Fifteen years and hundreds of episodes later, The Real Housewives has become a cultural institution.
Now, it's time to go back to the beginning with author Dave Quinn's new book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives From the People Who Lived It.
The aptly titled tell-all recounts the oral history behind the Bravo reality TV franchise, stopping in Atlanta, New York City, Beverly Hills and more Real Housewives locations to get the inside scoop from past and present cast members, along with the producers and executives who got to know them both on and off the screen.
Bravo host Andy Cohen may have said it best. "I like to think of Not All Diamonds and Rosé as the ultimate reunion," he exclusively told E! News.
To give you a sneak peek at what's in store, we've rounded up the most shocking Real Housewives bombshells of all.
Keep scrolling to learn about a behind-the-scenes blowup on The Real Housewives of Potomac, a never-before-heard cast trip story that landed several Real Housewives of New Jersey stars in a foreign jail and so much more.
Not All Diamonds and Rosé by Dave Quinn
Dave Quinn's Not All Diamonds and Rosé is the definitive oral history of the hit Real Housewives TV franchise, from its unlikely start in the gated communities of Orange County to the pop culture behemoth it has become.
Then, be sure to catch up with all of your favorite franchises on Bravo and Peacock.
Not All Diamonds and Rosé is now available wherever books are sold.
(E!, Bravo and Peacock are all part of the NBCUniversal family.)
A brawl at a nightclub in Punta Cana—sparked by a group of people getting "very aggressive" after Teresa Giudice accidentally sprayed champagne on the dancefloor, according to Caroline Manzo—had devastating consequences for Teresa, Caroline, Melissa Gorga, Jaqueline Laurita, their husbands and kids.
"All hell broke loose" inside the club, Melissa said in Not All Diamonds and Rosé, especially after the group started hurling slurs. As Greg Bennett, a friend of the Manzos, recalled, "Albie and Chris are arguing with the guy dropping the N-word, I've got the guys calling me homophobic slurs, then the Joes are dealing with another dude. It was like, these different scenes all around."
The fight, which The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast has never publicly spoken about before, somehow ended, but the next morning, the police arrived to question everyone. Melissa and Joe Gorga had already left the country, and though Caroline said Bravo advised her to do the same, she insisted on staying when authorities took Greg, Albie, Chris and Joe Giudice's passports.
Executive producer Lucilla D'Agostino spent the next five days contacting lawyers and officials in the Domincan Republic to try and help. Bravo's efforts eventually paid off, and in the end, there weren't any formal charges.
According to Caroline, "the Manzo family will never set foot on Dominican Republic soil again."
Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen were not happy to be axed from The Real Housewives of New York ahead of season five, and according to Andy Cohen, they "went for blood after we didn't pick them up."
More specifically, Andy said that Simon left his job and started a website called BravoRatings.com, while Alex launched a vlog where she'd critique episodes of RHONY and talk about areas where she thought production had gotten involved.
"It was unprecedented," Andy added. "I've never seen anything like it since."
The first season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills ended on an awful note for Kim and Kyle Richards—so awful, in fact, that the sisters were "begging" both the production company and Bravo to "take the scene out of the show," Andy Cohen revealed in Not All Diamonds and Rosé.
Fans can surely understand their reasoning, as the scene in question involved Kyle calling Kim an alcoholic, and Kim accusing Kyle of stealing her "goddamn house," a seemingly silly remark that's turned into one of RHOBH's most iconic lines, even though it's clear there was a lot of complicated history and weight behind her words.
As executive producer Dave Rupel put it: "In Kim's viewpoint going back a long way, her sisters woudn't have the lives they did if Kim had not been a successful child actress ... Kim's husband was a rich oil guy, so she had been at the top of the heap, but when she divorced him and her drinking became a problem, she lost everything. So in that limo, when she said, 'You stole my goddamn house,' in her mind, she was going back years."
When Ashley Darby brought up Robyn Dixon's financial issues behind her back on The Real Housewives of Potomac, Robyn was understandably furious. According to her, producers had previously asked if there were any parts of her life she considered "off the table" for the show, and she mentioned her husband Juan Dixon's personal business and financial issues.
Of course, that's not how Real Housewives works, and Ashley insisted in Not All Diamonds and Rosé that she didn't know about any sort of conversation. But once Robyn learned what was said, she "went crazy," according to former RHOP star Katie Rost. "I wish they had a camera because this girl got out of the car, went over to Eric, and flipped out on him ... She was like, 'I told you not to f--k with me like this and not talk about my s--t! I trusted you, and you guys are motherf--king liars!'"
Afterward, Robyn apparently left and refused to film that night.
Several of the ladies on The Real Housewives of Orange County season 10 apparently had their doubts about Vicki Gunvalson's then-boyfriend Brooks Ayers—who claimed he had stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma—from the start.
For example, Heather Dubrow recalled Brooks claiming he was getting cancer treatment from a doctor who she'd actually gone to see for cellulite removal. Then there was a fake medical bill, according to Shannon Storms Beador.
"No one ever saw this, but it was hilarious," she said in the book. "Because what he did was he went on Google and he searched 'chemotherapy bill' and basically copied the first one that came up."
Meghan King's deep-dive investigation ultimately uncovered the fact that Brooks was lying about having cancer. His response? Sending her a cease and desist letter the day before the reunion.
"I ripped it up on camera," Meghan recalled. "They didn't show that."
When Porsha Williams confronted Kandi Burruss over a rumor that she and her husband Todd Tucker had once wanted to drug her to take advantage of her, "none of the producers thought anything" of the accusation, EP Carlos King said in the book. It was ridiculous and seemingly came out of nowhere—that is, until Porsha finally revealed at the reunion that Phaedra Parks was the one who told her.
Everyone was shocked, especially Andy Cohen. After the reunion, he said he "kept throwing [Phaedra] life preservers to try to save herself, to explain why she might've been so angry at Kandi to make something like that up, or to profusely apologize, but she couldn't save herself."
The Real Housewives of Dallas' season three girls trip to Kameron Westcott's hometown quickly deteriorated after LeeAnne Locken and D'Andra Simmons got into a behind-the-scenes battle. Notably, this is when the infamous conversation about the show's "queen bee" supposedly kicked off, though the cameras weren't rolling.
"But that's not all we were talking about," LeeAnne said in Not All Diamonds and Rosé. "D'Andra said, 'The show didn't qualify to be a Housewives show until I joined the cast.' Like Cary [Deuber], Brandi [Redmond], Stephanie [Hollman], and I weren't enough."
LeeAnne allegedly fire back, "Really, bitch? How do you think you even got to be on the show?"
Added Cary, "It was a nasty fight."
Producers didn't initially understand why the ladies of RHONJ were so apprehensive of Danielle Staub—then they learned about Cop Without a Badge, the tell-all book that would play a vital role in the show's epic season 1 finale. They were shocked. As executive producer Carlos King put it, "We did not sign up for that s—t. What the f—k is happening here?"
If it weren't for Dina Manzo's niece, the book may have never been discovered. A friend of hers tipped her off, so Dina, Caroline Manzo and Jacqueline Laurita "all crowded around the computer" to do some research. Then, they went to the library for Cop Without a Badge.
The way Caroline sees it, "there was no malice" toward Danielle, and they didn't even necessarily want to get her off the show. "But we were talking about the Colombian drug cartel here; we were not jaywalking," she added in Not All Diamonds and Rosé.
Danielle, meanwhile, dismissed the book as ancient history written by an ex.
Season two of RHOBH was dark: Taylor Armstrong slowly began opening up about the alleged abuse she faced at the hands of her husband Russell Armstrong, and shortly after she filed for divorce, he died by suicide. Filming had already wrapped, leading to "a conversation about whether we were going to air the show at all," Andy Cohen said in the book.
Production ultimately decided to re-edit the first episode, bringing the cast together to talk about what happened, and allowing Taylor to screen what was going to air.
The rest of the season, however, was hard to watch. As fans may recall, Taylor's abuse became the subject of a tea party after she pushed Camille Grammer to "tell the truth," and Camille responded by blurting that Russell "hits" Taylor. But as detailed in Not All Diamonds and Rosé, Taylor was referring to the "truth" about Lisa Vanderpump being a bad friend to her.
"I thought she meant the abuse," Camille explained in the book. "I didn't realize she was talking about Lisa ...I was really disappointed in myself for not reading her signals the right way."
To this day, Andy Cohen's all-time favorite Real Housewives moment is "Vicki and that little family van." She had ordered a full stretch limo and breakfast with mimosas, only for a tiny van to show up to her house—something she initially assumed was a prank orchestrated by Bravo, Vicki revealed in the book. Of course, it just turned out to be a relatable (yet hilarious) situation.
Much of what was filmed at The Real Housewives of Miami season two reunion didn't make it to air. Why? In anticipation of a showdown with Lea Black, Ana Quincoces turned to her ex-fiancé, a former U.S. attorney, to do a "deep dive into her charity and all her history." However, Lea apparently had a stipulation in her contract that prevented anyone from talking about her husband's clients, which included the charity.
In Not All Diamonds and Rosé, Lea insisted that there was nothing there, while Ana said that Lea "freaked out," storming off the set and hiding in her dressing room for hours.
As Andy Cohen remembers things, "it was not entertaining to watch when it happened, and it wasn't entertaining edited down—that's the reality of the situation."
Executive producer Matt Anderson called RHONY's infamous "Scary Island" vacation "the hardest cast trip I've ever done for any Bravo show."
Sonja Morgan insisted that the cameras didn't even catch all of the craziness, most of which she attributed to Kelly Killoren Bensimon. "She was off that whole trip," Sonja said, recalling Kelly's comments about Bethenny Frankel, Al Sharpton and Gwyneth Paltrow.
After the "Go to sleep!" dinner, Sonja said she was so concerned with Kelly's state of mind that she urged producers to stop filming. Kelly, too, seemed to want the cameras off, revealing in the book that she was just repeating a producer's name over and over again at one point.
Sonja was so shaken up that she bunked with Ramona Singer. "I was very nervous for my life," she added.
Kim Zolciak-Biermann returned to RHOA for its tenth season, and it didn't take long for her to cause problems. One specific incident rocked the show, though: a video Kim's daughter shot while visiting NeNe Leakes' new house, which showed a bug crawling in her bathroom. Later, Kim would use the video to claim NeNe had "roaches" and question the cleanliness of her home—remarks that NeNe deemed racist.
By the time the reunion came around, it would mark Kim's last appearance on RHOA. But according to Andy Cohen, she and her husband Kroy Biermann didn't leave quietly.
"I just remember Kroy yelling at me in the bathroom after the reunion...It was the only time during the whole run where I ever felt like I was going to get punched," Andy said in Not All Diamonds and Rosé. "What I'm relieved I didn't know at the time was that Kroy had a gun with him that day (Georgia is an open-carry state) and production made him leave it in the car."
Few words infuriate RHOBH fans more than "puppygate." Season nine of the show was dominated by the non-scandal, but what it basically boils down to is this: Dorit Kemsley adopted a puppy from Vanderpump Dogs and it wound up in a shelter. The story's details varied based on who was telling it, and eventually, the women were divided. Did Lisa Vanderpump purposefully have the story brought up on the show? Was Teddi Mellencamp being used to make Dorit look bad?
According to Not All Diamonds and Rosé, yes and yes. "When Lisa lost the narrative in the show, and she realized that it wasn't going the way she wanted, that's when she leaked the story to the press," executive producer Chris Cullen said.
At one point, LVP even asked another producer to "sit the cast down and tell them they needed to believe her," executive producer and Evolution Media President Alex Baskin claimed. He told her he couldn't.
RHONY fans are well aware of what went down between Carole Radziwill and Bethenny Frankel during season 10, but as it turns out, Carole was also engaged in another battle with none other than Andy Cohen. Both admitted in Not All Diamonds and Rosé that their tiff had less to do with what happened at the reunion—namely, Carole accusing Andy of being "afraid" of Bethenny—and more with the aftermath.
The pair each recalled one of Carole's particular Instagram Stories in which she posted a poll with the question, "Did you ever do something for money that you thought was against your values but you did it anyway?"
Carole insisted she was just "soul-searching," and not attempting to criticize the show. Andy, however, felt the Story implied she was leaving a toxic situation. "It really rubbed me the wrong way because I really felt like I had changed her life over, what, six years?" he said in the book.
Afterward, Carole said Andy went "ballistic" and she eventually told him not to speak to her ever again.
"And I haven't," Andy revealed. "She is not the person I used to know."
There's no forgetting Monique Samuels and Candiace Dillard Bassett's physical altercation, nor was it a surprise to viewers when Monique didn't return for season six. However, despite contrasting reports, she was asked back, Truly Original's senior VP Lorraine Haughton-Lawson revealed.
Likening the situation with Phaedra Parks and Kandi Burruss in season 9 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Haughton-Lawson explained that the showrunners wanted to explore whether or not Monique and Candiace could make up or even be able to co-exist.
Monique ultimately bowed out. In the book, she expressed her regret over the situation, insisting she wants to move on and hopes to continue learning from her past.
The rumor that Denise Richards and Brandi Glanville hooked up dominated an entire season of RHOBH just as puppygate had. How the story surfaced in the first place is interesting, though. According to Lisa Rinna, producers told the ladies something along the lines of, "Okay, we're going to have a party at Kyle's and we're just going to invite everybody and we're going to bring out all the O.G.s because nothing is going on."
Naturally, talk of the affair spread like wildfire. Producers weren't sure what to believe, so, according to EP Chris Cullen, they "did a lot of research," examining old episodes of RHOBH to try and find examples of Brandi lying.
"She told the truth about Adrienne [Maloof], she told the truth about Lisa Vanderpump," Cullen said in the book. "People may not believe her, but she told the truth about Kim being a f--king mess. She might have gotten her drug of choice wrong, but Kim was using again and fallen off the wagon. All of that was true. So, yes, the critics will say that Brandi is not credible and they will cite examples, but they are incorrect in what they're citing. We don't really have evidence of Brandi ever lying."
Fourteen years into The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vicki Gunvalson was moved to a "friend of" role. While some thought the demotion was caused by Vicki accusing Kelly Dodd of doing coke during the season 13 reunion, Andy Cohen revealed that Bravo had been having conversations about pulling Vicki out for years.
According to numerous EPs, Vicki just didn't have much of a storyline left, thus the reduced role in season 14. But she hated it, and was especially "embarrassed" to be left out of the opening credits. Things only got worse as the season progressed, resulting in an "epic meltdown backstage" at the reunion. Andy compared the scene to something out of The Comeback.
"It was a reality star who hated the cameras but seemingly couldn't survive without them," he said in Not All Diamonds and Rosé. "Pure Valerie Cherish."
Vicki wasn't asked to return for season 15 after the blowup. She compared leaving the show to "a death."