When Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City debuted in 2008, we were introduced to a group of women willing to open up their lives and families to the prying eyes of cameras and the millions of strangers who tuned in week after week. That original cast was so culturally redefining that we, the culture, have never quite moved on. That’s where E!’s The Golden Life steps in.
"Well, your voice has been heard because we're back," Sonja Morgan tells Newsweek, reflecting on the constant demand for the original group to return to television. After RHONY went in a new direction with a new cast, fans kept asking when the original cast was going to be back on TV. "We're just so thrilled for everyone because everyone's been saying like, ‘When are you guys coming back?’” Luann de Lesseps adds.
Dorinda Medley notes that the fan response was happening everywhere they went to the point where it was getting uncomfortable. Viewers simply missed the OGs and refused to accept any substitutes. So, it got to the point where it's like, finally they picked up the torch and said, ‘Come back on.’” With a not-so-subtle nod to The Golden Girls, The Golden Life follows the series follows Morgan, de Lesseps, Medley, Ramona Singer and Kelly Bensimon at a stage in their lives when the kids are gone, husbands long gone, too, for the most part and they’re able to live their golden years partying in Palm Beach, Florida, and the Hamptons in New York.
While they might have more time on their hands, there’s one thing that has remained the same: friendship. This is not manufactured," Singer explains. "We have real history, real lives.
We argue like sisters, which makes me crazy. And then, we make up." Bensimon echoes that sentiment by highlighting how much they rely on one another off camera. "I love, too, that we can talk to each other and that we confide in each other," Bensimon says.
"And you know, women need these friendships that Ramona always talks about. We need to vent, we need to process." But they’re quick to point out how The Golden Life is different from RHONY. "Because we're now on our own, we've already been married, our children are adults," Singer says.
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