Carole Radziwill has often been the calm, collected, voice of reason on Real Housewives Of New York. With her wry sense of humor, spot-on sardonic observations, and lucid ability to cut through the drama, it’s surprising that she ever joined a reality show – let alone managed to hang around for three seasons! Yet Carole admits she’s glad she gave it another chance because season 7 is, in her estimation, a “really good season.”
One that almost didn’t happen for Carole! After Aviva Drescher spent all of last season accusing Carole of using a ghostwriter to pen her noted and famed memoir What Remains, Carole almost left the show for besmirching her career. However, the longtime friend of Andy Cohen‘s was swayed back by casting changes, a promise of a different direction for RHONY, and was rewarded with an emotional, honest, and interesting 7th season!
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“I was aware when I signed on again that certain people would not be part of the cast, so that was something. I felt like last year, last season was really unpleasant and honestly, I thought about it. Like, ‘I can’t do this again. These women are just not like me and we don’t have anything in common. I can’t go through this again.'” Carole admits. “I went through all of that in my head, but I didn’t want that feeling to be the final feeling, you know what I mean? …I didn’t want to end on this very dark note, so that was one piece of it.”
“Last year was toxic for a lot of us. It was just more obvious with me, but it wasn’t a great environment,” Carole reminds. “It got very nasty and dark. Clearly the audience was not into that.” Clearly. Ratings were abysmal spawning multiple rumors that Bravo was canceling the once powerhouse franchise, instead they brought on Bethenny Frankel, revamped with other casting changes and brought RHONY back to its glitzy, quintessential NYC roots – along with honest relationships and genuine focus on the ladies’ lifestyles. This year Carole promises the drama is “real” and “authentic” and less about drama for the sake of drama!
“This year it’s more Shakespearean. It’s highs and lows with a thread of comedy going through the whole thing,” Carole cites. “There are a lot of women, first of all, and there’s a lot of emotion. A lot of crying—even I cried! [Laughs.]…Emotions ran really deep and it was real. But then there were really fun times, too.”
As for Aviva’s firing, Carole believes the audience will be “relieved” to see Aviva, her leg toss, and her perverted father George get the boot (pun intended!). “I think it’s probably best for her not to be on television. She doesn’t do herself any favors. I’m sure in her real life, off camera, she’s doing well.” I guess Carole forgot Aviva just had a riveting stint on Marriage Bootcamp…
In fact Carole says her established friendships with the majority of the cast is what convinced her to give it another round. “It felt natural that we’d all be friends,” she tells E! News. “I just thought I’m going to do it again and see what happens. I’m glad I did, I had a really good time this season. It was fun, even though there was drama and silliness and tears.”
This time around Carole will deal with an emotional storyline of her own when she confronts the death of her husband Anthony Radziwill. Carole believes it was important to show that aspect of her life.
“There’s a moment at the end that was a little overwhelming and it did get more emotional than I did anticipate, but I’m OK with that,” Carole reveals. “I think it was true and authentic and I think producers are respectful…and I appreciated that. I think it’s an interesting story to tell, certainly came out of the blue for me and was a little unusual…”
“I wouldn’t say the cameras were cathartic, but I’m on the show. I made a deal with myself, if I’m on the show I’m going to show what’s going on in my life. I do that pretty honestly,” Carole believes. Luckily she had fell0w-widow Dorinda Medley for support as the two took an emotional trip to London to deal with matters related to Carole’s late husband.
In a nutshell Carole says, “”I laughed, I cried, I met a handsome man, So, it couldn’t be better than that.” Agreed.
I’m a huge Carole fan and will readily admit it. Maybe it’s the fellow-writer girlness, maybe it’s because I really respect her first book, maybe because I’ve always been obsessed with Lee Radziwill and dream a little dream that she’ll one day appear on RHONY (I know it will never happen…) or maybe it’s because Carole’s approach to RHONY feels the most how I would treat dealing with reality TV, so I’m glad she stuck around. Besides we need a sobering influence to balance out Tweedle Drunk and Tweedled F–ked (that would be Ramona and Sonja).
Below Carole shared a few photos from RHONY!
TELL US – ARE YOU GLAD CAROLE RETURNED? SURPRISED?
[Photo Credit: Mathieu Young/Bravo]
Credit: Instagram
“Coming up soon….We are all a little bit of nuts. #RHONY #bunny #boobs #bravo #blackjack #atlanticcity #nyc” credit: instagram
