Bravo Andy Cohen.
Andy Cohen clapped back at a suggestion that a storyline on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” was made up in an effort to create buzz about the show.
In a July 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cohen shut down a question about RHOBH OG Kyle Richard’s recent separation from her husband Mauricio Umansky after 27 years of marriage. While the Bravo reality show had wrapped filming earlier this year, cameras picked back up after the couple’s split news was revealed.
When the THR interviewer noted that some viewers have speculated the breakup storyline was made up in an effort to reignite interest in the Real Housewives franchise, Cohen did not hold back.
“That’s a new one,” he said. “That’s really stupid, is what it is. That’s too lame to even respond to, I think.”
Fans Have Been Speculating About the Timing of Kyle Richards’ Marriage Problems
Cohen’s comment comes amid broad speculation about the timing of Richards and Umansky’s marital problems. In a Reddit thread, one viewer wrote, “It’s just Kyle drumming up a storyline. She’s been dropping little crumbs for several months to stoke the speculation (covering her ring finger in photos, the tote bag monogrammed with KR rather than KRU). Now there’s the extra titillating tidbit that female country music ‘star’ Morgan Wade is somehow involved.”
Another Redditor added, “I totally could see them creating a fake storyline in the off-season to boost the ratings on their shows.”
In July 2023, Cohen insisted to Page Six that he was surprised by the couple’s separation news, but he added, “I think when you watch the new season of Beverly Hills, you’ll be less surprised.”
Andy Cohen & Producers Have Insisted Bravo’s Storytelling is Real
BravoTom Sandoval with Raquel Leviss and Ariana Madix.
While speaking with THR, Cohen also addressed Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss’ shocking cheating scandal that put the Bravo reality show “Vanderpump Rules” in the headlines this year – and scored the show huge ratings and two Emmy nominations, per Deadline.
As with RHOBH, when the scandal broke, Bravo’s cameras fired back up to catch the aftermath in real-time. When asked if “Vanderpump Rules’” success has “raised the stakes for the reality franchise,” Cohen insisted that nothing has changed – and that all of the stories are real.
“We are always reactive to personal stories going on in people’s lives that are featured on our shows, as we always have been,” he said. “And I think this was an example of that. The last season of ‘Vanderpump Rules’ was really emblematic of the type of nonfiction storytelling that Bravo has become known for.”
Cohen isn’t the only one who has had to shut down rumors about made-up storylines. Bravo producer James Markham reacted on Instagram to insist that “Scandoval” was “not” fake.
“I swear on my life, we had zero idea! This was not a publicity thing for the show,” he wrote in April 2023, according to Reality Blurb. “The footage you’ve been watching is the reality we filmed. We were all shocked when we got the news about what was really going on,” he added.
And during the May 10, 2023 episode of the “Give Them Lala” podcast, “Vanderpump Rules” co-star Lala Kent also confirmed that the storyline about Sandoval’s betrayal of his longtime girlfriend Ariana Madix was not staged.
“This is not a staged thing. Ariana didn’t sit with a producer and go ‘Yeah I’m okay with my life blowing up for ratings.’ None of it is staged,” she said.