NEWSOK! Exclusive: “You Can Wear a Hat Anywhere” and 8 Other Things We Learned From Ladies of London Star Noelle Reno
June 23 2014, Published 5:14 p.m. ET
Some of the things that the Real Housewives do in New Jersey or Orange County or Atlanta might seem weird if you don’t live in those areas (or even sometimes if you do), but it is definitely a different way of life across the pond for the Ladies of London. So when we caught up with star Noelle Reno, we asked her all about life in Londontown and learned a lot! See what she has to say about hats, Prince George and CVS.
1. There’s never a wrong time to wear a hat.
“First of all, you can wear a hat anywhere. I could wear a hat right now,” Noelle explains. “There’s never a wrong time, you can always wear a hat, just like you can always wear heels or flats or glasses, you always can. It’s just obligatory sometimes. So certain events, like polo, not all polos, but some polos, it is obligatory. Some races it is obligatory, some it's not. It’s actually very rare that you have to have to. The dress codes that were in place years ago, they’ve been loosened. I love a hat. If you don’t want to do your hair it’s a really great solution."
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2. Americans seemed to care more about the birth of Prince George than the Brits did.
“It was like, 'Great, she’s having a baby, I’m really happy for her, I hope it’s a healthy baby and a good labor.' This all goes back to the Brits’ way of acting and their sense of behavior, you pretend not to care even if you care. A lot of Britain, they just think that there’s archetypes and they don’t really serve a lot of purpose. If you read our press, they knock down the Royal Family a lot. What’s been great about Kate and Will, is them being together has reinvigorated the British public in getting invested into the Royal Family. They’ve been like our greatest export. There’s a lot of Brits that are like, 'Royal Family, could not care.' I think for me the baby was just like, I’m happy for them but I have so much else going on."
3. All Americans sound the same.
Whether you’re from Boston or Austin, you just sound like an American to the English people. If a Brit overhears your accent, “Sometimes you’ll get a Brit that will take interest, but you all do tend to sound the same," Noelle says. "The southern accent they might pick up on, but it's all kind of the same to them and Americans do seem very American.” And Noelle’s tips for blending in when you’re visiting London? "Don't talk so loud! That's something you can do. I think blending in is a good idea and the longer that I’m there, and I almost consider myself one of them, but I’m still incredibly American to Brits. You might think you’re blending in, but probably don’t as much as you think."
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4. But the one thing she misses about America? CVS.
"I think I’ve gotten used to the things that I miss, but when I arrived in the States, I went into CVS. We have Boots, which is our CVS and you might have 10 kinds of deodorants but then you don’t have every food group sold at our chemist. This happens every time I come back to the States, every time I walk into a grocery store I’m like, 'Gasp, what ketchup am I going to buy?' It’s nice that things are cheaper here too."
5. So how long did it actually take before she felt like she fit in with the people of London?
"I would say it was a couple of years in," Noelle says. A couple of years?! "British women are very very different than American women. American women are very friendly, right away they’re your best friend as soon as you meet them. British women are the total opposite. It really took me a couple of years to make real, proper friends there. Now, part of the reason I stay in London is that the friendships I have there are amazing. So with British women it's like once you’re in with them and you're friends, you’re really in. But as you will see, there is backstabbing in society." Hello, that's why we are tuning in!
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6. And London is a small world…
"It's funny because apart from Annabelle and Caprice, I knew all of those women for years. So for me, thank God I watched the show alone with a bottle of wine because it was very disappointing to see that judgment from people that I thought were my friends. It’s upsetting. I’m a big girl, I can take it, but it is upsetting when you have that realization on international TV."
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7. The British people can't wait for this show.
It's not even on TV yet in England, but everyone can't wait to get their eyes on this show. "I watch Housewives, we don’t really have New Jersey but I think they’re the most hilarious ones. But we have a lot of Orange County and a lot of Beverly Hills. They love it. Because we don’t really have glam TV over there, that’s why they are gagging for it. They are totally gagging for it." So what was the reaction when she told her fancy friends she would be a part of this reality show? "My friends in society, a lot of them were like, really? Because again, it's sort of the British thing, you keep your side of the street clean and you don’t talk about anything and you don’t air your dirty laundry, that’s exactly what you don’t do over there. But they’re all really supportive of me. I was at this hairdresser I go to all the time and a lot of old society goes there so it's like Cara Delevingne-types, and lady sitting next to me is one of the main women in British society and she was like, 'Oh My God, so I watched it...'. She had someone in the States send it over to her, so people in British society are secretly totally obsessed and it hasn't even aired yet."
8. But don't expect to see her wedding on the show anytime soon.
While Noelle and her fiance Scot Young won't be getting married in the immediate future, they do know what they want to do. "We’ve completely talked through it because we’ve been together 5 years, we’ve talked through every element of the wedding. So it's all pretty much there and we know what we are going to do. Business-wise there’s a lot of things for me that I’ve been developing over the last two years that, when it rains it pours in a good way, but they’re all hitting right now, in addition to the show. I would not be capable of organizing a wedding at this moment. I’m used to running production and doing events for my businesses, so I don’t think that I will freak out. Also my wedding doesn’t need to be my most beautiful day. I’m kind of used to having my picture out there, I’m now on a freaking reality TV show, I don’t need all of the attention." But when that big day comes, it won't be just one day. "It's going to be a weekend and just one big festival party. Were going to have a lot of fun, and great DJs," Noelle reveals.
9. Proving the point that Noelle is fabulous, but a normal kind of fabulous.
She's excited for viewers of Ladies of London to see how she really lives. "I think that the show will be extremely positive for myself and extremely positive for Scot because he’s always taken the high road. He’s never talked through all this (legal) stuff and he’s extremely private and I think it's going to be a nice experience for him when people what our lives are really like and when they see that he’s just a normal dude. When people are like, 'Oh so he’s not this crazy billionaire person, oh they live in a normal apartment, oh he’s just a normal guy.'"
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Ladies of London airs tonight on Bravo at 10 p.m. ET.
Which lady of London do you identify with the most so far this season? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter @OKMagazine.
