“We’ve been working on this for a while and I’m excited for people to meet the new Housewives.”
Andy Cohen opened up about the casting shakeup at “The Real Housewives of Orange County.”
During his Wednesday broadcast of SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, the Bravo boss gave his thoughts on the bombshell news of Kelly Dodd, Elizabeth Lyn Vargas and Braunwyn Windham-Burke exiting the reality series.
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“We’ve been working on this for a while and I’m excited for people to meet the new Housewives who haven’t been announced,” he began. “I will say regarding Braunwyn, I really, really give it up to her and commend her for being so open and letting us in, especially relating to her journey with sobriety.”
Not only did Braunwyn reveal she was an alcoholic during her stint, the mother of seven came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community as well.
“She was going through some really serious life stuff on the show and she didn’t shy away from sharing it with us, which I always appreciate.”
He did, however, reveal that her appearance on the recent reunion episodes made him and other producers feel like her “being on TV” wasn’t “the healthiest spot for her and her family.”
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“I think she was dealing with some real, real stuff with herself, with her marriage, with her children. It was a lot. Yeah.”
As for Dodd, Cohen said she made for great television.
“I have to say wildly funny and entertaining for many years on the show,” he added. “And just — really had people talking for many, many years. Thank you to Kelly for her service, honestly.”
In another segment of his radio program, Cohen got candid about Erika Jayne’s future on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” after the documentary “The Housewife and the Hustler” debuted on Monday.
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Centering on Jayne and her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s legal woes, including alleged embezzlement, the ABC News Originals film featured testimonies from Housewives’ alums Danielle Staub and Dana Wilkey.
“I don’t think that documentary will affect her future on the show,” Cohen argued. “I will say the idea that Danielle Staub and Dana Wilkey are the experts in this documentary about Erika is questionable at best. So I kind of realized I wasn’t gonna learn anything new from them about Erika.”
“The Tom Girardi stories continue to be deeply disturbing,” he added. “We have to see how this plays out.”
