An incoming cast member on “The Real Housewives of New York City” is surprised she was cast on the show.
On June 27, 2024, Bravo announced that Racquel Chevremont would join the cast of the Big Apple-based reality show. Chevremont is an art curator and model. She will be the franchise’s second openly queer cast member. In 2023, Jenna Lyons made history as the first-ever openly gay woman on RHONY.
In a June 2024 interview with GLAAD, Chevremont admitted she was surprised by her casting on the long-running Bravo show. “I honestly didn’t think they would be interested in me in the end because they already had a queer woman,” she told the outlet. “I wasn’t sure if they were going to want two queer women on a franchise that has historically been about married heterosexual women.”
Chevremont added, “I think it was a bold decision and honestly a more authentic representation of NYC.”
Like Lyons, Chevremont is not only a high-profile career woman, but she is also a mother. In 2022, Page Six reported that Chevremont ended a long relationship with partner Mickalene Thomas. The two were known in the art world as Deux Femmes Noires and had been engaged since 2019. “We ended our long-term personal relationship but remain committed to completing our current projects as Deux Femmes Noires,” the exes told the outlet in a joint statement.
The full RHONY season 14 cast will return for season 15. In addition to Chevremont and Lyons, the cast features, Brynn Whitfield, Jessel Taank, Erin Lichy, Ubah Hassan and Sai De Silva, per Bravo’s official cast announcement on March 28. Newcomer Rebecca Minkoff will also join as a “friend of” the cast.
Members of the RHONY Cast Reacted to Racquel Chevremont’s Casting News
Several “Real Housewives of New York City” stars reacted to the casting news on Instagram.
“WHAT?!!! Racquel’s joining the cast of RHONY?! “ joked RHONY co-star Jessel Taank.
“Such a great addition ❤️❤️😍😍,” added Erin Lichy.
“Yassss honey,” chimed in Sai De Silva.
There had been rumors about Chevremont joining RHONY since at least March 2024. Gossip sites even posted photos of her posing with her friend Lyons.
As of this writing, Bravo host Andy Cohen has not commented on Chevremont’s casting. But he did speak about the diversity that he is now seeing across Bravo.
“I’m proud of all the work that Bravo has put into making their shows more representative of the country’s demographics,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in May 2024. “They decided that there needed to be more representation across the dial. And they did it.”
Jenna Lyons Previously Talked About Being the 1st Openly Gay RHONY Star
BravoPictured: (l-r) Ubah Hassan, Brynn Whitfield, Jessel Taank, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Sai De Silva
In 2023, Lyons appeared on the “Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and admitted she never saw her role on RHONY coming after she left her high-profile position as president and creative director of J.Crew.
“I didn’t have a job,” she told Fallon. “When I left J. Crew, I was like, ‘What am I gonna do?’ I didn’t know what RHONY was, and, apparently, it was the ‘Real Housewives.’ And they said there’s never been an openly gay woman on ‘The Housewives,’ and I was like, ‘Mmmm.’ And so, I decided that I was gonna do it. They posted this picture of me, like, in with all of the other women and said, like, ‘What about it? What do you think?’ And I then DM’d Andy, and I was like, ‘This is hysterical.’ And he’s like, “No, it’s actually a good idea.”
Lyons also spoke on “The View” to say that the LGBTQ representation on “The Real Housewives” is “very important.”
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