Getty Images Andy Cohen got personally involved to bring a RHONY star on the show.
Andy Cohen really wanted Jenna Lyons to join the “Real Housewives of New York” reboot, so much so that he got personally involved in bringing her on board.
Cohen has been involved in the “Real Housewives” franchise for as long as the show has been on the air. Although his role has changed over the years — he is currently an executive producer on all of the franchises — he has also had input when it comes to which women get cast on the show.
On the May 30, 2023, episode of the “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast, Cohen revealed that there was one “Real Housewives” star in particular that he really wanted to bring on and that he personally got involved with when it came to casting.
“Anything ‘Housewives,’ I am an executive producer of. Involved in casting. I watch every episode. I give notes on every episode,” he told podcast host Amanda Hirsch.
Here’s what you need to know:
Andy Cohen Went Above & Beyond to Get Jenna Lyons to Join RHONY
During his sit down with Hirsch, Cohen explained that some potential “Real Housewives” stars end up not inking deals with the network due to concerns that their husbands have. In fact, Cohen says that the main reason that some women don’t sign on is due to their husbands saying “no.”
When Hirsch asked Cohen if he tried to really convince any of the women to come onboard, he admitted, “some of them.”
“There were certain women of color that were just super important to the franchise, it was so meaningful to us to get them in, so those were times that I was in the meetings with people and calling them and saying, ‘what can we do’?” Cohen said.
“Usually I don’t get personally involved. There are some. Jenna Lyons, I got personally involved with,” he said, also name-checking Carole Radziwill.
Lyons is a fashion designer known for being associated with J.Crew. She left the company in 2017. She founded a company called Love Seen, which is a natural line of false eyelashes.
Lyons was born with Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome, which is “a genetic disorder that can cause skin scarring, loss of hair and malformed teeth,” according to ABC News. She has one son with her ex-husband, Vincent Mazeau.
Jenna Lyons Says Her RHONY Casting Happened by ‘Accident’
In October 2022, Cohen announced the cast of season 14 of RHONY at BravoCon. Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Dana Lichy, Jessel Taank, Brynn Whitfield, and Lyons have already filmed the first season (Lizzy Savetsky was also cast on the show but decided to bow out, per Variety).
After the announcement, Lyons opened up about how she wound up on the show.
“I was on a podcast, and somebody mentioned if I knew that there was gonna be a reboot and I didn’t. And they were like, ‘Would you ever do it?’ And I was like, ‘Sure,'” Lyons explained to E! News in December 2022.
“They did a little mock-up of me with Photoshop. And I, all of a sudden, was like, ‘Okay, maybe. Why not?’ And it sort of happened by accident,” she continued.
She went on to tell the outlet that filming the show has been “different” than what she expected, which she says is a “good thing.”
RHONY season 14 is set to premiere on July 16, 2023, on Bravo.