Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Crystal Kung Minkoff said that being the first Asian-American woman on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is a “huge honor and responsibility.”
The stunning wife of filmmaker Rob Minkoff is a mother of two children, Max, 8, and Zoe, 6.
She is also an entrepreneur in her own right. Crystal is the founder of Real Coco, a coconut-based food and beverage company.
This new role on the Bravo reality show is not one that Crystal has taken lightly. She knows how important representing Asian-Americans in a positive way is on television.
“It’s a huge honor and a huge responsibility I feel to represent not only Chinese Americans, but all AAPI,” she explained.
“And with the uprise of anti-Asian hate, it’s a collective problem,” Crystal claimed.
What made her decide to join the cast of RHOBH?
Crystal told People Magazine that she has a very busy life and joining the cast of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was not at the forefront of her mind.
It took the convincing of a good friend to get her on board.
“It never occurred to me,” she explained
“But then Kathy [Hilton] called me and said she was thinking of joining and hoped I would think about it. It made me feel so much better to know that there was someone I could trust,” Crystal said of signing on with her longtime pal as a cast member.
“I was a little bit like a deer in headlights,” Crystal said. She claimed that her fellow castmates which include Kathy, Kyle Richards, Erika Girardi, Lisa Rinna, Garcelle Beauvais, Dorit Kemsley, and Sutton Stracke were “helpful and sweet.”
“It wasn’t like, ‘We’re going to try to make you look bad.’ It was, ‘We’ll help you out!'” she claimed.
How will the show tackle race issues moving forward?
Crystal’s hiring comes one year after Gabrielle was hired as RHOBH’s first black housewife.
Crystal claimed that there are conversations that will be had between the women this season that she hopes will be fruitful enough to teach others about tolerance and racial understanding.
With Crystal’s addition, the Bravo series is set to have its most diverse roster in its 11-year history
“Sometimes the conversations were challenging,” she explained. “Everyone comes from different perspectives and from different backgrounds. But we have to move the needle. And the more conversations there are, the more understanding.”
Season 11 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills premieres Wednesday at 8/7c on Bravo.