Heavy/Getty Alex McCord, Simon van Kempen and their sons in 2014.
Alex McCord shared photos from a rare return trip to New York City. The former “Real Housewives of New York City” star, her husband Simon van Kempen, and sons François and Johan, took a New Year’s 2024 trip to the Big Apple and they hit a bunch of hot spots.
But after McCord shared a slideshow of vacation pics to Instagram, fans zeroed in on her sons—and how big they are now.
McCord was an original RHONY star alongside Bethenny Frankel, Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, and Jill Zarin. She was fired from the show after season 4 in 2011 when her sons were still very little. The family now lives in Australia.
Alex McCord’s Sons Are All Grown Up in New Photos
On January 15, 2023, McCord posted nine new photos to Instagram following a family trip to New York. The former Bravo star visited friends in Brooklyn and posted photos from both The Hudson Theatre and The Ethel Barrymore Theatre as she took in two Broadway shows with her husband of 23 years.
McCord also shared family pics as she posed with her sons in front of what appeared to be her former Brooklyn brownstone. Another photo was taken outside of a Hell’s Kitchen eatery. There was also a shot of the boys visiting the Statue of Liberty as well as a Brooklyn butcher shop.
McCord captioned her slideshow with: “Some more places and people from our NYC trip. Impossible to pack 20 years or 16 years or 11 years or 9 years into a week, so we enjoyed every minute and did some touristy things we had never done before as well, just because.”
In the comment section, some fans asked McCord if she missed NYC. Others commented on how much her sons have grown up.
“Omg look at how grown up Johan and Francois are! Beautiful family 💖,” one fan wrote.
“My GAWD, they’re your doppelgängers! I see both of you in each it those faces!! ♥️♥️ So very cool. Lovely family!!!” another wrote.
“Boys look great. One looking like dad and one for mom,” another chimed in.
McCord’s sons look nothing like they did when RHONY fans knew them. According to BravoTV.com, McCord’s son Francois is now 20 and her son Johan is 18.
Andy Cohen Wanted to Bring Alex McCord Back to RHONY
GettyKelly Bensimon, LuAnn de Lesseps, Jill Zarin, Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer, and Alex McCord of RHONY.
While McCord has been gone from RHONY for more 10 years, Andy Cohen said he’d love to bring her back. In 2021, he was asked by The Hollywood Reporter, “If you could bring one former Housewife back into the fold tomorrow, who would it be?” Cohen replied, “This won’t happen because she’s living a totally different life in Australia as a therapist, but it would be Alex McCord for RHONY: Legacy.”
In 2017, McCord appeared on “Watch What Happens Live” and admitted she does not watch any Real Housewives cities on TV after being let go from RHONY in 2011 alongside Jill Zarin, Cindy Barshop, and Kelly Bensimon. At the time, McCord told “Good Morning America,” “You never want it to be someone else’s decision that you’re not coming back. …It felt like being laid off. And that didn’t feel good.”
According to Reality Tea, Cohen previously claimed McCord and her husband didn’t react well to being let go from RHONY. In the 2021 tell-all book, “Not All Diamonds and Rosé,” Cohen claimed, “[They] went for blood after we didn’t pick them up. They became incredible thorns in our side.”
“Simon left his job and started a website called BravoRatings.com, where he analyzed our ratings. He would live-tweet ‘Watch What Happens Live’ and troll my guests. It was a brilliant way to try to get under our skin,” Cohen claimed. “Then Alex starts a vlog where she would critique episodes of New York Housewives and talk about areas where she thought that production had gotten involved. It was unprecedented. I’ve never seen anything like it since.”
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