If Andy Cohen were a Housewife (which he isn't but which he is responsible for the societal and ironic rebranding of), his tagline would be: ‘I’m a father to two, but a daddy to many.’
Of course, to Real Housewives acolytes, Cohen, the patriarch of the Bravo franchise that spawned 11 American and 20 international instalments, needs little introduction. A former television executive who first commissioned Scott Dunlop's documentary, The Real Housewives of Orange County, in 2006, he has since become the face of the NBC Universal-owned channel's unscripted reality TV department. To his many, he is the Godfather of modern reality TV. The Real Housewives counts Rihanna, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep among its legion of proud disciples.
In commissioning Dunlop's pilot, which he was inspired to create after attending a drinks party with wealthy friends, Cohen did what so few have since been able to replicate: he captured cultural lightening in a bottle, allowing the world — which was then becoming increasingly voyeuristic — a glimpse into how 'the other half live.' Given that the RHOC debuted four years before Instagram launched, it was the first of its kind that enabled audiences to follow the lives of the wealthy in a pre-digital age. The show's premise is simple: a fly-on-the-wall camera crew follows the lives of a group of affluent women living in the same city, in overlapping social circles. What ensues is a perfectly oscillating combination of feuds and friendships.
'I remember the Washington Post review after the first episode [of RHOC] aired,' Cohen tells ELLE UK on a recent trip to London. 'It said that you could put it in a time capsule and it would be a statement about how the Nouveau Riche in Southern California lived in the year 2006. It's like a perfect sociological time capsule, the clothes, it's wild and just how they interacted with each other. They were so non-self conscious.'
Dunlop had cast Lauri Peterson, Jeana Keough and Vicky Gunvalson in his pilot episode of RHOC along with other women who ended up not being cast. 'The show I think he wanted to do was more of a Curb Your Enthusiasm-style mockumentary about life in Southern California,' he says. 'But we were much more interested in what's really happening there. And that was what we focused on in the early seasons. They didn't know what they were doing, they didn't know what the show was going to be, what it was going to be called. They were just so non-self conscious.'
Cohen realised they had struck gold when the second season of RHOC aired in 2007. 'During season two of RHOC, I was really starting to care about the women in a way that I used to care about people when I watched soap operas and I was like, "oh my God, we did it!"'
In the months following the premiere of RHOC's sophomore season came a casting for a show called Manhattan Mums. 'Because of RHOC, we were looking at it and we're like, "oh my God, this could be the Real Housewives of New York." And that made me crazy with excitement. The idea of Jill Zarin, a Jewish mother, being a real housewife where the Orange County women were so blonde and you know, not ethnic. I just loved it.'
Strong in the knowledge that they'd crafted a winning formula to revive then-fledgling cable channel Bravo's fortunes, the Real Housewives debuted in cities across America: after New York came Atlanta, then New Jersey, followed by D.C. and Beverly Hills in 2010. In 2022, the franchise's first international outpost, The Real Housewives of Dubai, debuted.
But happy housewives aren't always harmonious housewives. Businessman Russell Armstrong, who was married to one of the Real Housewives of Beverley Hills, took his own life in 2011 following the 'pressure' of the show, which featured allegations that he had physically abused his wife. After an explosive first — and only season — The Real Housewives of D.C. was cancelled in 2010 following a controversy surrounding cast member Michaele Salahi and her husband, after the pair reportedly stuck into then-President Barack Obama's first state dinner in 2009. The couple, who told producers they had an invitation, later became the subject of a secret service investigation. Following a sour and fraught fifth season, The Real Housewives of Dallas was also paused in 2021, during which complaints of racism were made by new cast mate, Dr. Tiffany Moon. Its other popular franchises, The Real Housewives of Dubai, The Real Housewives of New York City, and Vanderpump Rules, have also been paused, despite the latter's explosively dramatic tenth season averaging 11.4 million viewers per episode. Bravo has previously hit pause on shows like Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard after two seasons, and Winter House.
Its public detractors have been outspoken in their disapproval of its premise, of enabling women to behave badly. In 2013, prominent second wave feminist Gloria Steinem publicly expressed her disdain for the series, 'It is women – all dressed up and inflated and plastic surgeried and false bosomed… it is a minstrel show for women.'
Frankel has made the argument that Bravo has profited off the backs of women
A Housewives reckoning has also rocked Bravo in recent years, spearheaded by former RHONY cast mate Bethenny Frankel who has encouraged stars to unionise. Among other accusations made against the channel and its producers, Frankel — who sold her SkinnyGirl margarita brand for a reported $100 million (£78 million) in 2011 — has made the argument that Bravo bosses, many of whom are men, have profited off the backs of women. 'That's lazy and untrue. First of all, her included, no one has profited more than the women who star on the show as it should be,' Cohen posits. 'And the shows are executive produced or the Real Housewives of New York has had a female executive producer since day one of filming these shows are starring and produced by women. There are men involved. I have somehow become one of the faces of this. And so I think it's easy to say, "Andy made money off of this." I did. So did she and everybody else.'
The reckoning has also resulted in lawsuits from former Housewives amid allegations of sexism, drug and alcohol abuse and on-set racism. Bravo and NBCUniversal conducted an outside investigation into misconduct claims against Cohen, and he was cleared. 'I've absolutely no regrets and I have great pride in all of our production partners. We've dealt with often really dramatic, sometimes uncomfortable, situations that come about when you follow someone's real life,' he explains. 'Real life is not always, you know, wrapped up in a bow and beautiful, but we take every situation as it comes and I have great pride in the shows.'
Filming a show in a politically fractured America also seems challenging. Former RHONJ star Siggy Flicker has accused the show's producers of making her look 'crazy' after they learned she had voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. 'I don't care who the House wives support for president. It's a reflection of America,' Cohen states, stressing that the Housewives who blame producers' editing of them use it as a 'cop out.' 'Blaming the editing is the trope for reality shows and I think the truth of the matter is, I don't really think any of them really do it anymore because they're usually proven wrong when they do,' he adds.
So, what next for the Real Housewives? 'Can we ever expect a Real Housewives of London?' He shrugs. He has no idea, he says.
Two days later, flanked by Housewives and Bravo fans at Hayu FanFest, Cohen confirms that The Real Housewives of London will launch in 2025. Make no mistake: like the women he's created stars of, Cohen is a showman very much in the business of creating drama.
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