Jenna Lyons Has Conditions For ‘Real Housewives’ Return

By Emma Chance | TV | March 29, 2024 |

By Emma Chance | TV | March 29, 2024 |

When The Real Housewives of New York City was rebooted with an entirely new cast, Jenna Lyons, former president and creative director of J.Crew, was the big name, and she didn’t fit in with the rest of the women on the cast from the jump. They were younger and straighter and not quite as famous and just in general seemed to resent Lyons for being so…well…cool. For a while there the major drama of the season was “Jenna, why don’t you like hanging out with us?” (read in whiney middle schooler voice).

Viewers were not expecting Lyons to return for a second season. Frankly, she just doesn’t need it. But news broke yesterday that everyone from the first reboot season is returning, including Jenna Lyons. I was hoping we’d maybe lose Sai De Silva and Erin Lichy and replace them with a couple of Jenna’s cool friends, but I’ll take what I can get.

But Lyons, apparently, had some conditions, to which Bravo was (wisely) “very amenable.”

Number one was that her girlfriend would not appear on camera. “I have a relationship, but I would like to not name her,” she told The New York Times. “I want to keep her out of the press. That is my commitment to her. It’s off the table. I joined this process. She did not.” Fair enough.

Next was her son, Beckett Mazeau. “There was a lot of filming in the home, and it was just exhausting. It’s so disruptive,” she said. “They were very open to reducing that exposure and not having so much ‘home time.’ My son is prepping for college. It’s a very intense time.”

As for how she fits in with the rest of the cast, she said, “I did pay attention to my comments. What I was shocked by, and one of the reasons I did feel comfortable going back, is people were so nice. I thought I would take heat for some things, here and there, and I didn’t at all.”

She also doesn’t mind admitting that her visibility on the show helps her business. Not only did her Instagram following skyrocket, but business is booming for her false eyelashes brand, LoveSeen. “It was shocking to see the results,” she said.

And speaking of visibility, she says it’s not lost on her that being an openly gay woman on a network television is a big deal.

“What is consistently surprising to me, and such a tender moment, is the number of people that either DM or come up to me on the street and are like, ‘It’s amazing to see an openly gay woman on national television being themselves,’” she said. “I know that seems trite. It’s not the reason I’m doing it, and I wouldn’t lie to you and say that it is. I don’t think I’m here to be the spokesperson. That has been a really nice side effect of the show.”