Over the franchise’s eight-year lifespan, 12 Real Housewives have filed for bankruptcy, one has been evicted on camera, several have battled substance-abuse issues, one couple has pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court, one husband has been indicted for fraud and identity theft, and one husband has committed suicide.
What makes it easier for New York City Housewives to fake it, says McCord, is the proximity to fashion designers, publicists, restaurateurs and charity organizers — most of whom are happy to barter free goods for camera time.
Or were.
“The problem is that the darker these seasons have gotten” — alcholism, divorce, foreclosure — “the less these companies want to be involved.” Besides, she adds, the more Bravo “clings to the branding of the Housewives as ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’ the more these people have turned out to be financial frauds.”
