Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Peacock
Bravo might be betting it all on blonde for Erika Jayne’s new limited series next year, but Peacock beat them to the punch when it comes to rolling the dice on a certain flaxen-haired Real Housewife. In the latest iteration of the streamer’s Housewives spinoff, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy, former New York Housewife Kristen Taekman returns to the RHCU (Real Housewives Cinematic Universe) to stir up trouble among her fellow alums in a reunion trip to St. Barths. Given Taekman’s relatively short time on RHONY during its original run, fans were surprised to see her thrown into the mix among other, more seasoned OGs with a longer tenure on the show.
Though Taekman was only a cast member during two seasons of the original RHONY, she left a lasting impression. She was the rare Housewife willing to go toe toe-to-toe with Ramona Singer—a move that nearly got her clocked in the face with a wooden oar. And then there was her cast trip to Montana in Season 6, which created a ripple of drama that spun fellow cast member Aviva Drescher into such a tizzy that it ultimately resulted in the leg throw heard ‘round the world.
But Taekman’s return is a welcome one, and any stray skeptics will quickly have their minds changed by RHONY Legacy. Taekman wastes no time getting into the muck with her fellow RHONY OGs, including Dorinda Medley and Kelly Killoren Bensimon, two women known for their legendary reality television fights. In a Zoom conversation ahead of the premiere, Taekman and two of RHONY’s most feisty, hilariously unpredictable OGs, Medley and Sonja Morgan, told The Daily Beast’s Obsessed about what it was like to reunite almost a decade after their last season with each other. Together, they broke down their squabbles, their legacies, and what it has been like to put their whole lives in front of a camera.