Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo, Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins
The Real Housewives of New York City’s resident cabaret star, Luann de Lesseps, recently sat down for a new interview. In the interview, she continued to vocalize her frustrations with Bethenny Frankel’s ReWives podcast, revealed her thoughts on Ramona Singer leaving the RHONY franchises, and teased new RHONY: Legacy and Welcome to Crappie Lake details.
Speaking on the Behind the Rope with David Yontef podcast, Luann had nothing but nice words to say about former RHONY co-star Ramona after she announced she was departing the show after 13 consecutive seasons. Luann hopes she’s living her “best life” and is “happy with her decision” to leave RHONY behind.
“I think that, you know, she’s turning the page on a chapter, and I’m interested. I’m happy for her. And you know, I’m happy that she’s onto this next phase of her life,” Luann told the outlet.
However, Luann says you shouldn’t ever count Ramona out for good as she’s great at “surprises,” and there could be hope for her appearing on Legacy.
“Maybe we’ll see Ramona on Legacy. Maybe she’ll surprise us. Who knows,” Luann mused. “I don’t know if the door is closed [completely]. I think the door has swung the other direction. I’m not sure if it’s closed yet.”
One former Housewife had definitely closed the door on the Housewife franchise — only to reopen it recently. Bethenny Frankel has launched a new podcast, ReWives, where she reminisces and comments on past episodes of RHONY. And it hasn’t gone over well with her former castmates or Andy Cohen, who called the move “confusing” after she “trashed the show for years.”
Luann labeled Bethenny’s latest venture as “pathetic” and “desperate” after so many of her other television projects have failed.
“She tried out different things. They didn’t work and then she came back to the show and then she left again. And, you know, she’s never had a kind thing to say about the Housewives. So how do you expect me to respond? I mean, I don’t think there’s any surprise there at my response. I mean, I just said what everybody else thinks,” Luann said.
Luann continued by saying that Bethenny is basically biting the hand that fed her as Bravo and the Housewives franchise “made her career,” and now she’s using it for more clout.
“The truth is, is that, you know, the Housewives has made her career, and then she poo-pooed the Housewives and now she’s back. You know, is that cool or uncool?”
Luann also believes that Bethenny will be making her podcast all about her.
“She blocked me for years on Instagram. What is she afraid of? You know, now, now she’s gonna be doing a podcast, you know about me. Isn’t that weird? Like the woman she blocked. The woman she poo-poos, you know, now she’s doing a podcast about me and the other Housewives. But God knows I’ve been around since the very beginning, so guess what she’s gonna be talking about? Let her just try bringing anything that’s less than positive about me because the fans will just eat her up,” the “Money Can’t Buy You Class” singer said.
Luann stood firm in her assertion that she believes Bethenny’s podcast launch is a “pathetic move” and that she doesn’t talk negatively about Bethenny personally.
“I’ve never said anything about her going off the show and doing a talk show, you know, trying to do a reality show a la Donald Trump or whatever show she did that didn’t work. You know, I’ve never said a bad thing and I still don’t say a bad thing about Bethenny personally… I don’t know, I just think it’s a pathetic move,” she said.
As for making moves toward the highly anticipated RHONY: Legacy spinoff, Luann played coy on casting rumors. Still, her name has been brought up multiple times along with Dorinda Medley, Kelly Bensimon, Sonja Morgan, Jill Zarin, and possibly Tinsley Mortimer?
“Listen, that’s up to Bravo to announce when they want,” Luann said. “I feel like that it’s imminent and that Legacy is going to happen, and you know, I’m looking forward to working with OGs.”
As for Tinsley, Luann isn’t sure why the socialite would join Legacy as there are several factors playing against the idea, but she would welcome her back with open arms.
“I don’t know if Tinsley would come back. I don’t know if they will bring her back. I don’t know if she even lives in New York City, which I don’t think she does. So, I mean, it’s kind of hard to be a Housewife of New York if you don’t live in New York. But, you know, maybe she has plans to move to New York. But you know, I think Tinsley would be a great addition.”
Lu also gave listeners a little tease regarding her new show with fellow RHONY co-star Sonja, which is called Welcome to Crappie Lake. She also revealed the premiere date.
“We filmed it last summer, and, and it’s gonna be coming out in April, and we’re just super excited because it’s a comedy. It has nothing to do with Housewives and it’ll be a totally different kind of medium for me to work in with Sonja… But we had a lot of fun. It’s gonna be super funny. And I’m excited for the fans to see that show.”