Since the debut of the Real Housewives franchise, Bravo TV has introduced viewers to stars who've
provided countless hours of drama.
But sometimes the TV gods get things wrong, and they cast a housewife whose storylines
run flat.
So what happened to these forgotten housewives of yesteryear?
Jo De La Rosa
Jo De La Rosa was the housewife who technically wasn't even a housewife on the first season
of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
She was engaged to Slade Smiley, and fans watched as their relationship combusted week
after week, before they finally ended things in the next season.
“It’s never about what I want.”
“No, it’s always about what you want.
Every single time it’s about what you want.”
Smiley later moved on and began dating a slew of fellow OC housewives, including Lauri Peterson
and Gretchen Rossi.
But what about De La Rosa?
She pulled a disappearing act and poofed into thin air!
She moved to New York for a brief period of time, before moving to Los Angeles to work
as a national accounts director for Empire Digital.
Bravo also reported the fashionable and super-chic former reality star was in the process of
launching a beauty and lifestyle website back in 2016, but it has yet to appear.
Even though De La Rosa has long kissed the show goodbye and has managed to fly under
the radar, we were flooded with a huge dose of Housewives nostalgia when she joined her
former co-stars Vicki Gunvalson and Jeana Keough for a ten-year reunion celebration
in 2016.
Alex McCord
Alex McCord and her wacky and eccentric husband, Simon van Kempen, ruffled more than a few
feathers during her time as an OG cast member of the New York series.
McCord, her hubby, and their two sons, Johan and Francois, were in love with Brooklyn long
before it transitioned into a gentrified, hippy haven.
Her most infamous line on the show came during a season 3 spat with her former co-star Jill
Zarin.
"You are in high school.
You are a mean girl, and you are in high school.
And while you are in high school, I am in Brooklyn, trying to survive in this economy.
Working.”
Oh, how we miss this Brooklyn gal!
The McCord-van Kempen family actually didn't remain in their fixer-upper Brooklyn abode,
choosing to move to van Kempen's native Australia instead.
In 2014 she told Bravo,
"Our children have never had the opportunity to live within walking distance of grandparents
and cousins.
[...] It's the perfect time for the extended family to enjoy each other.”
During a 2018 interview with Sunrise, McCord said she was glad she was no longer a part
of the show, saying,
"All the women who stayed on the show have lost their marriages and their family.
Why would you ever give up your children and your husband for crazy women?"
Kelly Killoren Bensimon
Kelly Killoren Bensimon had a breakdown of catastrophic proportions during the New York
City cast's trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2010, during which she called Alex McCord
a "vampire" and said that fellow housewife Bethenny Frankel was going to harm her.
“Like, you’re absolutely crazy.”
“OK, I’m crazy.”
Yikes.
Bravo TV didn't think Bensimon was built for all the stress and drama that went along with
being on a reality series, as they decided that the fourth season would mark her last
appearance on the series.
Following her epic meltdown, the writer, former model, and mother of two settled back into
her everyday life in the Big Apple.
Without cameras following her every move, she managed to crank out some books, including
I Can Make You Hot!: The Supermodel Diet, in 2012.
Aside from launching a jewelry line through the Home Shopping Network in May 2016 and
teaming up with designer Rachel Miriam for a handbag collection in 2018, Bensimon has
spent her time away from the limelight selling real estate.
The New York Post revealed that one of her first listings was her own home - a chic fourth-floor
unit that was expected to be listed for around $10 million.
Go, Kelly!
Quinn Fry
Quinn Fry first appeared on season 3 of The Real Housewives of Orange County as the fun,
vivacious, and perpetually single cast member.
After making her last appearance on the show, she dove right back into her life as a devoted
mother and grandmother of four.
She has also moved around the Golden State to test out life in other cities, including
a 2013 move to Mission Viejo with some help from her friend and former castmate Jeana
Keough - who used her real estate expertise to help Fry snag a condo.
By the time 2014 rolled around, Fry told Yahoo! that dating as a 40-something woman in the
OC was a hard task, and she blamed it all on her male counterparts, whom she described
as "serial daters."
“He drives me crazy.
I love being with him.”
Perhaps her bad luck in Southern California was the reason she decided to pack up again
in 2018 and haul it up north - way north - to the city of Eureka, according to an August
2018 Instagram post.
She revealed she was in the process of buying an "adorable home" and was looking forward
to, quote, "fantastic things ahead."
DeShawn Snow
The cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta has changed a lot throughout the years, and
that's why many people hardly remember DeShawn Snow from the first season.
She was the wife to former professional basketball player Eric Snow and the mother of three boys.
She rarely got involved in the other cast members' catfights, preferring to spend her
time building her charitable organizations and giving back to those in need.
Naturally, sans drama, she wasn't exactly a good fit for the show.
After getting the boot after just one season, Snow slipped out of the public eye, only to
make headlines when her then-husband filed for divorce in 2010.
Closing the chapter on that devastating moment of her life wasn't easy, but she told AttaGirl
in 2012,
"I'm excited to make things happen.
I'm definitely moving forward, I'm growing through this.
Since I've been on the show, I've been doing a lot of reflecting, a lot of writing, a lot
of healing."
She went on to become a children's book author, and she lost 30 pounds while being away from
the spotlight.
Doesn't she look fabulous?
Aviva Drescher
How could we forget Aviva Drescher?
“The only thing that is artificial or fake about me is…”
She later told the Huffington Post that the infamous leg toss was her desperate attempt
to appease producers and secure her spot on the seventh season of The Real Housewives
of New York City.
Sadly, no amount of thrown appendages could have helped her earn her keep, and she was
given her pink slip.
After her time on TV came to an end, the mom of three told Town & Country she was working
on a lifestyle blog and was also in the process of penning her second book.
As if her schedule wasn't jam-packed enough, she was also dedicating her time to helping
others who had lost limbs.
She told the magazine,
"I do a lot of one-on-one visits with new amputees, mostly women and children, by visiting
them in the hospital and helping them adjust to wearing a prosthesis."
She wasn't totally opposed to making a grand return to reality TV either.
In March 2018, she told Page Six,
"If they needed somebody and I worked in the mix, I would go back."
As of this writing, RHONY hasn't found a way to work her into the show, but you never know
what the future may hold.
Keep hope alive, Aviva.
Dina Manzo
Dina Manzo was a fan favorite and one of the original cast members on The Real Housewives
of New Jersey.
“The girl’s freakin’ obsessed with me.
I swear.
I don’t know if she wants to be me or skin me and wear me like last year’s Versace.”
The zen-loving, hairless cat owner and mother of one divorced her ex-husband, Tommy Manzo,
in 2015, and was embroiled in a bunch of family drama with her sister and former castmate,
Caroline Manzo.
Despite Caroline having famously described their family as being quote, "thick as thieves"
during the season 1 finale, Dina told SiriusXM's Jeff Lewis Live in August 2018 that she and
Caroline hadn't "spoken in two years".
Not only was her relationship with her big sister broken, but Dina also severed ties
with the state of New Jersey after she and her beau, David Cantin, were bound and beaten
during a home invasion robbery at their townhouse.
They headed out west and put down roots in Newport Beach, California.
During her interview with Jeff Lewis Live, Dina discussed her new relationship with Cantin,
telling Jeff,
"[We] got engaged once, early in our relationship, and then we both realized it was way too early.
And then we got engaged again last year.”
Don't expect to a made-for-TV wedding special to air, though.
This is one former reality star who values her privacy and is enjoying her time far away
from the spotlight.