Two Jersey Js:  Saying Goodbye to Housewives - podcast episode cover

Two Jersey Js: Saying Goodbye to Housewives

Sep 13, 20241 hr 8 min
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Episode description

Jackie and Jenn still don’t know what is going on with RHONJ, so what would their lives look like after Housewives?   Would they be hurt if they don’t get asked back? Is Housewife fame addicting?

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Hey, everyone, Welcome back to another episode of Two Jersey Jays. I'm Jackie Jennifer, and today we are discussing something very timely and interesting and it's something that I've been wanting to talk about because basically, no one knows what's going on with Jersey that's true.

Speaker 2

Yes, that's I don't know. I can promise you that.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 1

I don't think they get just all the time. No, no, no, none of us. Now everyone has their theories, but basically I think that a lot of us are at a point where we're starting to think about what life might look like without the show. And something about the show is that it really kind of in a good way. I mean, it could be a good way or a bad way, but it like really like takes over your life if you let it, which it has for most of us.

Speaker 3

It kind of like you have so much going on.

Speaker 1

It's like every day there's something, whether you're planning something or attending something, or talking about the show, or like filming the show or watching the show.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 4

Yeah, So it's not like a three month gig, right, It definitely is, from my experience, takes up more time than three months months out of the year.

Speaker 2

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1

And you know, for some house I've you know, on other franchises, suddenly that rug gets pulled out from under them and they don't have time to even think about what would my life look like without the show. And of course, like most of us have beautiful lives. It's not like anyone's going to go like live in poverty or like not have anything. But it is a lot to adjust from.

Speaker 4

I would think every year that you're on is a year more you have to adjust afterwards. I don't know, I'm just making that up, but I would think that it's harder for someone like you, Jack than it would be for me, just simply because of the fact that I.

Speaker 2

Haven't been on as long. I'm not well, I don't.

Speaker 1

Know about that, because after my second year on the show, I was way more like obsessed with it than I am now. Really, yeah, like after my second year, I was like more and more like I couldn't get enough.

I want all of it, like every extra activity, And now I'm kind of like I feel very fortunate, like I would like to come back if the show comes back, but like I feel very fortunate that I had like almost seven years of like excitement and like I feel like I could do something with those open doors now, you know, like I wouldn't be as devastated I think now as I would have been.

Speaker 3

If it all got taken away after two years.

Speaker 4

That's so interesting because I think about not just from our cast, but you know, ogs from all of the casts and have been lived a certain way for let's say, over ten years. Well, I think it's really person specific now even how it's sort of like how it all resonates, how it pans out.

Speaker 1

Yeah, you know, like I think there's some like longtime housewives, so I could just read on them that they're like okay with moving on. Yeah, like that maybe it doesn't fit their life anymore, you know what I'm saying. I mean, it's certainly listen, it's all encompassing.

Speaker 4

It's not this is not the kind of gig where you don't not thinking about you know, work once you once you go home.

Speaker 2

It's not a nine to five.

Speaker 4

So yeah, I mean, obviously things changed dramatically, and I think there's probably such an emotional toll to that. Yeah, I haven't experienced it yet. Could be that I'm about to, could be that I am not. Who knows, you know how it's going to go. But it's going to end one way or another. It's not this is not going to be you know, my my trajectory on the show is not going to be all right.

Speaker 1

It's going to end for everybody at some point, Like we're not going to be in our seventies on the show, right. So, but but it is interesting that we are in the unique position to get like almost some time to like contemplate, well what it could feel like and to prepare for that, you know, so that by the time it comes and who knows, who knows what they're going to do, like I have, I have seen Bravo.

Speaker 3

Like so, Jen and I are not.

Speaker 1

Going to be talking about specific people or mentioning specific names today because there's no reason to do that. But we're going to talk in generality.

Speaker 3

But I have seen. I just think it's interesting that we get like that.

Speaker 1

Time to prepare, whereas some people just get it old pulled out potomac.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 4

Well, also just in terms of I just want you guys to know that, like we obviously, you know, we go back and forth with specifics and what do you think about not just our show, we talk about you know, all the different franchises, Like do you think this person's going to go?

Speaker 2

Is this We're going to say? What is this person doing now?

Speaker 4

But because we are, we're talking and we try to talk to you guys each week about stuff that's going on outside of Housewives and stuff that we're dealing with, you know, at our ages and going through these crazy life changes. But I feel I feel like this is you know, it's not just sounds specific to anyone housewife, Like what happens in your life when something you've been so devoted to, something that has sort of like taken over and something that has formed your identity is now

no longer? Right?

Speaker 3

Like what do you?

Speaker 4

Where do you go from there? Is there a way to prepare? Is your mental health affected? I'm sure that it is good and bad right specifically like with the Housewives, I'm sure good things and bad things happen on.

Speaker 3

So how are like if it ended?

Speaker 4

So you know, That's why I said to you, I feel like it would be harder if I had been on longer for me, and also because I've been in this friend of role. I'm not saying it won't be hard and I can't I can tell you right now oh, I'll be fine. But the truth is, like when I found out I was going to be a friend of instead of a full time housewife, my ego was just

so bent out of shape. So if I picture a scenario where I get told listen, Jen, we're going on without you, you know, thank you for coming, and you know, see you never that, I think that my ego would be very bruised.

Speaker 1

So I have a question, Yes, do you think it would be different the way your ego would feel if the whole show got rebooted versus some people staying in, some people going yes, it would be different.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2

I mean that's just the truth, and I think that everyone would feel that way.

Speaker 4

I mean, I I know for a fact that my life is not just this show, because I've had a long life. I had fifty three years before I got onto The Housewives of New Jersey, and I will have not that many, but hopefully a lot more, you know,

years after. And I know that I have a lot of people in my life and things in my life and things and people that I care about, and I life will go on, and who knows, who knows what the future holds, who knows what twists and turns my ego will be separate from what my life looks like. I know that I'm very blessed. I have a great life. I have struggles, I have heartache, I have you know, happy times, all of it. But I think it'll be

an ego problem for me. That's the biggest thing. And I think I can overcome that though, right Like, it'll be a while of how dare you? And was I? Or was I not good enough? Or you know, why me? And depending on how it all pans out, and then I think my life will move on and I'll be a hopefully you know, I'll be Jen Fessler and I was happy before and fulfilled and I'll be happy and fulfilled after.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I feel the same way.

Speaker 4

Do you feel like your life potentially it could get better once the show if you're not on the show, Like, do you feel like there's do you see a path where all of a sudden you're even more fulfilled and you've it's easier than you thought to let go?

Speaker 1

Well, you know, I think it's it's hard right now because I didn't have a great season, and so coming off of a season where I felt like it was just I think anyone on our cast would tell you that this season did not feel happy. There was no joy in this season. There was no laughing. There was so if you asked me a few years ago when we all had a great time even after Ireland, like the best time, I would have.

Speaker 3

Been really sad.

Speaker 1

Right now, I felt like I went through a lot this season. I wasn't happy. I you know, I even had to get rid of social media for a little while. Social media was very mean to me. So right now I'm at a little bit of a different place. But that being said, I would like to I would like to change.

Speaker 3

Like where I left off. Do you know, like I want one.

Speaker 1

More season to like change that, you know, because I feel like whatever, Like that's not me what people ended up seeing, you know. So, but there are things that I would have more time to put my if I'm being honest, Like, my happiest thing is writing. I love writing, and so obviously i'd have more time for writing. But do I want to write full time? There's I think that the true answer is there are a lot of things I would miss and a lot of things I wouldn't miss.

Speaker 4

Interesting, I think I wonder how it's different like in terms of reality stars versus celebrities. Right, So, like, let's say a celebrity gets canceled.

Speaker 3

I think that must be done. I wonder, I wonder, I mean getting canceled. I don't.

Speaker 1

I can't imagine anything worse than everyone suddenly thinking that you're horrible.

Speaker 4

It's different, Right, So let's say if you go somebody's off of reality show. That doesn't make necessarily mean that everyone thinks that that that person is horrible. It's not

the same as getting canceled. But I wonder if you know, even not celebrity, but but when something that you've been doing for a long time you're so passionate about, everything ends, right, Jack, Like doesn't matter what it is like at some point, Jeff Wessler is not going to and that's his passion is I don't know why, but it's being a corporate attorney. So that's what turns him on. And you know, the man is sixty two, and I guess at some point if he doesn't leave, they're going to push him out.

Speaker 2

He's not going to.

Speaker 4

I don't see him being a seventy eight year old corporate attorney. And then what does that look like?

Speaker 2

Right?

Speaker 4

And that's I mean, that's we're talking about retirement, but also like how do you how does life change and your identity and how much of identity. I've only been doing this for two years. I can feel my identity getting very wrapped up in it. Right. There's so much now just in terms of being out in the world and people recognizing me or fabulous opportunity and getting to meet people that I would have never I don't been able to.

Speaker 1

That necessarily ends, to be honest with you, I think once a housewife, always a house life.

Speaker 3

Yeah for sure.

Speaker 1

I mean, if like you ran into Bethany not to mention any news, but like you wouldn't be like, oh, the ex house Like she's just like you're a housewife.

Speaker 3

You're a housewife, you know.

Speaker 2

Yeah, But I don't.

Speaker 4

And that's not even it's not like that's the app I mean, that is so flattering an ice when people recognize you. But I guess it's just you know, feeling like you're just part of something and I don't know, I don't know that adventure of it coming to an end. But again, like we're talking about, there's bad stuff that comes along with it too. It's that it's the brutal social media of it all right, and it is, it can be really brutal.

Speaker 1

It was, I know how horrible it's been. Even when you feel like you're probably loved, I think that you get a ton of hate.

Speaker 3

Oh yeah, yeah, everybody gets a ton of hate.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's really sometimes that's really hard. That's one thing I would not miss. But yeah, there are things that I would miss. But I do also think with Bravo, they love their own, do you know what I'm saying. Like they're always bringing in new people, but I feel like once you're a part of this world, they like recycled.

Speaker 3

Yeah yeah, I mean there's there's.

Speaker 4

Always there's other Bravo stuff, right, like one of I know you've been through to a lot of them, but this was my first Bravo con. It was completely surreal, you know, and it was like just for me. First of all, it was meeting these these women that I've been watching for so many that's just the women. I mean, I met, you know, the cast from I don't know, Summer House or whatever, but like, meeting these people was

so crazy. And then all of a sudden, and I'm sorry you guys, because I think I just say it all the time. It's probably getting so boring. But for me, everything is with this comes with like oh my god at my age, because I think that it's extraordinary at least it feels like that for me that at age

fifty three I had this, I've had this experience. But you know, like so like the Bravo con of it all or I don't know if Ultimate Girls Trip is out even still a thing, but they do seem to be bringing you know, a lot of the Bravo lebs back in and they are getting other opportunities from traders to villains to dance the bridge. Yeah right, try anybody, try and keep your corporate lawyer in the office exactly.

But I think that's the you know what's interesting about our podcast as we talk about middle aged women stuff, so like to be a middle aged woman and to suddenly have to shift your life career wise, right, yes, you know it's different than when you're thirty two years old like some of the newer housewives and like maybe this doesn't pan out.

Speaker 1

Okay, Well, you have babies at home, You're busy with the babies. You know, like you could do.

Speaker 3

Anything you got, you know, seventy years ahead of right, it's different.

Speaker 4

You're right, Well, that's yeah, that makes actually that is actually feels very right ontography because I talk to my kids and I talk to their friends, a lot of their friends. Actually that are they'll come to me, I'm looking for a job. Do you know anybody? Because everything seemed feels like it's networking these days, right, and these kids are so intense, and they've left college and right now,

you know, it's harder than ever. And I see these distraught twenty somethings and I say to them, like, it's all good. Like you are in your twenties, this is the time for you to not have a job, find a job, get fired from a job, get hired for a new job, wait tables, bartend, find your dreach dream job, have it not work out, go back to school, whatever it is, right like that is at least that's Those are my thoughts that in your twenties it's okay to

not have it all figured out. But once you're a middle aged woman who's been given this unbelievably unique opportunity, and I guess harder to picture like, okay, well listen, that came, but something else will come.

Speaker 1

Yes, it's easy to think this is it and like nothing else will come because we're older now and it's that whole thing that we talked about a few months ago. It's like that invisible woman when you get into your middle aged, you know, metopause years, you've become invisible, yeah, to society, and it's easy to think that this was, you know, a one in a million opportunity and that nothing like this will come again, and that you're just I guess.

Speaker 2

That's it, like that, you know, that's what I think.

Speaker 1

Using the mister Clean magic pad on your cabinets. I don't and yeah, I don't get I don't believe my cabinets. I carefully love that mister Clean magic.

Speaker 3

But I think.

Speaker 4

That's that's probably what's in the back of a lot if I'm guessing, because it feels like that's what in the back what's in the back of mine, like of our of our psyche sEH.

Speaker 3

I don't think like that.

Speaker 2

I don't.

Speaker 3

I just think I think that. I I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 4

I'm just like we're as we're talking it through, like maybe it's that I find it unlikely and that's sad and maybe really not true, but that I could get another opportunity at my age that's going to be as I mean, would you really want to do another reaction? I'm not even saying a reality show. I'm saying an opportunity that moves me. Like, if you ask me would I like to host a talk show? Would I or not even host? I don't know what I like to interview people on the red carpet?

Speaker 2

Would I like to?

Speaker 4

I mean, there's a million things, but I guess in my mind, because of my age, it feels very unlikely.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Speaker 2

Right, it doesn't feel like.

Speaker 4

They're going to be knocking at my door to be the next host of Dancing with the Stars.

Speaker 2

It's just not going to happen.

Speaker 3

Right, Just break up with Tom Sandoval. That's all you need to do, right.

Speaker 4

Exactly exactly So, I mean, so maybe that's part of what's so hard, you know, And housewives are they come I guess at all ages now, but but the ones that are not so young. Maybe that's what's hard about it is thinking, you know.

Speaker 1

Yeah, do you feel like people age out? Like I know Karen on Potomac is in her sixties. I don't know, is there anyone else in their sixties?

Speaker 2

I don't know. Do people age out? I don't know.

Speaker 4

I don't know the answer to that. I mean, I think a great housewife is a grace. Is like a great housewife? Right, Like nobody's right.

Speaker 3

Yeah, you're totally right.

Speaker 1

So we have a best guest today because this man has literally spoken to every house since the beginning of time, and I am very interested on his take on how people's lives just moved forward after the show. So our guest today is Dave Quinn.

Speaker 4

So Dave is a senior editor at People and he works all across entertainment lifestyle news. So now I am reading off of his bio is he joined in twenty sixteen as a writer reporter, where he became known for his Bravaval and Broadway exclusives across print and digital. A housewives expert. But we do know him obviously from People magazine.

We also know him from a book that if you haven't read, I would suggest run, not walk, to your local bookstore or ordered up on Amazon to order Dave's book, which is I feel like everybody knows it not all diamonds and Rose and it is a deep dive into everything housewives.

Speaker 2

I mean, he gets into the nitty gritty.

Speaker 4

I don't have to push this book because I feel like everyone already knows about it, but just in case, please please pick it up. If you're especially if you're a Housewives fan, you will freak.

Speaker 3

Let's welcome Dave Yay.

Speaker 6

Hello.

Speaker 3

Hi, Oh you look so cute with your hands. Great cat.

Speaker 6

Thank you? How are my friends?

Speaker 2

Hi, Dave Quinn.

Speaker 3

We're good, so grateful to have you here today.

Speaker 1

So, Jenna and I were just discussing the fact that, you know, with Jersey on ice and no one knows what's going to happen, we have the unique ability to have a few months to kind of think about what life might look like afterwards instead of having the rug pulled out from under.

Speaker 3

Us, or we might prepare for it and then bes back.

Speaker 1

So knows, right, but we're really curious to talk about, like what life could look like after Housewives.

Speaker 4

You know, when Jackie actually did she said, you know, we should have Dave Quinn. Neither one of us thought that would happen as easily as it did. We were just got very lucky. I don't know how we got so lucky, but anyway, just so our listeners understand, hoping they all already read your book.

Speaker 2

But if not, like Dave is.

Speaker 4

If there's an expert, if there is an expert right that people want to like contact for everything Housewives, it's Dave Quinn.

Speaker 2

I mean, that's what so much.

Speaker 1

And every time I'm on the phone with Dave, he gets at least four calls coming through from other housewives exactly.

Speaker 4

So No, I just think it's I think it's I'm so grateful to have you because I feel like if anyone understands the psyche, whether that's a good or a bad thing of a housewife, it's you. So maybe you can help us figure this out.

Speaker 3

So I'm going to jump right in, Dave, and I'm going to ask.

Speaker 1

You, sure when the show ends, for a housewife, whether they're new or old, like, what happens to life? Does it get better? Do they do other things? Do they you know, disappear.

Speaker 5

I think it's a morning process for a lot of people. I think I would actually say for every person who's a part of it, whether you're a part of it for one season or fifteen seasons, it's still a morning process. Because look, there's a lot of expectations we put on this, what it's going to be what it's going to feel like right when you are thinking about you get the

call you want to be a part of it. Now you've sort of built it up to what you want it to be, and then you start dealing with the reality of what it is, right, the tacticalities of filming, the stresses of getting into arguments with people that you like, or feeling like people are talking about you behind your back, not knowing what that means. You know, where you sit, where you stand, then having to watch the show over again.

First you sit in a purgatory of what the hell is that well that I just finished?

Speaker 6

Right, what is it going to be?

Speaker 5

What's anyone going to think? And then you have to watch it and relive it with the with the eyes of an editor, with the eyes of a national audience, saying what they think you were feeling, or what they think your motivations were, or how you should act or how you shouldn't act, or whatever it is. So all of that is its own experience, right, And then if you get used to it, if you've done it three four, five, six, how many of our seasons even you just kind of

are in a rhythm of it. So when that gets pulled away from you, whether you leave on your own or whether someone tells you you have to go. There's a morning process of it, you know, you know that filming starts and you're not a part of it, and you're kind of like, oh man.

Speaker 1

So yeah, that's why I asked Jen, like if she thinks it'll be easier if the whole show, if our whole show just gets rebooted, and both of us agree, of course, that would be rather than the ego, right right, rather than watching other people.

Speaker 3

Be us back.

Speaker 1

What about?

Speaker 4

Well, also, Dave, what about if somebody had had has a really bad season and you would think they've gotten so much?

Speaker 3

You know that either of us had a bad season. I'm obviously, but no, we are.

Speaker 4

Listen, Jackie, obviously it doesn't feel great about last season. Having said that, though they're you know, there's always a housewife. I think probably that feels that way. But is even at that point, housewives generally want to come back, even if they've had this really shitty season and they are taking it from all, you know, angles, because you always feel like.

Speaker 3

You're going to redeem yourself. What do you think, dude?

Speaker 6

Yeah, I agree, and well I would say that.

Speaker 5

I've never spoken to a housewife who hasn't told me that she wanted to quit. I wanted to leave, didn't want anything to do with it anymore, no matter whether she was in the middle of a good season or a bad season. You know, the stress of people's comments. I was on the phone with a housewife just earlier today who was telling me I'm quitting. I'm going to this reunion and I am quitting. I want nothing to do with the show anymore. I can't stand it. I'll

make money elsewhere, it doesn't matter, right. But that doesn't really happen, right, And I know many housewives who have oh yes, Aulda production and said I'm out, I don't want anything to do with this, but they still kind of get back in. So even if you've had a terrible season, you still kind of want to be a part of it. And like you said, Jackie, like you think maybe I can redeem myself. Maybe next time it'll be better.

Speaker 4

It's so if I was just going to tell this very quickly because I don't want us to miss a second with you, but first season, maybe the first week we're filming, and Jackie and I had like a quibble and did never it never made it to air, okay, But anyway, so we had like this quittal. It was it was my first and I was devastated and I was I left this scene and I was.

Speaker 3

She's shaking.

Speaker 4

I was so upset, I said, I said to Chris d Rosa, listen, I can't do this. So I'm sorry, but you know, tell them fessler out. And he's like, m hm, why don't you call me in the morning and tell me that. He said, Okay, I'm not going to call anyone right now, Jen to report that. Why you call me in the morning and you let me know how you feel. And he just laughed like in my face, which I guess he should have, right because I was like, you know, the drama of the whole thing, Oh, I.

Speaker 1

Mean the number of times that I have said that I'm going to quit and then I came back, you know. I mean, like, I think that's that's a part, and that's a natural response to being upset or or something. But anyway, do you find that after that morning process? Do ex housewives in general tend to want to stay in the spotlight. Do they start like trying to become an influencer or do a lot of them go back to a quiet life.

Speaker 6

Well, it's funny.

Speaker 5

I think that it's changed over the past couple of years because I think, no disrespect, but the advent of podcasts has really changed the way I have house most reality career could look like.

Speaker 1

You know, I'm not talking about two Jersey Jays, No, no, no, but I'm talking I'm just kidding.

Speaker 5

About like even if you think I mean Brandy Glanville, I think was sort of the first housewife who had a podcast, but so many other housewives have now jumped into this and it's exploded into something that they can still sort of stay in the public eye through it even if they leave. But it really depends on the person.

There have been a lot of women who have sort of let it go and said I don't really want anything to do with this, and I'll see you later, and they've gone back to their lives of raising their children or doing whatever they need to do. Those who are in the public eye beforehand, I think, have remained in the public eye in some way, shape or form. There have been plenty who have just tried to be on other shows and sort of waited for the call back.

It really depends on who you are. And the truth is, like all those people are who they were on the show in the first place, So you can always sort of tell right, Like, you know, if you're somebody on the show who is really obsessed with the show and talking about the show and seems to sort of make their lives about the show, that they're going to struggle a lot when the show is gone.

Speaker 3

Are there?

Speaker 4

Don't you find most housewives are like that or friends of housewives. Don't you feel like most of them, you know, do make their life. It's hard not to my experience.

Speaker 5

Yeah, no, you're right, it's really hard not to. And I mean Jackie will tell you the advice that I gave Jackie which I met Jackie before she actually premiered on the show, and I said to her, you know, Jackie has said, the thing is, you're going to get a ton of people talking about you on social media, and I just I really implore you to ignore all the negative things people are saying about you can't trust them, like you just have to like take the negative out

of there. And I was like, but you also have to take the positive out like anything nice someone says about you. Have to ignore too, because it's equally unreliable because.

Speaker 4

You I pay someone two hundred dollars an hour for the same message, but go on, kisses me off, Dave Quinn.

Speaker 5

I'll give it to you for free, but you won't listen. I mean, Jackie did it.

Speaker 6

No one does. It's hard. It's hard.

Speaker 5

It is, And I say that, you know with the utmost respect and understanding how difficult it is. I don't have any judgment in this. It's difficult to walk away from it. It's difficult to get it out of your life. You know, one housewife, when I was writing the book, who had been long out of the game, described it to me as as the as the girl in the horror movie who makes it to the end and defeats the bad guy and goes into the room and closes the door and takes a deep breath, and then the

hand jumps out of the closet and grabs her. Because there's no escape from it. Because the truth is, it doesn't matter if you were on the show for one season or eighteen seasons. Everyone will identify you as a housewife for the rest of your career. That's what's on your tombstone.

Speaker 1

That's not necessarily a bad thing if you use it to your advantage.

Speaker 4

So let's just say it's fame and money, right, So those are the two things that people become addicted to, at least that's what most people say, right, What is it though about the fame? Because I feel like you've probably done a deep, deep dive into our psychees, Like what is it that just turns us on so much?

And especially if you think about housewives, so they are maybe they're getting younger, maybe not, But you're also talking a lot about middle aged women right that are picked up out of their lives there I don't know, potentially mundane lives, not that they're unsatisfying, but whatever, But like, what is it that becomes so addictive?

Speaker 2

Like describe that?

Speaker 4

Is it?

Speaker 2

Like what happens with the fame?

Speaker 5

Well, I want to explain that it's very different than say Alisa Renna or somebody who's sort of been famous, been famous before they got on the show, because there is like a there's a big difference there. The person I'm talking about is the you know, the Ninny Leagues, the Jill Zarin, the person who just like existed in the world and then became famous through the show, and both of you I think would be an example of that. Right, like, yes, no disrespect, but.

Speaker 6

The show made untaken and that is listen.

Speaker 5

It doesn't matter whether you get that at eighteen or you get that at forty eight or whatever it may be. Right, that is powerful. That is powerful that all of a sudden people know who you are and value you and want to know about you and get excited about you and champion you like you know, the memes, the tweets, the instagram posts like, it is beautiful, it is enticing, it's exciting. Fame is addictive for so many people because it makes them feel good. It just a scratch within

them that they maybe never had itched before. It's not about money, although that's a part of it. It's nice to make money. We all like that. It's about notoriety. It's about feeling like your value, that you matter. At the end of the day, we as human beings, no matter whether we're famous or not, we all just want somebody to say to us, I see you, I hear you, and what you have, what you are saying has value to me. You are valuable by what you're saying. That's

all we ever want. That's what I want from my friends, that's what I want from my family, That's what everyone wants. But when you're a housewife, when you're in the spotlight, you're getting that on a national scale. And that's addictive. And that is what really leads to what I always

call the ego, which stands for edging God out. That when you start building into your ego and leaning onto your ego and thinking that like this is who you really are, your shit doesn't stink right, like this is what I want to be, you lose sense of what grounds you.

Speaker 6

To the earth. God could be whatever you want it to be.

Speaker 5

It's I'm a eleven year recovering alcoholic. My God is my higher power? Is you know Dumbledore for Christic. It doesn't matter, you know, it could be anything, but it's just what keeps you grounded onto this earth. And I think a lot of these women lose that.

Speaker 4

I hope housewives are listening to this particular episode. I think that that is and I have spoken about this so much in therapy, trying to keep that like at the forefront of what's happening in my mind, you know, like it doesn't matter. All of these people feeding my ego or not. I'm still loved worthwhile, I'm still a child of God, like all of that doesn't it doesn't change just because the masses, you know, know who I

am all of a sudden. But it's a very it's a tricky thing not to feed into that, like now I matter, now I'm special, It's all bullshit.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I when I'm.

Speaker 1

Talking about actually the difference between the feeling of not being asked back to the show versus a celebrity who gets canceled, and I imagine that would be harder in a way to all of a sudden have the world think that you are terrible for.

Speaker 2

Or maybe not, maybe it's the same.

Speaker 4

I mean, it's this feeling of all of a sudden, you had all of this adelation, and you had all of this, you know, this stroking and feeding of your ego, and then it goes away and you have to actually have some sort of feeling of self worth and sense of self or you're kind of screwed.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I think that people who succeed the most at it are the people who had that to begin with, you know, the ones who come to the show looking to fulfill them in some way and listen. We've also watched the show tear people's lives apart, and I always I don't blame the show for Marriage is Dissolving.

Speaker 6

I think that it.

Speaker 5

Elevates and sort of exposes what really was there that was never addressed. But think about if you're somebody who comes to the show, you are married, and all of a sudden, through the course of their time on the show, you get divorced, maybe you have bad relationships, maybe there's legal problems. Right, all of these things are happening to you NonStop.

Speaker 6

You sort of.

Speaker 5

Sort of lose control over who you were in the first place, who that person was started it. And ye, change is good. We all need to change and grow and evolve. But if you don't hold on tight to what that is and you can always see I always pay attention to the housewives who all of a sudden have a new circle around them.

Speaker 6

I call them a lot.

Speaker 5

Of like the bottom fears, the hanger on hers, like they all start surrounding themselves with these fans who are obsessed with them and who are just going to yes them to death. I think both of you know in conversations we've had, I will never yes you to death, because what value is that going to bring to either of us and our friendship. I'll tell you what I think is good or bad, but I don't judge you.

I don't you know, Like I'm here to love and support, but ultimately, at the end of the day, you have to lean on the people that you have in your life who are like that. You can't fall into the crowds of the other folks. And that's what really I think.

Speaker 6

People.

Speaker 4

I always get asked like, are these people all the time? I can tell you if I had a penny for every time, But are these women really your friends? And I say the same thing. These are women that I have grown to love, that have become yes, have become my friends. What ties us. The tie that binds us is the housewives. And it's a different thing like my friends that I've had. It has to be, of course,

because I have history. I have twenty years, thirty years, I mean my college friends next week, you know, forty years of friendship. So it's different. I have friends that I would turn to when things happen. If we our kids grew up together, you know, they were babies together.

I've loved their kids, They've loved mine. It's a different thing, like I turned to those friends with different stuff, not always, you know, I count on the advice of friends that I've made, you know, with my time in terms of my time on Housewives. But I have to be able to have that also, I can't just be surrounded by just the housewives and just the you know, the people that I've met through Housewives.

Speaker 3

Right, So that actually.

Speaker 1

Brings out a very interesting question. Do you find that when someone leaves the show, do they sort of disengage from the show entirely? And those friendships do dissolve? Or do do X house From where I sit when I'm looking at X Housewives, they don't seem to be like close friends except for the Dallas cast because they all went down together. But aside from that, and I love the Dallas cast, I actually loved it.

Speaker 2

I want Dallas.

Speaker 1

I should have a lot of them are still friends? Do you think that Housewives do they generally tend to like stay close with the other people they used to be on the show with. Is there a jealousy like the ones that stay on the ones that get.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I mean, but again that's all natural, right, Imagine, like you get moved off of this thing.

Speaker 6

It's hard.

Speaker 5

I'll name Tamra as an example, because she's somebody who spoken really clearly about that. When she got fired, it was really hard for her to sit back and watch all of these people do this thing that she had been doing for a while. And her close friendship with Shannon dissolved at that time because they used to talk every single day, but a big chunk of what they

were talking about was the show. And now Shannon's not going to call her to talk about the show because Shannon is trying to find someone else to align with on the cast, and it's a game of survivor in some cases to some of these women, and you know, Tamra then gets left behind and her feelings are hurt. That doesn't mean that their friendship wasn't real, but it does mean that their friendship was based around something that

was really specific. Think of it just as work friends, like I have really close work friends who were like my life when I worked at that company, and then I don't work at that company where I rarely talk to them at all. And it's not because I didn't care for them. It's not that that didn't matter to me, but it's when we didn't have that thing sort of uniting us, it was really difficult for us to sort of maintain that daily conversation. Was I jealous of their success now, but.

Speaker 4

You also didn't have to see like that's that's the mind, that's the mind. F right is like unlike you, like you left the job and you weren't keyed into what was happening at the job every day, and there's like the potential here you leave this job and you still see your work friends.

Speaker 3

Every day every week. Would you watch the show?

Speaker 2

I don't know.

Speaker 4

I don't know, but I would potentially like that hard you can It's not you know, it's hard to let go. And even if you're not watching, you're hearing about, you're seeing the stories. I'm sure it's very tempting to want to know what's going on in this in this world that you were once part of.

Speaker 5

Yeah, but Jackie, I'll say that, like, I do think that whether you talked about the fact that like it would be easier if the whole show got changed and we just are watching new people.

Speaker 3

I don't well egoize, but I think if you.

Speaker 5

Ask any of the New York Housewives, they wouldn't feel that way. I think that and Sonya and Ramona and Derinda, they all had a hard time watching that other cast that.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 6

You've tossed me aside. Yeah, and I don't matter.

Speaker 5

And now you're saying this matters and they're not better than me because I brought this, this and that and they didn't bring that up.

Speaker 3

Yeah, No, you're right, and think about that. Yeah, can I ask you?

Speaker 1

And I know that you're not the network obviously disclaimer, like none of us has any inside information. So this is just like all educated opinions. But do you feel like people age out? So like I was saying that Karen is in her sixties, I really don't know anyone else in their sixties in the Housewives spear.

Speaker 4

Maybe I'm getting there. I don't know if I'm in the spear or not anymore, but I'm definitely.

Speaker 1

Into No, there's a lot in there, you know, in their late fifties, mid fifties. But I don't know, what do you think, like, are we going to start seeing the era of housewives in their mid sixties.

Speaker 5

I don't think that age has anything to do with that. I think storyline has something to do with that. If they feel like there's nothing more to explore in your story, that's when I think the network and the producers ultimately say, well, I don't know how much more we have here with this person. I don't really think it's you know, and Huger could still be providing incredible storyline for her seventies for them, and they'll eat it all up if that's

what they're getting. As long as she stays connected with her castmates, has real relationships with them, you know, is comfortable filling with them, and there aren't like blood feuds that's going on where nobody wants to fill with each other. As long as that continues down the path, Karen will stay fine, you know. And she's smart. She sees herself as an onion who reveals things about herself every.

Speaker 3

Single Oh I love her. Yeah, I love Karen.

Speaker 5

But I don't necessarily think it's age, you know, because it really just ultimately depends and they're always looking at it as a makeup. It's like, what, you know, this puzzle piece, Like what puzzle pieces go together? How can we make up this cast to make them make sense in the best possible way. I think that that's how you stay relevant by having things about yourself that are

worthy of seeing and exploring. And even those two people say, well they don't have any more storyline, they still provide something by being active in the relationships or active in the conversation or you know, storring the pot or whatever it may be, that they still have value.

Speaker 6

In the eyes of the network.

Speaker 5

But ultimately, the network and the producers want long term housewives because the fan base likes them. They stay connected to them, like if they didn't, they would be replacing them every season.

Speaker 4

Well would you give in terms of just advice? Like you've seen it, You've seen it in a way that I don't think really anyone else has, right because I don't think that many housewives have opened themselves up to letting a writer into their lives. Like everybody seem to seems to have embraced you. But what advice would you give to someone who was on the show and now is not Like, what would you suggest that they do to feel okay about it? Is there advice you could give?

Speaker 6

No?

Speaker 5

I think it's like any sort of loss right, you need to be present in your emotions and recognize that there's there's no right way there's no shoulds. I really believe in living a shouldless life and sort of getting.

Speaker 6

That out of your head.

Speaker 5

You know, we only learn how to deal with things when you've experienced them before. Your first breakups, the heardest breakup, and then the second and the third and the fourth get a little easier, right, because you know what it's like to go through that thing. It's the same sort of thing. Right, you've never been on television and then lost a job. This is the first time you're experiencing it, So it's going to feel hard, and that's okay, Like you have to allow yourself the space to feel angry.

I mean, there were days that I would speak to I'll use Tamras example again. There were days that I would speak to her where she was grateful that she had been fired from the show, and then she was pissed off that she'd been fired for the show, and then she's jealous. Sometimes within the same day, those emotions would arise. Yeah, I would just keep saying to her, it's okay that you feel those ways. Congratulations, you don't have to there's no should here. I'm not telling you

should feel any other way. Feel the way that you feel and let those things build themselves.

Speaker 2

And then what then what do you do?

Speaker 5

And then you do what you think is important to you, if it's important to you, where you feel as though, you know, I got a lot of gratification over being a spokesperson for whatever it may be. You know, I love that I had this platform where I could talk about you know, divorce or eating disorders or whatever it may be. Right, use that to your advantage and find places that you can still maintain those sorts of things.

If you just want to be famous, to be famous, that's a lot harder, right, because like that's that will never you will never really scratch that itch. No matter how many shows you end up on or how many whatever magazines, billboards, whatever, that will never be enough if that's all you're chasing. But if you're trying to find something like that actually satisfies you, then I think that you can find other places to do that.

Speaker 6

I love you that.

Speaker 4

I like going over this, like in therapy before is took like, what are your intentions? If the intent is she said, I'm telling you she said exactly what he just said. If the intention is just to be famous, she said it way more eloquently than I'm about to. But like basically she was saying, you're screwed. Like, if that's what you're going into this four is just the fame, it's your You're in trouble. If there's if there's something else, What is it that you're looking for?

Speaker 2

What is it that you're feeding?

Speaker 4

Right? Like for me, I said to her, I always wanted to kind of be on stage. I was as a kido as an actress, terrible at it, but I like the idea of making people laugh. That just always not to be a stand up comedian, but I just I like being the center of attention of making people and being goofy, you know, that sort of like always turned me on. So like if that's part of the intention,

here where else could I do that? I don't know, you know, like if the intention is just the fame, it's not going to go well for you.

Speaker 1

Yeah, we were talking about the fact that, like Jen was thinking that the longer you've been on.

Speaker 3

The show, the harder it would be for you.

Speaker 1

But I was saying that after my like second season, I was like, give me more, give me more, you know, and like I think it would have been harder for me at that stage because now I've experienced a lot of the ups and downs, and I feel like I've had it for a long time, and like, I don't think i'd be as devastated now as I would have been right when it was really heating up, when it was my whole life.

Speaker 6

Yeah, and I get that.

Speaker 5

Listen, there's a feeling of there's so much more I wanted to do this, like this loss of possibility, right is what you're warning when that happens, And yeah, that's that's equally difficult. There's there's no right or wrong. I don't think it would be better or worse in any way. And the truth is, Jackie, like you may say that right now, but if it happened to you and you felt bad, that's also as I'm saying, and that's okay.

Speaker 1

Yeah, somebody once made a comment and we're not looking for specific names, but that nobody quits the housewives, like what very rare exception.

Speaker 3

Everybody gets fired? Is that true? Or do a fair number of people quit?

Speaker 6

I don't think that's true.

Speaker 5

I think that many people do quit in ways that we don't necessarily see as quitting. Putting down a boundary and saying, you know, I want to be paid this much or I want to be this status, and then whether they offered a status that's less than that, saying no thanks that is still like walking away on their terms.

Speaker 3

I'm happy to know that a lot of people have done it.

Speaker 5

Now that being said, there have been you know, we so view like firing as like a consequence thing, like you've done something wrong, you're fired. That's not really how the network sees it or how the production company sees it. It's more as like, do we want to move forward with, like what you have to offer, what your storyline is, what's available right now. It's not as personal as like or as black and white, I guess I would say,

as like a good or a bad. But there have been plenty of times when they've said like, we don't necessarily know if this is right for you, and the person responding has been like, you're right, I don't want to come back either, like this is right for.

Speaker 6

Both of us. Does that mean they were fired? Yeah? I know.

Speaker 5

I contam like six people who've had that experience that they've been fired. I don't know if they've been like yes, I guess they were asked not to return, but they were also saying, I don't really want to be a part of this.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I wouldn't. I don't think I would consider that a firing.

Speaker 5

But I think that the person who says that, who has been saying that I'd been vocal about saying like no one's ever been fired before, that for them is like a point of pride, as if like, I'm better than everybody because I had the gumption to walk away. I don't think that you can.

Speaker 2

I know what you're just saying about.

Speaker 6

You're not better.

Speaker 5

You're not better than somebody who stayed until they were let go, because the truth is, you know, you didn't really conquer anything.

Speaker 6

Like we all are still in this pot. We're all.

Speaker 5

I have not met a single housewife who after Housewives has been able to escape the name housewife. Regardless of whether you're doing incredible things, it's still a part of who you are, right, you know, Lisa Renna is doing awesome things, but people are still going to be like, oh, from the Housewives, Like, yeah, still sticks with you.

Speaker 1

I know, Lookay Kelly Bensimon, she was like the most successful broker.

Speaker 3

Oh my god, yeah she's know that huge.

Speaker 1

Real estate broker, But like still when she's described in page six, it's you know, ex housewife.

Speaker 5

Yeah, and you know, another housewife told me this one day, which I thought was really interesting. She said, you know, it's been sixteen years since I've been on the show, and everybody still brings this up. You know, you mentioned Kelly Bensimone. People will always go up to Kelly Bensimone like, oh my god, it's scary island.

Speaker 1

Right.

Speaker 5

She will live with that for the rest of her life. So there's a part of that too, right, It's like you're stuck with this thing that's who you are. We haven't really had many years, you know, when you think about reality TV sort of became what it looked like to us to understand today pretty much from the year two thousand on. The Real World had existed in nineteen ninety two, but it was developed and pushed into the

cultural zeigeist with Survivor and then such. So what twenty four years, twenty five years of really understanding about what reality TV does to people, what the psyche is. I don't think we have enough data to truly understand what it's like to be far enough away from it to see the long term effects that it actually has on you.

Speaker 3

Do you think they'll be talking about that one day? And yeah, and mayb.

Speaker 4

People are writing thesis about it now. I mean probably if they're smart. I think it's fascinating and I think it's frustating about also, and I want your opinion on this too, But like the viewers, how has our culture changed? And obviously social media has played a part of that, But how's reality TV played a part in changing of our culture in the way people treat each other?

Speaker 6

And Oh, it's shifted.

Speaker 5

And that's why I think you actually see when you're talking about this idea of how people react to it, that's what you're seeing two different reactions. Like the women who started the franchise, the Vicky Gumbelson's of the World, for example, really struggle with being off the show and the show existing without them because they're like, well, I made that. I was I just existed and I made that, and now who are you all people coming in and

pretending like you're doing this thing that I created? Right? But the show has evolved. When both of you joined the show, it existed before Jackie. You knew what the show was, you knew the players, you paid attention, right, So like you were aware, Jennifer, of who these characters. You saw it through your friend, you understood the tenor

of it. And a lot of people come in with that with an awareness in many ways of how I want to present myself, how I want to act, what my sort of what this could do for my business. That doesn't mean that that actually happens, but they are self producing in their head of like, Okay, I want to appear this way, and that's exactly how they would be off camera, right, like they would walk.

Speaker 6

Into a.

Speaker 5

Party and still act that same way, like I want to present myself this way. There are people who are conscious of how they are viewed. There's something wrong with that. I grew up in a household where there were two households, right, the one that everyone looked at from the outside in and the one that I lived in were very different households, and people live like that all the time. But the difference is now we sort of see what the show can do with the tenor can be and like it's

hard to get back to that. Those Vickis, those Niemis, those Jills, those early season sort of people who are just living and figuring it out because it doesn't really work that way anymore, and as viewers, we therefore view you through the lens of what I know, Oh, she's doing this for a storyline, right, How many people say that to you where you've heard it that other people.

Speaker 6

Say, yeah, and that.

Speaker 2

That really is camera times. She's doing it for camera times.

Speaker 5

You're not doing it. You're not doing it for that. You're living and existing. But you are being hit with that because that's what the viewers have come to expect over the years.

Speaker 6

It's really hard. It's so hard.

Speaker 1

And what the trajectory with all of the streaming services now where there's just like constant new shows being turned out. I feel like on our network like they use the in house people like as long as you don't burn a bridge and sue them, like you're always kind of just like in the mix, you know.

Speaker 6

Yeah.

Speaker 5

I mean that's the thing that I think that I have come to really love about Bravos so much, And what really attracted me as a viewer is that it felt like there was a universe almost of characters who were sort of appearing in various places, even if you consider Watch What Happens Live one of those places, like it felt like this family of people. And I think that's how Bravo viewers feel about the show and sort

of feel about the network. And that's why we watch so many of the shows on the network, you know, where most Bravo viewers don't just watch one show.

Speaker 6

We watch like ten.

Speaker 5

Shows, you know, like we're paying attention to Summerhouse and Housewives and Top Chef.

Speaker 6

And like we're watching it all.

Speaker 5

I don't know many other networks like that. I don't think people watch everything on HBO. I don't think they want Maybe HGTV, they'll watch everything, but like it's very different, and EAHGTV.

Speaker 6

Is the other network I can say it's similar to Bravo in the sense that they that.

Speaker 3

I love house Hunters so much.

Speaker 1

Evan and I play it like a game show. We like get to choose and then somebody it's the win. We used to keep track of.

Speaker 3

The winning and losing.

Speaker 4

Oh that's fine, But I think also that's probably why that this is why the viewers become so incensed, because you're not just fighting with someone, you're fighting with their best friend. Like and you know what I mean, Like you're attached to someone you've been in your mind And I've said this about myself, Like, you know, I've been friends with Melissa Gorga for years. She just didn't know me, Like, you know, we've been hanging out for the past fourteen years.

So if you're going to and I'm not just saying I just use the name Melissa, but it could have been any of the women that you know been.

Speaker 2

On the show.

Speaker 4

And now you know you're watching somebody hurt your friend or hurt this person that you've like been thinking about that you sometimes wake up thinking about thinking about their kid, are you thinking about their life or and it becomes it's such a weird dynamic.

Speaker 6

Yeah.

Speaker 5

I remember when I when I interviewed Jen for the book, when I interviewed Carol Raswell, she told me this that totally unlocked it for me. She was, like, every argument you see on the show is about the show. They just aren't telling you it's about the show. But your piss that I didn't invite you to a party is because I want to get that camera time and I don't want you to be not talking.

Speaker 6

To me like that.

Speaker 5

That's a part of it, right, or like I'm upset at you for what you said to me because I know how it's going to play in the in the universe. I know that I'm going to have to deal with this accusation, this lie that you said about me, for the rest of my life, and like that is a big part of it as well, that we don't really understand.

Speaker 3

What do you think is going to happen with our show? When do you think we'll hear anything? Again? We know nothing. Nobody has any insider Yeah.

Speaker 5

I'll just say I have no insider info either, But the only thing that I can look to is experience. I don't think the network is going to do anything different than they've done in the past. So what have they done in the past? The Real Houses in New York City was a full reboot. The Real Housewives of Atlanta was sort of a mixed reboot, right They say, we brought in new people and use some of the

characters that we had on the chess board. I think if I was a betting man, I would imagine that producers right now are casting a lot of different women, meeting with them trying to figure out what it could be, and then once they have a good list of ten or twelve whatever potentials, they may then start figuring out how to arrange the pieces on the board. Do we do a full reboot or do we do a half and half? And if we do a half and a half, who stays, who goes? What sort of relationships are there

that exist? And they'll probably make that decision from there on. The Real House Was of New York City reboot was a success in a lot of people's eyes because it felt like a real group of friends and there's a lot of dynamics there, but the ratings haven't been as high as the Real Housewolves in New York City originally was. So to take a risk on sort of starting fresh is very very hard and it well, now we'll see with Atlanta because it's the first one that's kind of done this.

Speaker 6

How does that work?

Speaker 5

I mean you could say Miami sort of did it as well, but that was like had been off the air for so long. So those are I think the two obvious options. And it seemed when I look at the timeline, about six to eight months before the network announced any decisions on either of those casts, So I think that's what it is. I don't think they want to think about it at all right now. I think they want everyone to shut up, and I don't mean you guys, I mean.

Speaker 2

The fans I have.

Speaker 3

I haven't been given an interview in months.

Speaker 1

Like I said, no to everything, I just I don't want to talk negatively about anyone on this cast.

Speaker 3

I don't want to say anything. I have not said a word. Other peop have said a lot of words about me.

Speaker 5

But I've noticed that too, Jackie. But I think they just want everyone to be quiet right now, to quiet the noise so that they can make decisions with like a fresh sort of unbiased mindset. And they can't do that right now when everyone's yap, yap, yappen right. So, and I am talking about the fans in this case because that is a big part of it. The fans demanding certain people leave or go is not really healthy

fort to that some of it. Yes, they do surveys, they pay attention to sort of who has popularity, but ultimately they've fired a lot of people who people really loved, and they've gotten a lot of flak for that. They fired Pedra after season nine of Atlanta, and the fans were really upset that they didn't get to see a redemption arc from her, and that's why the in moving forward, they tried to stick with people even after they had had bad seasons, to see if there was opportunities for

groups to shift and change. There's no sort of there's no black and white with it. It really is great. They're really like figuring it out as they go.

Speaker 4

I have a question because you watched The Housewife, these careers, these women that have really gone through it, and then they went, would you a woman you love? Your best friend says they want me on. I'm just curious and you have to You can't just say, listen, do what's good for you? Like, what do you think someone you love?

Speaker 5

Oh God, it's so funny that you asked that question, because I think that if you called up Nina Ali from the Real house So I said, Dubai, who I knew before she became a housewife, she will tell you the story about how I told her don't do it.

Speaker 4

Really no, because most of the people that I love said don't do it, and they are not you. They don't have the insight and they haven't been you know, they don't have all the information like you do.

Speaker 5

I just, ultimately, and I said it to her in the sense of, like, here's all the things that you need to be aware of and don't do it. If you're not going to be able to do this right, don't do it. If you're not going to be strong enough deep down to love yourself no matter what anyone says, I couldn't do it. If you say this all the time, if you threw a glass of wine in my face, I would apologize to you. I would say, I'm so sorry I made you do that. I do not love

myself that much. I do not have that strong sense of who I am enough.

Speaker 2

How is that possible? I know, serious everybody you enough a lot.

Speaker 5

Of abandonment issues, but people who I thought loved me who didn't. And when you don't have that unconditional love you know, rue says all the time, RuPaul, if you can't love yourself, how can you expect anyone else to? I struggle with that a lot, and I would not want to be on this show because I would really struggle with what people say. I mean, I don't have social media at all right now, I've deleted everything.

Speaker 3

How does that feel it feels?

Speaker 2

Do you feel disconnected?

Speaker 6

Yes? But also okay with that?

Speaker 5

Like I got rid of it because I went through a really difficult breakup, and I didn't want to be able to see what that person was doing, or have that person see what I was doing, and feel as though I was posting things for someone else or for anyone else, like to, you know, to show myself as either healthy or unhappy or whatever it may be. I just didn't want to feel that pressure of being in that environment.

Speaker 6

And without it, I feel really relieved.

Speaker 5

But I also feel like I'm missing out on things. I feel like there's a whole life that I don't know. It's funny. I saw Canda's Dillard. I went to her baby shower on Saturday. Oh oh, she looks so beautiful.

Speaker 6

I went down to d C.

Speaker 5

She looks absolutely gorgeous. It's so kind of her to invite me, and we've built a good friendship over the years, and I was like, I'm so so happy for you, and I'm like, how's the baby. She's like, oh, he's killing me. I go, oh my god, it's a boy. She's like, oh yeah, she was like I announced that weeks ago. Well I didn't know because I had I'm not on social media. It didn't exist.

Speaker 6

Until she told it to me with her own voice.

Speaker 3

So yeah, right, yeah, but like the real life connections.

Speaker 1

I mean, you went off for a little bit the nineteen nineties again, Yeah, I went off for a few weeks just because I knew that I wouldn't deal so well with all of the bad stuff. You know, But you know, it's all, it all just exists in your little.

Speaker 4

Box, saying I don't know if you guys feel like this, but like, there are certain things that people can say about me on social media and it doesn't bother me at all. And usually that's around my physicality, Like I don't you think I look like a man? I think that's funny. I don't have I don't get like thrown by that. And it's not because I think that I have plenty of insecurity about the way that I look. But for some reason, that kind of stuff doesn't hit me.

It's other stuff. It's the she's fake, Yeah, she's you know, uh, because that's who you are, like me like that. Yeah, the silly stuff doesn't really get to me. It's just it's it's the really the stuff that goes after my character that really like bugs me.

Speaker 6

And look, I'm not on TV.

Speaker 5

But when people have said that about me, when people have said things about me that I think we're against what my character is and questioned my integrity and made assumptions about things that I've done, And that's.

Speaker 6

Really been hurtful to me because at the end of the day, that's not who I am, like.

Speaker 5

I care so deeply about being able to put my head down at the end of the night knowing I haven't hurt anybody.

Speaker 1

Well, I think that I think Vegas needs to start taking odds on who's going to come who's going to come back, because.

Speaker 3

It is a hot topic.

Speaker 1

I don't want to keep you any mind, but no, I want to keep you forever.

Speaker 4

But so maybe we need a part too. I was about to say that about what happens next. I just think it's so all of this is so fascinating.

Speaker 2

What is it going to say? No, No, guys, once was enough.

Speaker 5

I care deeply about both of you. I'd be happy to be here anytime. I'm honored that you asked. And honestly, what I hope that fans get when they sort of see these things is that these are real people. You are actually real, You're not a character, You're not scripted, no one's told you what to say, You're produced don't get me wrong. You know, like they've put you in situations that you normally wouldn't be in, but there hasn't

really been a care for how you solve those. You know, when all of the things happened to both of you this season that happened, did anyone call you up afterwards and say, how are you doing?

Speaker 6

What can I help you with?

Speaker 5

No? I mean that's not really there for you. And that's so hard to have to just go through it without really having anyone taken care of your mental health. If anybody was going to be a housewife, I would say get a good therapist right from the get go. Hire a social media manager who is fully in charge of all of your social media so you never even have to look at it once. And I know people who are always like my makeup artist showed this to me, but I.

Speaker 6

Never check it. No, you check it.

Speaker 5

You're all looking because you're obsessed. And I get it, But you really have to protect yourself from these things. Yeah, and remember the people who are in your life who actually want who care about you and don't want something from you, who aren't looking for anything from you, They're just here to give to you with whatever they may be able to offer you because.

Speaker 6

A lot of people pop around you.

Speaker 5

And they just they want what can I get from you?

Speaker 3

And I love that and I love you.

Speaker 2

Do you ever want to be a therapist?

Speaker 3

Yeah? I could see that on you as a side joy.

Speaker 5

Uh No, I've never wanted to do that because I'm I. I think I would really, I think he is.

Speaker 4

He is the go to for I think you'd be like the best sponsor ever. Like if I was an AA, I would not let you get out that door.

Speaker 5

That's really what I need to do. I forget being a therapist. I need to build like a housewives and not miss. Yes, that's a build.

Speaker 1

We can all sit around a room and like tell our stories my god like circle of trust.

Speaker 6

Right, that's what?

Speaker 4

And when is the way you need to do is write another book? Oh yeah, we're waiting time, poor.

Speaker 5

Suffering agent who is always like, when is that proposal coming up?

Speaker 3

I'm not fair, it's not nice.

Speaker 2

It's enough.

Speaker 5

Now?

Speaker 3

How many times can we read Diamonds and Jose Dave? We love you.

Speaker 5

I love you both too, and honestly, no matter what happens, you both matter. I just want to let you know that I know that's so silly and stupid to hear.

Speaker 3

No, it's not.

Speaker 4

It's not as you're saying. I'm like, Jackie, I hope you're taking that in. I'm taking that in no seriously because it's like, it's not just words. It actually you're saying something important because it's because the show makes you think that you can. It's very tricky, like you don't matter because you're on this show, and you don't matter because of all of a sudden you're famous.

Speaker 2

You just matter period.

Speaker 5

The things that you have given people are powerful. We all look at the show and quote the silly fights and you know, the outrageous moments. But the truth is the majority of people feel connected to reality and reality stars because they see something in them that they've never been able to do. Do you know women understood how they could get through a divorce from watching Housewives go

through it? How many women understood how they could get through domestic abuse after watching Taylor Armstrong talk about it and the River Housewives of Beverly Hills, or an eating disorder after watching someone like Jackie Goldschneider talk about it so passionately and publicly and show the good and the bad and the ugly around it. These things are the

things that matter. Representation matters, so and I can tell you that as a gay man who grew up at a time where I thought everyone was dying of AIDS, I thought that was my future. I was going to die of AIDS. And then reality TV showed gay people and over the course of twenty years, it's shifted the entire cultural conversation around homosexuality. It's the same thing were mattering to people, not through your silliness, but through your

examples of who you are. You walking out of that room, Jen, saying I can't be in here is something that other women are watching and saying, oh my god, I can remove myself from situations. And it's I mean, you're saying to yourself, why would they think that? That's ridiculous? But it's true.

Speaker 4

You know how many people have said out Dave, that's so funny because I had mixed reviews on it, But so much of what you just described of women saying to me, I don't Jenn, I felt so good about you walking out of that room.

Speaker 6

Yeah.

Speaker 4

I didn't think it through in that moment. I mean, I wasn't you know, it was just something that I needed to do for myself.

Speaker 1

But my walking out of the room was a meme, so we could end up walking out of the room conversation.

Speaker 3

I'm just kidding.

Speaker 5

Well, remember yourself in that situation when you think about what's it?

Speaker 6

Could it be? Oh my god, this is going to be gone? What do I do?

Speaker 4

Right?

Speaker 5

If those thoughts come into your head, if you start talking down to yourself, remember that you actually had impacts in people's lives. That's the thing that matters the most. And you can still find ways to make impacts in their lives. You just don't have to do it while also calling someone a bitch or horror flipping or whatever.

Speaker 1

And on that note, love you so much, Thank you so much, seriously.

Speaker 4

Love you so much. It has I mean, I feel like there's so we're going to do a part two. There's going to be a doesn't even have to be about leaving. It could be staying, it could be going, it could be whatever.

Speaker 5

It is.

Speaker 2

Just you are, you are a master.

Speaker 6

Yes, it's very kind.

Speaker 2

I'm here and we love you.

Speaker 3

Thank you so much.

Speaker 5

Congratulations on the continued sex of the second Let me try that again.

Speaker 4

We don't have sex yet, but who knows if we're out of a job, we may want to make people watch.

Speaker 5

Congratulations on the continued success of the show.

Speaker 2

I'm so hapd to you.

Speaker 4

Thank you, yes, okay, love you you, Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

Bye.

Speaker 3

I could talk to Dave all day, and not just about housewives.

Speaker 4

You could tell that he's just you know, a lot of people also that I think, I feel like we're in a program or in a twelve step program. There just they just have more insight than the rest of us. I used to be and I used to go to overreaders anonymous for years in my twenties when I was, you know, battling blameia, and sometimes I talk to someone like Dave and like, I miss it, I missed the meetings.

Speaker 1

Yeah, well yeah, to be honest, recovery, you become a deeper thinker, like you start to think about all the things that make you special and why you thought that the thing you were abusing made you feel good, right, you know, so you start to reckon with all of that, which I think will actually really help me if the show does end like that feeling of you know, when I first started the show, it really I was addicted to it because it made me feel special, and over

the years, I've kind of realized the other things that make me feel special, So it's not just this anymore, which makes me feel like I would.

Speaker 2

Be Okay, hello, I love that.

Speaker 3

But Dave is so brilliant we do need a part two.

Speaker 2

He is just there's just something about that guy.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and I always say this, there's a few things from the show that like, no matter what happens with it, I don't think I would have recovered without Yeah, you could do it so publicly, and like my friendship with you is just something that, no matter what happens with the show, will always well, it's just so beautiful and like they're just going to be grateful for the things that came from it.

Speaker 3

Yeah, we'll see what happens.

Speaker 4

Yes, all right, you guys, Like, Yeah, I feel like I wish I could hear from you guys more. I don't know Jack and our producers on I mean, had it like you guys, maybe on our even Instagram, our Instagram page, just like there's things you feel like you would want us to discuss. Yeah, looks like we're having some more episodes that we're getting. Uh, just a little sidebar here, but we did get renewed for another season.

Speaker 2

Season is that what.

Speaker 3

We call this a season? So I guess another year.

Speaker 4

So I don't know about what's happening uh for the Housewives of Jersey, but the Jersey Jays are going to see again next season.

Speaker 3

Oh yeah.

Speaker 4

And on that note, on that note, so yeah deep DMS, if you couldn't there's anything you guys think that we would talk about out that you'd be really interested in.

Speaker 3

Fabulous Yeah Instagram.

Speaker 2

Love you guys, Thank you so much. Bye guys,

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