{"id":341283,"date":"2026-09-09T01:06:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/341283\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T01:06:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:06:35","slug":"the-real-housewives-of-new-york-city-is-back-and-so-is-carole-radziwill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/341283\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Real Housewives of New York City’ is back, and so is Carole Radziwill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carole Radziwill is a lot of things: a reality TV star, an award-winning journalist, a New York Times bestselling author and, technically, a princess. But first and foremost, she is a New Yorker. \u201cI love New York City. There\u2019s nothing about New York City that I could ever say is bad. I was born here and came back when I was in college. I\u2019ve lived here now for almost 50 years. When I\u2019m traveling, I get homesick for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gothamist sat down with Radziwill to catch up with her on the eve of her return to the “Real Housewives of New York City.” She starred in the show from seasons 5 through 10, when she departed after a memorable fallout with her onscreen best friend, Bethenny Frankel.<\/p>\n

But time (and Andy Cohen) heals all wounds, and Radziwill will be back as a full-time cast member when season 16 premieres on Sept. 8.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an auspicious time for the stalwart franchise and the city it represents. It\u2019s been a bit over 18 months since the last episode of \u201cReal Housewives of New York\u201d aired, after a two-season full cast reboot of the franchise failed to fully connect with audiences. So we now have a reboot (of the reboot) and a season 16 featuring a cast of new Housewives alongside some holdovers from the latest iteration, with Radziwill returning as the anchor. She knows that brings pressure, but she\u2019s confident in herself and her new co-stars: \u201cThe fans will come back for me, but they\u2019ll stay for the cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the show, Radziwill will address her brief mention in the Epstein files as a one-time friend of Ghislaine Maxwell, her response to seeing her friends Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. back in the media long after their death, and the social dynamics of what she feels is a new New York.<\/p>\n

Eight years after she left “RHONY,” Radziwill spoke with Gothamist about what brought her back, why this cast feels more like her New York, and an NYC summer she calls \u201cmagical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gothamist: So, welcome back.<\/p>\n

Carole Radziwill: Thank you.<\/p>\n

You haven\u2019t been on \u201cRHONY\u201d in about a decade. How are you different from the last time we saw you?<\/p>\n

In so many ways, I\u2019m different, but in fundamental ways, I\u2019m the same. There\u2019s something about being older and wiser. I think age is an advantage. Even in this genre, I feel like I\u2019m much more confident about the things I\u2019m doing, my thoughts and ideas, and what I\u2019m saying than I was the first time around.<\/p>\n

What brought you back to “The Real Housewives of New York City?” Why now?<\/p>\n

This was not on my bingo card \u2014 as the kids like to say \u2014 at all. It happened really naturally. My life before was kind of perfect. I was writing \u2014 I have a Substack<\/a> \u2014 and traveling and doing all the things that I love.<\/p>\n

Then I went to BravoCon [Bravo\u2019s multiday fan convention]. I really enjoyed that, and I loved meeting the fans. If I\u2019m going to say anything, this was really manifested by the fans. Even at BravoCon, I gave 50 press interviews, and they all asked me, \u201cAre you coming back?\u201d I absolutely was not coming back. There was no talk about it. Andy [Cohen] never said anything to me about it. There was no intention on Bravo\u2019s part, I believe, and certainly on my part. I was just enjoying the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

When Andy asked me, I was very shocked. Honestly, I thought he was going to ask me to go on “Love Hotel.” I was like, \u201cNot going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this was different. I guess it was an opportunity to get attention [RHONY] again, because I think the fans were pretty shocked. Everyone was like, \u201cOh, OK, this is different.\u201d Listen, I like to say the fans will come back for me, but they\u2019ll stay for the cast.<\/p>\n

What do you think it is about this new group of women that speaks to New York City now versus your previous cast?<\/p>\n

I met a bunch of [the new cast] just in my daily social life in New York. They\u2019re very much out and about in New York City\u2019s social scene. I\u2019m not saying the other women weren\u2019t, but it wasn\u2019t my scene. For the most part, all these women live downtown, which is pretty unique for [\u201cRHONY\u201d].<\/p>\n

That\u2019s sort of what the premise of the “Real Housewives” was: These are friends, or people in each other\u2019s social circles, and now here they are together.<\/p>\n

Andy always said, when asked what makes a good “Housewives”: \u201cFriends.\u201d He was very clear about that. Honestly, if they were all strangers, I don\u2019t think it would have worked. But Andy knew that I knew them, so it felt more natural.<\/p>\n

Although I love the older cast, too. I don\u2019t want anyone to come for me! I do have such an affection. When you go through this experience, you really form a sisterhood. I\u2019ve talked about this. No one quite understands it except for the people who go through it.<\/p>\n

As a New Yorker, how are you feeling about the current state of politics in New York City and beyond?<\/p>\n

I think the culture has shifted so much that to talk about politics on a “Housewives” show just doesn\u2019t feel like a natural fit. Whereas years ago, when I was first on it, it felt like I could talk about the presidential election and it wasn\u2019t so divisive. So I stay away from all of that.<\/p>\n

But in my real life, listen, I think we\u2019re at an inflection point in our country. We have an administration that\u2019s eagerly shown that they\u2019re aggressive in going after the platforms and policies they want to promote. They\u2019re not secret about it. It\u2019s all out there for everyone to read and see.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s a party that, in my opinion, is struggling to compete against that and not coming up with an equal platform: These are the things we\u2019re interested in, whether it\u2019s universal health care, parental leave, immigration reform or economic policies. I don\u2019t see that as strongly on the left. That\u2019s disappointing as someone who\u2019s been a Democrat her whole life.<\/p>\n

Oh, no, that\u2019s a lie. I voted for Ronald Reagan in my first election.<\/p>\n

Scoop.<\/p>\n

I will tell you, in 1984, when he ran for re-election, look at that Electoral College map. Every single state was red except for Minnesota. The country has shifted back and forth, and I\u2019m sure it will shift again. But I think this is a very troubling time.<\/p>\n

Your late husband Prince Andrew Radziwill was a cousin of John F. Kennedy Jr. and you were close with him and Carolyn Bessette. Your first time on “RHONY” you never really talked about your relationship with them. Now you have. Why was this the time?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad you asked me that. It was not the time. It was not on my bingo card. But when I went back on \u201cRHONY\u201d and first started filming, the Ryan Murphy show \u201cLove Story\u201d dropped. I knew that it was going to air – I knew about it maybe a year ahead – but I thought, \u201cI\u2019m not going to watch it, obviously, and it\u2019ll just come and go like other things.\u201d Well, it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

It became such a cultural zeitgeist moment. In those six weeks, it was hard. I\u2019d walk outside and there were billboards. It was on buses, on taxicabs. People were talking about it. I went to dinner several times with friends, and I could hear people at the next table talking about Carolyn Bessette. It was in the air. It was everywhere. It was very difficult. I couldn\u2019t even touch my phone. The algorithm knew.<\/p>\n

While I didn\u2019t watch the show, I saw what was on social media and how people were responding. Plus, I\u2019m very public-facing. I got a thousand DMs from really well-meaning fans asking, \u201cIs this right? Is this right? What do you think of that?\u201d<\/p>\n

I did end up writing about my experience of it on my Substack, I think two or three times. I wrote something in my memoir<\/a> about how, at the end of your life, the only thing you really own is your story. I thought about that, and I believed it back in 2004 or 2005. But actually, it\u2019s not true. You really don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t write about the show per se. I wrote about the collateral damage of the show to me and other close friends of hers and his that I\u2019m still in contact with. Then my husband was a character, so that was just insane.<\/p>\n

While watching it, I wondered if they had reached out to you at all, in any capacity.<\/p>\n

No. They\u2019re so smart. They know that if they reached out to people who really were in their inner circle, I don\u2019t think any of us were going to say, \u201cOh, sure. Let me help you. What do you need?\u201d It\u2019s smarter, I think, to not reach out than to reach out and get a no, because then it\u2019s \u201cThey did reach out, and we said this and this and this.\u201d So, no, there was no reaching out.<\/p>\n

They really relied on tabloid stories about John and Carolyn and some of the books that have been written, including mine. They can take whatever they want and create a TV show, a fiction based on real characters.<\/p>\n

And your experience of that is on the show this season?<\/p>\n

It is. For the first two or three weeks of filming, I felt like I was near tears every single day. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s in the show or what\u2019s not, but there were a couple of times when I was very emotional. It was hard. The other women were watching it and had questions. I understand the curiosity.<\/p>\n

Even my real friends in my real life watched it \u2014 not my inner, inner close friends \u2014 and they would say, \u201cI know, I hate to ask you, but\u2026\u201d I entertain all the questions, but it does have the feeling of being like a body slam.<\/p>\n

You once famously said that you only had five good summers left. A lot happened in New York City this summer. Would you say this was one of New York City\u2019s five good summers?<\/p>\n

Oh, my God. Absof—inglutely. Honestly, I was out there at a [Knicks] watch party sitting on a curb. Someone was projecting the game. Taylor Swift\u2019s wedding. The World Cup!<\/p>\n

Oh, I just got goosebumps. I love the city. It\u2019s really the greatest city in the world, and that\u2019s a hill I will die on. To see it have such a resurgence\u2026 I think it helps that our mayor is really young. Whether you agree with his politics or not, it\u2019s nice to have a young person who has energy and talks like everyone talks.<\/p>\n

I think that made this summer in New York City feel so much more exciting in a way.<\/p>\n

When people ask, I say that whereas I am an American, I just feel like I\u2019m a New Yorker. I think a lot of New Yorkers feel that way. It\u2019s just been a magical summer. And now it\u2019ll be a magical fall; It feels like everyone\u2019s excited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carole Radziwill is a lot of things: a reality TV star, an award-winning journalist, a New York Times…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-341283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}