Former 'RHONY' Star Heather Thompson Says She Would 'Recast' Series In 'Its Entirety'
After cutting her appearances in season 13 of The Real Housewives of New York short, Heather Thompson isn't holding back her feelings on the Housewives franchise.
Thompson reportedly decided to step back from season 13 following a dramatic weekend at Ramona Singer's home. She was a full-time cast member from seasons five to seven, and was slated to appear as a "friend".
"I wish I had never gone back," the 51-year-old admitted on the "Behind The Velvet Rope with David Yontef" podcast about her brief RHONY return. "After that weekend, it was like, 'how fast can I get the hell out of there?' It was so creepy."
Thompson said that on the way home from filming, she wondered if the car she was in was bugged. "I felt so dirty. It was, it was very dirty. I felt like it was, I've said this to the higher-ups at Bravo: I thought it was dirty-producing. I thought it was self-produced. I didn't like any of it. I didn't recognize any of it," she continued. "It didn't feel like the right decision for me, and that's why I didn't continue it."
When asked what she would do to bring the ratings up if she was a producer, Thompson said she would "recast the entire show in its entirety" and "start from brand new."
Noting she'd recast the entire franchise and re-strategize, Thompson explained, "If I got a seat at the table ... I would be looking at all the ratings. I'd be looking at all the shows. I'd be looking at what the diverse groups are."
Thompson explained that there was a lot of layers to "a decision like this" but "I've been a part of the upset from the beginning, like where they fired half the cast, they were going to replace it, and be honest with you, initially, there was more than just three on the block. They weren't really sure how much they were going to upset the cast. And the reason for that is, so let's go back to facts and history is, it was never cast to be the Real Housewives of New York. It was cast to be Manhattan Moms."
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Thompson felt RHONY had "a really good run" since it first aired in 2008. She said the "girls that were on the show" have helped to build the franchise and should get "some sort of nice severance package."
"But that's what I would do if I were a producer of this show and I was running the Bravo network. I'd want to upset this apple cart and bring on some change and do some good work along with the dramatic toxicity that you know is addictive," she said.
Thompson said she speaks to women from her time on RHONY but does not speak to the current cast.
She said that seeing Sonja Morgan was the best part of the weekend she spent filming season 13. The blonde beauty explained that while she was happy to see Morgan, they only have the reality show in common.
The designer said that she and Luann de Lesseps were "truly friends" during her time on the show: "She was in my home with my young children. They knew her, my husband knew her. We had a friendship. I knew her daughter and her son."
However, Thompson said the friendship was over when she left RHONY. "I was a 'show friend' for Luann," she said, adding that while she spent time with de Lesseps filming her guest appearance, she didn't have an interest in trying to rekindle their relationship.
"Ramona and I had a friendship because of the show, we stayed in touch like a sorority sister ... And when it came time and they asked me to come back to the show, she was very excited for me to return. Luann was excited to have me return. Sonja was excited to have me return because they all knew they needed the sixth player," she said. "Not so much that it was me, but they were like, 'no, we get this.'"
