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Arts & Entertainment

New York's Real Housewives


By

Jen Carlson

Published Jan 14, 2008

Modified Mar 7, 2008


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By

Jen Carlson

Published Jan 14, 2008

Modified Mar 7, 2008


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Are you ready to meet the Real Housewives of New York City? Bravo is spinning off their Orange County-based reality show with a look into the lives of some select East Coast ladies. The show will air March 4th, and The Daily News reports that the "stars" will be Bethenny Frankel, LuAnn de Lesseps (that's Countess, to you), Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin of the Upper East Side and Alex McCord of Cobble Hill. We're glad they branched out of the UES and threw a Brooklynite in there (though we wish it was a Park Slope mom); at 34 she's the youngest of them all.

Is this all sounding a little Cashmere Mafia? It is. All of the women revolve around their jobs, but vow to party as hard as they work. While McCord is said to work in visual merchandising for a major retailer, it appears she is also an aspiring actress (surprise, surprise).The series has been filming since last summer, and the women say they don't want to be portrayed like their West Coast counterparts. McCord points out "We are pretty different people. We are not in a gated community. We are in the thick of things, doing our activities and coexisting with 8 million other people." Do these look like the New York women you know? Get more details on each after the jump.

L-R: Jill Zarin (with husband), Alex McCord, Ramona Singer (with husband and daughter), LuAnn deLesseps, Bethenny Frankel.

Alex McCord Born: Washington, D.C. Lives: Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Married: Yes; husband works in boutique hotel management. Kids: Two sons, ages 2 and 4. Job: Works in visual merchandising for a major retailer.

Bethenny Frankel (website)
Born: New York. Lives: Upper East Side.
Married: No.
Kids: None, but her boyfriend of 10 months has three, ages 4, 7 and 9.
Job: Frankel's health food company, bethennybakes, creates wheat-, egg- and dairy-free baked goods as well as tailored, healthy menus for clients.

LuAnn deLesseps (website)
Born: Connecticut. Lives: Upper East Side.
Married: Yes, to Count Alexandre de Lesseps, a French aristocrat she met in the Swiss Alps.
Kids: 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.
Job: Hosts "The Countess Report," her own cable show based in the Hamptons.

Ramona Singer
Born: Rhinebeck, N.Y. Lives: Upper East Side.
Married: Yes, and co-creating a jewelry line with her husband.
Kids: 12-year-old daughter.
Job: Buys and resells excess fashion inventory to discount boutiques and chains. Also developing her own skin-care products.

Jill Zarin
Born: Woodmere, L.I. Lives: Upper East Side.
Married: Yes, to second husband.
Kids: 15-year-old daughter; husband has three kids of his own, ages 25, 28 and 31.
Job: Owns Zarin Fabrics & Home Furnishings on the lower East Side.

Tagged

bravo

Cashmere Mafia

city

cobble hill

daily news

east coast

east side

new york

new york city

news

orange county

park slope

real housewives of new york city

reality television

the daily news

tv

Upper East

upper east side

west coast


Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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