Friday night at the Newport Beach TV Festival, Bravo chief Andy Cohen was asked if he thinks a transgender woman will ever be cast as a Housewife and, if yes, in which city.
“I think if there was a trans Housewife who was friends with other Housewives, that would be the way, you wouldn’t want it to be stunt, you know, you wouldn’t want it to be, like, ‘Let’s cast into this,’ if someone was friends with that person then that would be great,” he told The Ashley and other attendees at the Q&A, where he was also presented with Variety’s Creative Impact in TV Award. “I have no idea what franchise that would be.”
He went on to talk about potentially diversifying who would be considered a Housewife early on in the franchise’s history.
“You know, I’ve talked about this, but, in an early season of ‘Jersey’ there was a conversation about maybe casting, Caroline and Dina [Manzo] have a gay brother [Jaime Laurita], and there was, like, a moment where we were flirting with that idea,” Andy said. “I mean, look, I think that in terms of casting a gay guy on the show, this is a show about women and celebrating women, so, I think we leave it there.”
Unlike other Bravo shows, ‘Housewives’ has featured mostly straight, cisgender women throughout its 20-year, multiple-city history. That has changed in recent seasons with Jenna Lyons, who is gay, and Racquel Chevremont, who is queer, joining the rebooted Real Housewives of New York City. Real Housewives of Miami star Julia Lemigova was the first Housewife to be married to a woman. Other ‘Housewives’ have talked about being in same-sex relationships on their shows. As far as transgender representation in the ‘Housewives’ world, ‘Orange County’ castmember Heather Dubrow’s teenage transgender son has been featured on the show. Heather, who was not at Friday’s event, also has a lesbian daughter, a bisexual daughter and a straight son; all three are cisgender.
Meanwhile, Bravo shows including Vanderpump Rules, Southern Charm and The Valley have long featured LGBTQ+ castmembers. Former SUR hostess Bille Lee, a transgender woman, made her debut on ‘Vanderpump Rules’ in 2017.
‘Housewives’ shows have long faced criticism for their depictions of queer men. One viewer brought this critique directly to Andy at the 2023 Bravo Fan Fest in Miami, asking, “When will a gay guy become a main castmember without being an accessory to a woman?”
In his response, Andy mentioned Jaime’s possible casting on Real Housewives of New Jersey, saying, “Well, um, in the early years we came close, we talked, Caroline Manzo, uh, has a gay brother, we were talking to him about maybe joining ‘Jersey,’ and I just think, the longer the show has gone on, I do think it’s a show about women and, so, I don’t know that that needs to happen, really.”
At the Newport Beach TV Festival, Andy also talked about the Summer House reunion, which he described as one the “Top-10 most-tense reunions that we’ve had ever.” Check out more of The Ashley’s exclusive event coverage here. Watch Andy talk about casting a transgender Housewife in the video below.
(Photos: The Ashley; Instagram)
