As Simon van Kempen noted in an earlier season of the Real Housewives of New York, going to the Hamptons is work. As the women struggle to remain relevant to Bravo TV, they also try to attain/retain social standing among the New York elite. Of the Real Housewives, only Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps and Kelly Bensimon have homes in the Hamptons. Jill and Bobby Zarin sold their home several years ago.
Of the Socialite crowd, Kelly Bensimon is highest on the pecking order. She is a close friend of Russell Simmons, the multi-millionaire music mogul, and having been married to photographer Gilles Bensimon doesn’t hurt. As has been pointed out several times, no one can find a reference to Jill Zarin from before the Real Housewives, meaning she’s in the ‘trying to attain’ category.
Because they work the crowd and bring possible drama, the ladies, even Alex and Simon, are invited to certain events, as this interesting article points out:
A LOT of people are secret ‘Real Housewives’ fans,” said Norah Lawlor, a Park Avenue publicist with an impressive Hamptons client list.
Mario and Ramona singer at the Southampton social club
Patrick McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com
LuAnn de Lesseps, Lance Bass, Rob Coburn and Jeff Smith in Bridgehampton.
Liam McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com
Sonja Morgan at a Fourth of July weekend party in Sagaponack, N.Y.
She’s not kidding. As the New York’s social set has decamped to the Hamptons for the summer, one can’t turn on a lawn-appropriate wedge heel without brushing up against a cast member of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York.”
“They’re all over the place,” said Jennifer Palmer, the director of development for the Retreat, a domestic-violence charity based in the Hamptons.
Take the last Saturday in June. LuAnn de Lesseps, a cast member, attended the Retreat’s party in Bridgehampton. Jill Zarin, her on- and off-screen pal, was spotted at the Phoenix House benefit. Before the night was over, Ramona Singer, their blonde frenemy, had breezed through each event with a glass of pinot grigio in hand.
“You’d be surprised at how much effort it takes,” said Ms. Singer, who seems to relish the task, cameras rolling or not. “I’ve been going to the Hamptons for 20 years. There used to be only one event a night, and now there are 20.”
Although the Season 4 finale was broadcast July 21, the “Housewives” are logging overtime. Cast members have treated the Hamptons like their chessboard, descending upon the flashbulb-popping party circuit like a pack of social moths.
It’s a strategy that has ingratiated them with publicists and social-climbing hosts. Unlike Hollywood actors, who can be a tad unreliable, the “Housewives” always show up. “They’re definitely ‘in character’ when they come out, which makes it kind of fun,” said Dan Rattiner, editor-in-chief of Dan’s Papers.
For his Taste of Two Forks benefit July 16 in Bridgehampton, Mr. Rattiner invited the cast member Alex McCord and her husband, Simon van Kempen. “It’s a Bravo moment right now, so might as well make the most of it while it lasts,” added Mr. Rattiner, who with some irony appointed Ms. McCord “Dan’s Ambassador of Taste.”
Ms. Palmer added: “If we invite the Housewives, they’re more active than your usual celebrities. They’ll promote and spread the word about an event. It doesn’t really matter which one.”
Not everyone is so evenhanded. To some, a “Housewives” social pecking order has emerged. “Kelly Bensimon worked at Elle before, so she’s more appropriate for fashion parties,” said Ariel Moses of Fingerprint Communications, who represents the Axe Lounge at Dune Southampton. “She’s also an actual socialite. LuAnn, she has a great name, so she’s good for charities. Jill is a businesswoman. So if I’m doing an event around powerful women, we’ll feature her.”
“And the funny thing to emerge from the show is that Sonja Morgan has become the queen of the gays,” Ms. Moses added. “They love her. She’s always tweeting about that now.”
Ms. Lawlor, who does publicity for the Southampton Hospital gala, has a similar strategy. “Each is good for different things,” she said, adding that Ms. Morgan was expected at the hospital party this Saturday. “But two are better than one and it creates more tension when they all come.”
Tensions escalated early this summer, not only among the Housewives but their publicists, too. Over the Memorial Day weekend, Ms. de Lesseps was a featured guest at the Miracle House benefit in Bridgehampton, known in some circles as an A-list gay event. Ms. Zarin was also attending, and her name somehow ended up on publicity materials. (wonder how that happened, lol)
That set off a round of e-mails from board members and publicists to party reporters stating that “Jill Zarin is not part of the program in any way.” Everyone had an agenda, not least of all Ms. de Lesseps’s publicist.
“The countess is really lovely — she reminds me of a French movie star — but her publicist is a nightmare,” said a person familiar with the event planning who spoke anonymously to maintain professional relationships. “If the countess is attending, he doesn’t want any of the other Housewives mentioned. You think the women can be competitive, but their publicists can be so much worse.”
Ms. de Lesseps’s publicist declined to respond, but Jesse Y. Ramos, the chief executive of Miracle House, said: “Working with Countess Luann and her publicist has been nothing but delightful and completely professional. As a matter of fact, they will both be involved in the Miracle House Memorial Day event again next year.”
The bickering wasn’t just a matter of ego. Publicity can be lucrative. Bethenny Frankel , a former cast member, used her exposure to land a $120 million deal for her Skinnygirl cocktail company and a Bravo spinoff. Her shadow looms large. “To be out in the Hamptons, it’s business,” Ms. Singer said. “By being seen and meeting new people, it gives you the liaisons for the fall. Then you get invited to the personal parties in the city.”
Some of the Housewives have devised strategies for maximum buzz. Ms. Zarin and her husband, Bobby, host dinner parties at a 4,000-square-foot Ocean Road summer rental in Bridgehampton. “In the Hamptons, more than half of the events are at a person’s home,” she said. “The way to reciprocate those invites, so you’ll be invited in the future, is to throw a party at your own home.”
If getting into society pages isn’t enough work, many cast members juggle other projects. Ms. Singer promotes her Ramona Singer pinot grigio; Ms. Bensimon designs jewelry; Ms. de Lesseps has two music videos; and Ms. Zarin helped write a book, “Secrets of a Jewish Mother.”
Their manic schedules take them across the Hamptons, but that doesn’t mean their R.S.V.P.’s are desired everywhere. “The new Montauk establishments would rather die than have a Housewife attend their party,” said Alan Rish, a publicist with several clients in the Hamptons, including Miracle House. “They are not welcome past Amagansett.”
It’s hard out here for a pimp. (sorry, that wasn’t nice)
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Kelly actually showed the most common sense and honesty this season on this so called “reality” show. Maybe Russell Simmons likes her because shes a good person. Does everything have to be negative ALL the time?
These Beasties are not Socialites (which is so retro went out in the 90′s) but SocialMITES. RHONY is over. Elvis has left the building!
And also – Kelli a socialite? If this is the case, the Apocalypse is upon NY. Brooke Astor she ain’t!
What is it about Russell Simmons and his attachment (whether romantically or friendship) to wretched, stupid, crazy, worthless women? Obvously he is smart in other ways, to have built the empire he has.
Kimora is just as bad, just more money grubbing (read the Vanity Fair article from several years back).
I don’t know why he has the taste he has in women, but rumor has it Kelly is under his protection
Julie
It’s interesting to suggest that LuAnn’s publicist doesn’t want other housewives present but LuAnn is unaware of this. Right! And mentioning Jill as a business woman but not Ramona or Cindy … Hmmm. They’re all mean witches.
These women are not Socialites (which is a very retro moniker) These Beasties are SocialMITES. Show’s over. Elvis has left the Building and AC is sailing in a Septic Tank.