Andy Cohen Addresses Backlash for Always Asking Housewives What ‘Work’ They’ve Had Done - lulu

Andy Cohen at BravoCon 2022 at the Javits Center in New York City on Oct. 14, 2022. Photo: 

Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty

Andy Cohen is setting the record straight. 

The talk show host, 56, responded to backlash on social media about him always asking the Real Housewives ladies about the "work" they have had done.

Cohen replied directly to a critical message directed at him on X that claimed "the millions of women who watch these franchises" are tired of him asking the specific question. 

Andy Cohen at Bravo Fan Fest 2024 at Ice Palace Studios in Miami, FL on Nov. 23, 2024. 

Ivan Apfel/Bravo via Getty

The person added, "This isn’t 2009 anymore and women can do whatever they want to their face/bodies. It’s time to retire this question. It’s rude and does 0 for the viewers."

The Watch What Happens Live host wrote in response that the question "remains at the top of the list of viewer questions every season, every franchise."

He added, "The [Housewives] have unabashedly let us into their beauty regimes since day one; It’s a big part of the series DNA."

Many of the Housewives, as Cohen stated, have been open about their various cosmetic procedures. Earlier this month, Jessel Taank of The Real Housewives of New York City spoke to Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea show about her own Botox and filler use. 

The reality TV star, 45, said, "It just so happens that when you watch yourself on television, you notice everything."

"So I was like, 'You know what? I’m just going to tweak a couple of things,' " she continued. "Also, like, who doesn’t get Botox? Who doesn’t get a little filler here and there?"

Taank added that she has "gotten Botox since I was 26" and wants to be transparent about it. "I’m not a gatekeeper and I’m certainly not the type of person to be doing all these procedures and not talking about it," she said. 

Jessel Taank attends the Naeem Khan fashion show during New York Fashion Week at Angel Orensanz Center on Sept. 9, 2024 in New York City.

John Nacion/Getty Images

"So I talk about it on my social [media]. I don’t want people to ever feel like I’m doing things behind [closed doors]," Taank explained. "I get it, we’re on television. It comes with the territory."

Cohen, meanwhile, has never had Botox, according to his November 2024 appearance on the How to Fail podcast with host Elizabeth Day.

"I've not touched it. I’ve never even had Botox," he said, after chatting about the amount of Botox that appears in the Real Housewives franchise. "Joan Rivers, before she died, used to beg me to get Botox."

"And every guy that I know who's hosting a TV show, mainly all of them are younger than me or about my age. They all have had Botox," he continued. "I look at their foreheads. I’