the rest of the family. Anita didn’t want to burden Vernon or anyone else with fear until she knew what they were dealing with.
Later, Sharon called Vernon, and he told her she should’ve mentioned that she was coming to town because it would be hard for him to sneak away. Nevertheless, he said he would do what he could to get away to see her. When she hung up, Tracy wanted to know what she was hiding.
At Uptown, Dani and Nicole talked about how it was Nicole’s first Christmas since her split with Ted. Nicole shared that she and Carlton were now dating, but was reluctant to be too public about it. Not only did she want to spare him family scrutiny, but she also didn’t want to scare off Kial, and she didn’t want to trigger Kat into feeling even more upset at the changes in her family’s new configuration.
Later, Nicole called Ted and asked if he had plans, but he was going to his niece’s performance. Nicole said she understood and was just checking in.
At the hospital, Ashley gave Shanice a funny lunch bag for Christmas, one that looked like it had body parts in it so no one would steal her lunch anymore. She told her friend that she was glad Derek had moved on and that she’d seen him flirting, so she could, too.
Leslie breezed by, pausing to get an update on Peaches from Ashley, while trying to snub Shanice. When Shanice gave her the update instead, Leslie took shots at her. After Leslie left, Shanice empathized that she was a worried daughter and probably just needed someone to take her worries out on.
In Peaches’ hospital room, Leslie chatted with her about life, Eva, and Ted. She admitted that while she was happy for Eva being treated well by her father, she felt left out.
When Leslie was leaving, she ran into Ted at the nurses’ station. After telling him how Peaches was doing, she tried to finagle an invitation to join him and Eva at Martin’s tree-trimming party, noting how well things had gone at Thanksgiving. Ted told her that he honestly just didn’t want to push his luck, as things had been rocky all year with his kids and would be tense again with Kat and Eva over Christmas. Bringing the woman he had an affair with, who wrecked his marriage, might be asking too much of everyone.
Leslie thought everyone should get over it, as their affair happened so long ago. She pointed out that he wasn’t the only one in the family to have an affair. Thinking she meant Bill, Ted told Leslie that no one had forgiven Bill, either. Leslie shocked Ted by telling him that Vernon was currently having an affair with one of The Articulettes.
Vernon met with Andre at the country club to see the photo from the newspaper that he was having restored. When Vernon noted that all Dupree women had a problem with trying to find their presents before Santa could deliver them, Andre offered to keep it as his apartment instead. Vernon and Andre had a chat about how he’d kept his place, and it was suggested he could be using it as a love nest like Bill had done. Andre assured Vernon he was going to sell it and that he’d be loyal to Dani.
Anita received a call from the hospital that her results were in, and Dr. Ahn wanted to see her in her office to review them. Tracy and Sharon waited while Anita went in and was told that she had breast cancer.