While Jill Zarin and Alex McCord are officially out of the Real Housewives of New York City, they won’t go quietly into that famewhore night and continue to draw attention to themselves, no matter what. We’ll start with the grossest news. Somehow, Alex was able to get press for a very odd passage in her “urban parenting” book, which was released two years ago, Little Kids Big City. They weren’t getting enough hate messages on Twitter, so they decided to promote the passage below, describing husband Simon VanKempen‘s reaction to the au naturale birth of son, François. Alex describes her natural birth as:
“Once he was finally out of my body, I experienced a tsunami of endorphins that was almost orgasmic and I understand completely the stories other women have written about ecstastic birth. Simon was sitting behind me at the point of birth, and later when we untangled ourselves he discovered he’d actually ejaculated though hadn’t felt any of the normal lead-up to that.”
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Photos below include: Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy out for a stroll; Real Housewives of Miami star Joanna Krupa protesting at DASH; Simon Van Kempen and Alex McCord attend an event; Phaedra Parks in NYC; Debbie Gibson and Aubrey O’Day at the Crystal Light launch; Peggy Tanous attends an event and many more!
Also featured: Pauly D, Giuliana Rancic and Bill Rancic, Dayana Mendoza, Coco Austin and Ice-T, Dee Snider, Tyra Banks, Lisa Lampanelli, Gene Simmons, Anita Gohari (Shahs of Sunset), Rachel Zoe, and so many more!
[Photo credit: Pacific Coast News]
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It’s hard to believe, looking back, that Jill Zarin and Ramona Singer were ever friends. Well, not friends, per se, but at least frienemies! And after four seasons and one firing, the duo whose relationship rapidly deteriorated into a ‘her or me’ situation at Bravo still can’t stand each other!
Speaking to HollywoodLife, Ramona opens up about her animosity towards a certain former co-star! “Jill and I, it’s really funny because we were better friends before the show aired than now,” Ramona explains. “But you know, we’re still … when I see her, we’re still friendly. But do I spend time with her? No.”
And Ramona is still accusing Jill of talking about her to the media! “She makes up stories just for the press. If she were a different type of person, I would talk about it.”
Ramona still likes one of her former co-workers though – she is still the best of friends with Alex McCord! Am I the only person who just simply doesn’t buy this? “The only person I spend time with is Alex,” Ramona reveals. “I’ve always been friends with [her] on and off camera.”
“When you’re good friends with someone, you’re good friends forever,” Ramona added. “With Alex and I, we did develop a true friendship and I will always be there if she needs me. I know she’ll be there for me.”
“Whenever I pick up the phone with her, it’s just like I saw her yesterday,” she describes. “That’s what true friendship is.” Well, that’s very nice.
Moving on, Jill is still selling shapewear—she’ll be on HSN very soon—and she is still talking Real Housewives of New York! The former reality star, who claims to be in talks with Fox for her own show, says she has no hard feelings towards her still employed former co-stars.
“I will definitely watch next season of the Real Housewives of New York, I am looking forward to it,” Jill insists to RadarOnline. “It is funny how the press misrepresents me sometimes but the truth is that I have absolutely no animosity towards the show, Bravo or any of the girls, I wish them all the best and am sure the show is going to do very well.”
She also reminds us that even girls with hot bodies like Kelly Bensimon and LuAnn de Lesseps wear shapewear. “Countess Luann and Kelly have great bodies and they were fighting over my shape wear, they both wear it, you would be surprised to hear the list of people who wear it!” Those two fighting over shapewear? Now that’s some footage I don’t want to see!
[Photos Credit: WENN]
SHOULD RAMONA AND JILL GET OVER THEIR FEUD ALREADY? DO YOU BELIEVE RAMONA AND ALEX HAVE AN AUTHENTIC FRIENDSHIP? IS JILL OVER BEING FIRED OR NOT?
It’s as if one franchise slowly rose up after hearing that other (more blonde and tan) franchises were getting more press. So here we are, back with the Real Housewives of New York, fresh with some new gossip…Zarin style.
After the firing heard ’round the Bravo world, Radaronline.com is reporting that the Queen of Mean Princess of Park Avenue Jill Zarin has been asked to rejoin the cast. The season seems to be taking an exceedingly long time to wrap, leading some to believe that there’s just no excitement with the new ladies. It would make sense that Bravo wanted to bring back the franchise’s resident pot stirrer.
Jill, who claims she was contacted by a show insider, explains that the offer was too little too late. She maintains she was happy to get the boot along with cast mates Alex McCord, Cindy Barshop, and Kelly Bensimon.
Jill insists, “I thought about quitting the show during season 4, because my husband wanted his wife back. I had such anxiety and pressure to act a certain way and I was paranoid for a reason, because people were planning and plotting against me.” Planning and plotting? Sounds like a James Patterson novel, not a trip to Morocco to break up the monotony of Upper East Side luncheons and weekends in Quogue the Hamptons!
“I’m too old and have grown up too much to do Real Housewives anymore, I want to set an example to my kids and my grandkids,” she continues. Not to mention that she doesn’t need RHONY to be in the spotlight…she has a new show for that.
Jill will be returning to the small screen on the Cooking Channel, starring in Iron Chef America’s Top 5 Moments in Kitchen Stadium History. I remember her being quite the Paula Deen of the Housewives…um…And, if you miss her on Iron Chef, you can still catch her on the Home Shopping Networking, hawking her Skweez Couture shapewear line on February 10th.
However, Gossipcop.com is saying that the offer never happened! The site claims to have been told by a true Bravo insider that Mrs. Zarin was never contacted to return to the show. Other media outlets are also reporting Bravo is adamantly denying Jill’s claims. Hmmm…something sounds fishy. Is the source insinuating that Jill Zarin would actually make up a story to get press and remain relevant? I don’t buy it…much like I won’t be buying anything called Skweez. If only there was someone who could shed some light on this confusion. But wait…
THERE IS!
After all the hullabaloo, Jill felt the need to take to her personal blog to respond to such preposterous claims. Personal blogs are way classier than twitter, you know. Get the memo, Atlanta! After seeing Radaronline.com’s story, Jill was quick to address the gossip (or is it?) on–where else?–jillzarin.com. Part of that statement, typos and all, is below.
“I have to admit that most of it is….TRUE! Shocking..I know. but…most of the questions I answered a long time ago from and older interview. I was asked but someone I can’t mention..if I would be interested in coming back for a cameo. That is all I will say right now . I won’t say when or by whom..actually , ironically it was more than one person. It is true that Bobby asked me not to come back. Actually that was reported in the NY POST on Page 6 in July 2011. We were overheard at a restaurant talking and he begged me not to go back on the show but to please quit. I NEVER told any one this but…I actually emailed some of the ladies and producers a goodbye letter, wishing them all well and why I wanted to leave while we were still on top. Maybe I will publish the email one day. But then I didn’t quit. I will save that story for another day…”
Somewhere Simon van Kempen is wearing a dashiki and calling Andy Cohen on speed dial wondering why he and his Brooklyn bride were not asked to make cameos. Y’all know I’m right!
Not one to be left out when the “brunettes” are making news, Kelly Bensimon is also making headlines for committing the ultimate in celebrity cardinal sins…dating one of Madonna’s exes. And not just any ex, she’s reportedly seeing the father of Madonna’s tween daughter Lourdes, Carlos Leon. #dontcrossmadgesheisfrightening! The huffingtonpost.com has the deets.
The potential new couple was spotted walking together–gasp!–in the East Village this past weekend. Kelly’s “friends” predict that we will be seeing even more of the twosome in the future.
One such pal reveals, “They started out working on a project together but have since gotten very close. Kelly always says that if you are not married or engaged, you are single. So, technically she is still single, but we all know that they are together.”
While Kelly herself declined to comment on the nature of the relationship, she did admit, “We met seven months ago. I’m casting him for the show I Can Make You Hot. Have you met him? He’s an amazing dancer and athlete and jelly bean connoisseur.”
I’m sure Madonna isn’t batting an eyelash at this news. She’s probably used to it seeing as another of her former flames was linked to former RHONY’s Bethenny Frankel. When the Material Girl split from baseballer Alex Rodriguez in 2009, he reportedly found comfort in the arms of a Skinny Girl. No word yet as to whether Madonna ever dated Ross/Jacques.
Photos of Carlos are below!
[Photos Credit: WENN]
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF JILL ZARIN’S INTERVIEW? DO YOU BELIEVE SHE WAS CONTACTED BY BRAVO OR IS SHE JUST TRYING TO GET MORE ATTENTION? IS KELLY DATING CARLOS LEON?
Well they weren’t off our TVs for long! Three of the four fired Real Housewives of New York stars are reportedly moving onto new reality shows. We all knew they wouldn’t go quietly!
Hot on the heals of news that the indomitable Jill Zarin is in talks with Fox to get a new show based around her moving to Beverly Hills, here come the rumblings of other fellow firees seeking the spotlight again.
First up is Silex! Alex McCordand Simon van Kempen circulated an email amongst their friends pitching a new reality show. The crafty NY Post was able to obtain a copy of said email, which basically calls Bravo out for creating “faux reality shows.” You don’t say! Alluding to their experiences on RHONY and referring to their former job as a “trainwreck!” You mean the friendship between Bethenny andAlex wasn’t real!?
“While we were sad to lose the dollars . . . we weren’t sad to be off that particular show,” Alex and Simon’s email reads. “Now that we are free-and-clear of our Bravo contracts, we have been meeting with . . . just about every cable network as well as a couple of the main networks,” in the hopes to interest someone — anybody, really — in a reality show about 30-something parents in Brooklyn. “We would never expose ourselves to another faux reality show,” the email reassured prospective castmates, alluding to the behind the scenes magicians at Bravo!
Despite their unsavory experiences in front of the camera broadcasting their basement office and munster shoes for all the world to see, Silex still craves the spotlight and is hoping to start a new show based upon their fabulous Brooklynite lives of raising kids, hawking towels, Twittering and dishing about being the daughter of an oil barron (remember Alex like grew up super rich in Kansas, ya’all!). Except this time Brooklyn isn’t going to be the laughingstock of said show; this new show is going to prove to Americans that Brooklyn, and it’s inhabitants, are really, really cool. Hey, I like Brooklyn!
The show, which is tentatively titled “Based in Brooklyn,” seeks to shine a light into the culture Silex dubs “Brownstone Brooklyn” a.k.a. yuppies converting the borough into a trendy place to live.
When the Post asked Alex if she would consider selling her new show to Bravo, you know that network that produces faux reality shows, she suddenly got flustered. “I don’t know, I hadn’t, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t, it’s not just me either if we did this it would be Simon and me together,” Alex confessed.
Next up, Kelly Bensimon was apparently overheard talking about her new reality venture while she judged the Miss New York USA pageant this past week. The New York Daily News eavesdropped on the cray-cray one asking a famous blogger if he would be interested in a guest appearance on her new show.
What new show, you ask? Supposedly Kelly, who is a self-proclaimed expert on hotness, is working on a TV project to coincide with her upcoming book, “I Can Make You Hot!: The Supermodel Diet,” which hits shelves in April. Well, in my mind the first element of hotness is being sane, so I don’t think I could take any of Kelly’s advice seriously!
[Photo Credit: WENN.com]
WOULD YOU WATCH ALEX’S OR KELLY’S NEW SHOWS? ARE YOU SURPRISED THEY ARE RE-SEEKING THE SPOTLIGHT?
Speaking to Access Atlanta while promoting Skweeze Couture (is anyone buying that?), the formidable former Housewife was refreshingly candid, which means she basically put her foot in her mouth and said things that are bound to get the public all riled up!
Jill admits she would have “liked to stay on the show” for the opportunity and income it provided, but she isn’t necessarily sad it ended! “Now that I’m off the show, I can see my reputation getting better,” she insists. “Things improved season four after it was damaged season three. People are starting to realize, watching other reality shows, that maybe they were too harsh on me.” We are? Well perhaps, in light of former bestie and co-star Bethenny Frankel’s latest issues with the media some fans may be reconsidering their opinions of Jill and the demise of her friendship with Bethenny.
About that feud… Jill was eager to address that what we saw on TV was not necessarily how it played out in real life. Cue the Producer Manipulation accusation employed by all reality stars in times of strife! Jill insists that the time Bethenny called her to discuss their imploding friendship and Jill put her on speaker phone while her new BFF, LuAnn de Lesseps was sitting next to her to over-hear everything wasn’t to be mean and catty, but to accommodate the producers! Apparently, Jill didn’t realize Bethenny also had a camera crew with her at that same time. Oops. Regardless, that doesn’t redeem all the catty comments!
Jill cites another incident where she put former cast-mate Ramona Singer on speakerphone only for Ramona to make rude comments about LuAnn while LuAnn was sitting right there!
Despite the pain it caused her and the loss of her friendship with Bethenny, Jill (who once said she thought the feud was manufactured for TV drama purposes) is thankful for her experiences on RHONY. “Four years was much longer than I ever thought the show would last,” she reveals. “I’m grateful. And the show lives on. Plus, repeats are now being rolled out in other countries so I get emails all over the world asking me if I’m still best friends with Bethenny.” I wonder if she tells them to Google IHJZ!?
Jill claims she sensed her time was coming to an end with Bravo and was prepared and expressed her disappointment over the reactions of other fired Housewives, namely Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen who asserted Jill was responsible for Alex’s termination! Alex is quoted as saying Jill has “been trying to get me off the show for a number of years. She succeeded…She’s a manipulator and she’s very good at feeding information to her own end.”
“I was disappointed by what they said,” Jill reflected. “It hurt my feelings. For good or bad, we made great television. We had fun together. Season four, I didn’t have one fight with Alex. We got along in Morocco. Don’t go after me. Go after another housewife that did something to you, not me.”
“After we were let go that Saturday night, I reached out to all the girls, including Alex and Simon. I said if you need me for anything, I get booked for appearances and if they need other people, I can suggest you. Now I don’t want to work with them,” Jill remarks. “I was trying to be nice.”
Jill assures us, once again, she is not finished with reality TV! Apparently her Bravo contract “limited her ability to make appearances on shows on rival networks”, but since the “The Golden Child” Bethenny was able to appear on the horrible Skating With The Stars, Jill believes she’ll be able to go to another network, no problem. In fact, she is “in talks” to do a new show though nothing is set in stone just yet. I seriously hope it has nothing to do with Patti Stanger’s proposed “Glamazons”!
“I think people are going to miss me,” Jill believes, confident that once Season 5 premieres without her everyone is going to wish she was still included in the cast. I wouldn’t bet too much money on that one, Jill!
In other Jill news, the product she is desperately hawking, Skweeze Couture, is on the market and Jill insists she knows what she’s doing! “It’s not like I’m a celebrity who woke up and said, ‘Oh, let me do a line of this or that.’ What I’m doing makes sense based on what I already know. I feel like I’m filling a void.” Apparently, lots of women need girdles!
Apparently. Since the NY Daily News reviewed Skweeze (and two other shapewear companies, although not Skinnygirl Shapewear) and found that while it definitely sucks in your fat, you might need “the Jaws of Life” to remove it! When asked if Skweeze was supposed to be so um… restricting, Jill replied: “I didn’t make it to be comfortable, I made it to work!” Well the reviews are in and it works, it’s just about the most uncomfortable garment ever manufactured, but “it lives up to its name!”
[Photo Credit: PNP/ WENN.com]
THOUGHTS ON JILL’S INTERVIEW? ARE YOU SURPRISED SHE IS STILL TALKING ABOUT GETTING FIRED? DO YOU THINK HER SPEAKER PHONE GAFF WAS INTENTIONAL OR AT THE BEHEST OF THE PRODUCERS? WOULD YOU TRY SKWEEZE AFTER READING THE REVIEW?
Bringing you a special Halloween photo post today!
Above is a photo of current and former Bravolebrities — Teresa Giudice, Alex McCordand Simon Van Kempenpictured with Marc Bouwer at his Pop Art Halloween party in New York City on October 29.
Below more Teresa and Silex, Bethenny Frankel in a Hello Kitty costume! Kyle Richards is a sexy cop, Camille Grammer is a pirate, Kim Kardashian (before filing for divorce) dresses up solo as Poison Ivy, plus Melissa Gorga, Snooki, Scott Disick, JWoww, Heidi Klum, Holly Madison & more!
Photo credit: Credit: Ivan Nikolov/WENN.com
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The recently fired, former Real Housewives of New York couple makes it clear to Wetpaint, that they’re not going anywhere as they threaten promise a return to reality television! And true to form Simon van Kempen does most of the talking in the interview! “I wouldn’t write us off TV just yet, but it’s a bit too early to confirm anything,” Simon promises.
Although Simon claims a return to reality TV would probably not include Bravo, he insists the couple “left on good terms” and the door is still open for a return to HW. I mean after all, Alex McCord got a spot on the Real Housewives Live Tour and “she’s the only “fired” Housewife to do the tour,” Simon boasts of his wife. Victory in small things! A photo of Alex attending the HW tour is below.
“If the rumors are true and they open the door to come back, then, maybe not,” Simon assures. Making sure to reiterate Bravo still likes them – they really do and reality TV is their destiny, “the doors are certainly open because we’ve now left and whether it’s with Housewives or with Bravo or another network, that remains to be seen, but we’ll come back on your TV screens sometime in 2012.” Oh, yay! Or Oh, No! I can’t decide which.
While the couple is most definitely promising a return to our TV screens, they haven’t quit their day jobs just yet (they’re not making that mistake again!) and are hard at work on Aluxe Home, raising their two boys, and supporting many charitable causes – including working together with LuAnnde Lesseps!
“I had wanted to do a home line for years, and Simon jumped on board with that completely — we do everything as a team,” Alex reminds us. “After several potential deals that didn’t go through, we decided that going into partnership with a factory was a really good bet,” which is how they ended up with Aluxe Home. Alex shares that a big inspiration for the line was color, and a desire to create a more sophisticated style of children’s bedding.
Alex also talks family and apparently the couple are not planning for anymore children. But why – it would make for such good TV! “Our family is complete with 2 kids — Simon and I both agreed that we did not want to be outnumbered,” Alex laughs! “Simon and I went from being adamant that we would never have kids, to changing our minds and embracing parenthood (and luckily that happened before our first child arrived!).”
As for working together with LuAnn, Alex explains: “we are putting aside our Housewives differences to support Breast Cancer survivors in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” Wow…I’m shocked, but in a good way.
Photo credit: WENN
THOUGHTS ON SILEX’S POTENTIAL RETURN TO TELEVISION? SHOULD THEY GIVE IT UP ALREADY OR DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF THEM? WOULD YOU BUY PRODUCTS FROM THEIR NEW BEDDING LINE?
