Luann de Lesseps has come a long way since her early days on the Real Housewives of New York and former castmate Jill Zarin is giving her props for being open and honest about her struggles on the show.
The former New York Housewife noted that it’s a far stretch from Season 1, when we were introduced to Luann as “The Countess.”
She rubbed RHONY fans, and even some of her castmates, the wrong way by constantly schooling them about etiquette and proper behavior.
However, we soon found out that Luann’s life was not as she portrayed it to be.
As a matter of fact, she was on the brink of divorce from her husband but kept it a secret for quite some time.
Once the floodgates were released Luann started to open up and these days, she’s an open book.
Jill Zarin is proud of Luann for being honest
Jill Zarin has known Luann for many years, and although she left the show several seasons ago, they’ve remained friends.
The OG sat down for a recent interview with Housewives Nightcap and we found out that she still watches the show.
Jill caught the new season which premiered mere days ago and she proudly noted how much Luann has changed over the years.
“I’m so proud of how she owned her s**t at the beginning of this episode because…If I go back to seasons 1 and 2 she was hiding a lot of things,” remarked Jill.
She continued, “In fairness, we didn’t know what the show was and she wasn’t about to share all her demons or you know, life challenges with strangers. She was very private, which is the opposite of being on a reality show.”
These days Luann is anything but private and she proved that in the premiere of Season 13.
During a conversation with Leah McSweeney—who’s also had issues with alcohol– the 55-year-old confessed that her drinking has been going down a dangerous road.
The RHONY star tried to drink socially after a period of sobriety, but she told Leah that it’s hard to control her drinking and thinks it best to cut out alcohol completely.
Jill says she was shocked about what Luann shared
The Real Housewives of New York City OG was surprised by what Luann shared in the Season 13 premiere.
She expressed that Luann’s transparency is what they all wanted for her from the very beginning.
Jill reflected on their early days on RHONY and said “All Bethenny and Ramona and everybody would do to Luann is beat her up for it, you know ‘come on Lu tell the truth, tell the truth.'”
These days, however, it’s obvious that no one has to prompt the former countess to speak her truth.
“The first thing out of the gate this season is she’s like ‘You what know I tried to not drink and I drank, and you know what I’m not drinking again, it didn’t work for me.'”
“I was shocked that she shared that and that she was really very, very, very real,” added Jill.
The Real Housewives of New York airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.