Credit: NBCUniversal Media
Last week, The Real Housewives of New York City‘s 16th season premiered on Bravo.
The end of the episode was very dramatic, as Erin Lichy and Jessel Taank‘s feud erupted, with Jessel kicking Erin out of her party.
Jessel, 46, recently sat down with Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea for a new interview to talk about Erin, 39.
One of the topics that came up during the conversation was Erin’s friendship with Carole Radziwill.
As fans know, Carole, 63, had been on RHONY years ago.
“I feel like Erin has to, you know, befriend someone of popular status,” Jessel shared. “So it was Jenna, and now Carole’s the new Jenna.”
She added that she believes Erin’s friendships are ones of “strategic alignment,” but she insisted the pair are “genuinely friends.”
“I do think Carole genuinely adores her, and, you know, that’s nice. Good. Happy for them,” she added.
Later, Jessel talked more about Erin, stating, “I think she presents as being supportive, but… you sort of see her actions speak otherwise. The difference between Erin and I is… I think I celebrate my friends, and… I truly do think that I’m a girl’s girl. Like if my friends are thriving, I’m not going to call them thirsty. I’m going to be like, ‘Wow, she’s killing it.’ Erin, I think, on the other hand, has this tendency to be like, ‘Well, she’s thirsty, she’s fake’ if she’s doing well.”
When asked if she thinks Erin has a “competitive edge” about her, Jessel stated, “Very much so.”
The topic of Jessel being a fan favorite from the jump was also broached, as one of the Virtual Reali-Tea hosts suggested it’s possible Erin was jealous of her.
“I do feel like Erin maybe expected this to… go differently for her, maybe… I don’t know. I have no idea… I think she presents as being supportive, but like, you know, you sort of see her actions speak otherwise.”
Erin and Jessel’s feud was escalated by Real Housewives of Dubai star Chanel Ayan telling Jessel that Erin had been calling her “fake,” “untrustworthy,” “thirsty,” and “like a snake” during filming for The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th.
On that front, Jessel shared, “I think that’s the shocking part of all of this, is that we were – according to me, we were not [in a bad place]. So, the last time Erin and I had connected, we had an amazing lunch. Both of our fathers had just passed away… within six months of each other. We had a great… lunch, and we were… not even talking about the show. We were just connecting on, on a level that… I think was almost like the first time for us, cause we have kind of had this back and forth, you know. It’s been a bit – um, we’ve had a lot of ebbs and flows in our relationship, but I walked away from that lunch feeling really good about where we were.”
“And then, surprise!” she added. “It’s like, I’m fake, and I’m thirsty and whatever. I was like, wait, where is this coming from?”
New episodes of RHONY air Tuesdays on Bravo at 8 p.m. ET.