Atlanta takes ‘Housewives’ to a new level

< Prev | 1 | 2

Television video

TODAY

Billy Ray Cyrus plans holiday concert for troops
Dec. 10: Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus chats with the TODAY hosts about his holiday concert in Iraq and his new Hallmark Channel movie, "Christmas in Canaan."

Lisa Ling exposes dangerous drug war in Ariz.

Kate Gosselin one of ABC's 'most fascinating'

TV show exposes ugly side of dog breeding

Gumbel opens up about cancer

New York’s oddballs
The “New York” edition has gained a cult following for its cast of highly competitive oddballs: Frankel, who has man problems; de Lesseps, who leaves her kids at home to hit the town with her 23-year-old niece; Alex McCord, who insists her toddler learns to speak French; Jill Zarin, who wears suede bell bottoms to a construction site; and social outcast Ramona Singer, who lashes out at McCord for bringing her husband to a ladies’ dinner.

Frankel, who knew only Zarin before being cast on the show, said they represent “an older ’Sex and the City’ married life.” Frankel, 37 and single, called herself “the poor one.”

She said that part of the show’s appeal was its ability to polarize.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

“Some people are angry because they say, ‘This is not really New York,’ and, of course, it’s not entirely New York,” she said. “There are people at poetry readings in the Village and people doing drugs in Washington Square Park — which has nothing to do with our lives — but it’s just a slice of New York and truth is stranger than fiction.”

Keough, a former Playboy Playmate who now sells multimillion-dollar properties, said she would never live in New York and send her kids to school in a taxi. After meeting Frankel and company, she thought, “They all have publicists, and we’re like, ‘Why bother? It’s not our real job.”’

“You live in large houses, but I don’t think any of us — you know, we don’t have yachts and boats and airplanes and stuff,” Keough said. “I don’t think we live large. I think I’m middle class.”

She said the Atlanta women, three of whom married athletes, may suffer from “new money syndrome.”

“That goes fast, you get over that,” she said. “There’s only so much jewelry and cars you can have and then you start saying, ‘OK, this is stupid.”’

Has she ever suffered from the condition?

“Yes, well I still do. I still have six cars. It’s just stupid. There’s always one in the shop — and a pain in the butt.”

< Prev | 1 | 2