The Real Housewives of New York City just added another apple to their crew, and we couldn’t be more thrilled!
Eboni K. Williams will be joining the 13th season of the storied franchise, making history as the first Black cast member featured on the show. (Yes, you read that right. We’ve spent twelve years following New York women around and not one of them was Black.) She will be joining returning icons Sonja Morgan, Luann De Lesseps, Ramona Singer, and Leah McSweeney, adding some long-overdue diversity to the group.
Williams, who boasts a litany of accomplishments and careers including lawyer, published author, and media personality, promises to be a powerhouse addition who will “keep it just as real [on the show] as I do everywhere else.”
She told Page Six,
“NYC is filled with successful and dynamic Black women. I’m excited to join this legendary franchise as the first Black housewife. Can’t wait to share a slice of life in this city that hasn’t been seen before. Anyone who’s aware of my work knows I don’t hold back.”
We can’t wait either. After all, since RHONY’s inception, we’ve spent nearly the entire series clustered in the whitest, richest corners of the Upper East Side. The women (aside from McSweeney) rarely leave their upper-crust ivory towers, and, on the rare occasion they do, they treat it like they are stepping into another planet. Most appallingly, despite filming in a city that is only 42% white, the cast has remained nearly 100% white over the show’s tenure (the sole exception being Jules Wainstein, who was born in Hong Kong and lasted only one season before being kicked off the show).
While casting a show to accurately reflect the city it’s based in should have been second nature, welcoming Williams into the RHONY-verse feels like a step, albeit incredibly belated and small, in the right direction. Though we’re a little worried about Bravo’s choice to add another thirty-something to the historically older franchise (Williams is 37) — especially amid ageism allegations — we can’t wait to get Williams’ fresh perspective on the city and the series that we hold so dear.
And it seems that Williams feels the same way. She told Essence,
“This franchise historically has not had a Black lens and now it will for the first time in 13 years… I’m thrilled. I’m honored. It is my great hope that my presence on this show will just do it justice. Do Black women justice. Do our culture justice. I can only hope to touch on the magic that are Black women.”
As for what to expect for Williams’ plotlines? The housewife isn’t married (yet) but hopes you’ll get to see her first steps into creating her own family. She said,
“Viewers are gonna get to ride that journey with me as I go back to see where family is for me and what it is for me historically, and I start moving forward to creating a family of my own. That’s gonna be exciting. It’s a little scary to kind of go there, but I know it’s necessary for me to become the full woman that I want to be.”
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