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“Shannon lives way beyond her means,” says the aptly named Tamra Judge in the latest episode of Bravo’s Real Housewives of Orange County. “She throws money around as if she’s a multi-millionaire, and she’s not.”
The women of RHOC are on a cast trip to London, where questions about money have so far dominated their time in the British capital. First, Shannon Beador — the trip’s makeshift “host”— gave the women some expensive gifts, including Burberry scarves, as a thank-you for celebrating her 60th birthday across the pond. Her generosity raised the eyebrows of some of her castmates, including bestie-turned-nemesis Judge, who questioned why she was splurging while locked in an expensive legal battle. Throughout this season, Beador has been in a dispute with her ex-boyfriend, John Janssen, who claims he loaned her $75,000 to pay for a facelift while they were together and now wants to be repaid. (She disputes that the money was a loan.)
Next, the side-eye of judgment was directed at Jen Pedranti, who has been experiencing financial difficulties herself. Amid a drawn-out divorce with her ex-husband, the sophomore OC Housewife fell behind on her rent and car payments. On the trip to London, Pedranti got her hair and makeup done professionally, presumably at some personal cost, which didn’t sit with her co-stars. It then transpired that, despite complaining about only receiving $6,000 in child support a month to support five children, Pedranti dropped $2,000 on a Dolce & Gabbana dress for a recent cast event. “I wouldn’t spend that kind of money if I can’t pay rent or my car payment,” chastised her co-star Emily Simpson, who had previously shouted at Pedranti for flaunting her Rolex watch while owing people money.
Back in 2006, when the Real Housewives of Orange County kickstarted one of the world’s most influential reality franchises, its initial premise was to lift the lid on the lives of glamorous women living in Orange County’s most exclusive gated communities. Fans were immediately drawn into the idea of watching the rich be rich. But nearly two decades later, viewers are also enjoying the honesty of the women of RHOC as they peel back the curtain of their financial realities — no matter how thick or thin their bank accounts may be.
And now, a wealth divide has developed. Not only between co-stars, but between the different shows in the Housewives Universe, too. These disparities represent a collision between the original premise of Bravo’s flagship franchise — a fly-on-the-wall look at filthy rich “housewives” — and its present incarnation as a self-promotion machine, where being a Real Housewife is not as easy as simply being rich. With Housewives of such varying net worths, fans often seem conflicted about whether they want over-the-top opulence or so-called “relatability” from the women they watch. Reading between these contradictions, one thing is clear: Money can’t buy you class (according to Countess Luann), but it also can’t buy iconic Housewife status. It takes something more.
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In the earliest seasons of RHOC, most of the ‘wives (except workaholic Vicki Ganvalson and realtor Jeana Keough) were essentially “kept women” with wealthy husbands. But the franchise also dealt with money problems almost from the start. When the global recession hit in 2008, a show that started off flaunting immense wealth suddenly had to grapple with the reality that some of its cast might be falling out of the one percent. Lynne Curtin was famously served an eviction notice as Bravo’s cameras rolled, and during a tense conversation with her husband, she learned that he had hidden the dire state of the family finances from her. In the show’s fourth season, Gretchen Rossi had a garage sale, Keough went shopping with her daughter at H&M (oh, the shame!), and Tamra Judge had to fire her maid. Times were tough.
No matter how far removed these privileged women might have seemed from the average American, watching them cut back in times of economic strife actually made viewers feel closer to them. But after a brief flirtation with relatability, the wider franchise returned to its roots and became even more reverential of wealth. The next Housewives shows to arrive between 2008 and 2010 — New York City, Atlanta, and Beverly Hills — were more flashy than ever. The first season of RHOBH featured Camille Grammer, wife of actor Kelsey Grammer, raising two children with four full-time nannies, while Taylor Armstrong spent $60,000 on a four-year-old’s birthday party. Yes, plucky underdogs such as Brandi Glanville soon appeared, but Luann De Lesseps distilled the overall vibe of these shows in her first-ever RHONY tagline: “I never feel guilty for being privileged.”
This worked for a while, but eventually, the idea that wealth was a prerequisite for being a Housewife slowly changed. In the modern-day Bravo world, the title “Housewife” has invoked a sense of irony for a while now. Not only do the current women not have to be married to be on the show, but they don’t have to be “housewives” either. If anything, the notion of being “just a housewife” is frowned upon. It’s pretty rare to see someone like Pedranti — who doesn’t support herself financially or have an income stream beyond her Bravo salary — on the franchise. Instead, there has been a gradual move toward entrepreneurs, lawyers, doctors, real estate developers, actresses, designers, PR mavens, and many more professions. It’s not just about being wealthy but constructing the image of a #GirlBoss.
This can be roughly traced back to Bethenny Frankel. Bravo’s biggest star-turned-antagonist started out on the show as a (gasp!) renter who didn’t have the old-money status of her co-stars. In fact, producers have famously said that her single status and then-low net worth almost kept the network from casting her on the show. But during her time on RHONY, she founded Skinnygirl — a company that she now says turns over close to $200m a year. In 2011, Frankel sold the cocktail division alone for a reported $100m. Since then, the franchise has been a revolving door of product launches and business ventures, with the women trying (and mostly failing) to emulate her success in using the show as a stepping stone to entrepreneurship. Bravo even later added a “Bethenny clause” to contracts, which allows the network to take a slice of businesses that are promoted on the show. Despite this, it wasn’t just Frankel’s business savvy that made her one of the all-time great Housewives; it was her willingness to constantly “mention it all!” and razor-sharp wit that made her an icon — she just happened to get rich while doing it.
Looking at Pedranti now, she is a reminder of how much the Housewives franchise has changed. She feels like a throwback to someone like Lynne Curtin because, in some ways, she does represent the original premise of the show. She has talked about how, until she found herself single for the first time, she didn’t have her own credit card and had no idea how to do basic things like paying bills. She’s always been a “kept woman” — or in other words, a housewife. In the current era, representing this old-school archetype had led to Pedranti being continuously called out and shamed by her co-stars for being irresponsible with money. (Even if they seem to be ignoring the elephant in the room, which is that when she films with them, she’s technically at work.) Last season, she was shamed for wearing designer fakes, and this season, she’s being shamed for buying the real thing. But regardless of what her castmates may think, fans have found her honesty about her situation and her struggle to adapt to her new life refreshing. She may not be rich, but on the show, she’s proving to be a success regardless.
While these shows have always represented varying wealth scales, the extreme financial differences that we’re now seeing can sometimes still feel odd. On RHOC last season, for example, fans watched “fancy pants” Heather Dubrow and her plastic surgeon husband, Terry, sell their palatial mansion for $50m. (The couple currently resides in three properties: Orange County, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills.) Meanwhile, Kirschenheiter (who has long been cruelly mocked for living in a “casita” after her divorce) is in the process of moving out from her long-term boyfriend, Travis Mullen, because the two of them couldn’t afford a big enough home together for their collective six children. Add in Pedranti being thousands of dollars behind on rent and Beador’s lawsuit, and you have a hodge-podge of money problems. It can be a little awkward watching someone like Beador hysterically crying over a $75,000 lawsuit on the shoulder of a co-star who, two seasons ago, casually spent $40,000 on one dinner party at Nobu.
The Housewives existing on such a large spectrum of wealth has also left fans conflicted about what they want to watch: realistic portrayals of women trying to make it in the world or women so rich you couldn’t even dream of walking in their (expensive) shoes. On one hand, some fans have praised Kirschenheiter and Pedranti for being honest about their financial struggles, but they have also criticized Bravo for not showcasing enough glitz and glamor. Shows like Real Housewives of Potomac, which follows the lives of women in one of the most expensive communities in America, have been called out for being “low-budget.” (The Season Eight cast trip to Austin featured a hotel in the middle of a construction site, while the homes of several cast members were derided for not being fancy enough.) Fans were also disappointed when, in back-to-back seasons, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast was unable to take trips outside the U.S. because of former cast member Jen Shah’s bail conditions.
Bravo seems to be aware of these demands. In 2022, executive producer and reunion host Andy Cohen described how the wealth on RHOBH has helped the show to become the franchise’s “crown jewel.” “People love watching how these rich women live,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. And earlier this year, when updating fans on casting for RHONY’s fifteenth season, which is currently airing, Cohen teased that the network was casting “rich,” as if to assure any fan anxieties. Sure enough, Rebecca Minkoff — a designer who sold her eponymous brand for a reported $19m in 2022 — joined the cast. But this season of RHONY aired to strikingly poor ratings. The latest season of Real Housewives of Dubai (another of Bravo’s flashiest casts) drew in such measly numbers that cancelation rumors are swirling, so it’s clear that you can’t buy an audience. Truthfully, fans want to have their caviar and eat it too: They say their Housewives should be “real” and an emotional open book while still providing non-stop wealthy escapism. That’s a tough task. On this season of RHOC, Dubrow has been accused by some fans of being “elitist” and “out of touch,” which seems like a strange complaint to make about someone whose on-screen nickname is literally “fancy pants.”
The differing status of these women represents tensions between the franchise’s past, present, and future. At the center of the Real Housewives Wealth Divide lies the question: What makes an iconic Real Housewife? Money is just one of many things that puts someone like Dubrow or RHOBH’s Lisa Vanderpump among the all-time greats. The current RHONY cast — who were entirely replaced for season 14 — might be wealthier than their predecessors, but you’d be hard-pressed to argue that any of them are quite as beloved as Sonja Morgan, who was declared bankrupt several times during her stint on the show. Monica Garcia briefly became a fan favorite on RHOSLC despite having her card declined multiple times on a cast trip. And Elton John’s bestie Diana Jenkins was one of the franchise’s wealthiest-ever stars, but she only lasted one season on RHOBH and was disliked (to put it very mildly) by fans.
In this week’s episode, while defending herself for the infamous $2,000 dress purchase, Pedranti turned to Dubrow and said: “You’re always in head-to-toe designer,” prompting Judge to respond: “Yeah because she has the money.” With such a variety of experiences — and bank balances — the women of RHOC are proving that there are multiple takes on Real Housewifery. Whether it’s Pedranti having the guts to film a heartbreaking sit-down with her teenage son, where he announced he was going to live with his dad, or Beador whipping out a stack of (literal) paper receipts to prove she spent $60,000 on her ex, the key ingredient is something the one percent aren’t exactly known for: Sharing. It’s not all about what you have, but how much of your life you’re willing to share.
