Life may have changed a lot for Rachel Zoe, but she is trying to keep things positive. She opened up about how she felt about joining The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and how it felt to return to reality TV 12 years after the end of her first Bravo series.
Rachel was announced as the newest cast member last June. She seemed like a great fit for RHOBH. And while fans were still sad to see Garcelle Beavais exit the series, they were excited to see Rachel step back into the spotlight.
“I loved being in an ensemble,” Rachel told PEOPLE about how RHOBH differed from The Rachel Zoe Project. “It was really nice for it not to just be on me and about me and always me. I’m so much more interested in other people’s lives than I am my own, so that was really nice to kind of be with the other women all the time.”
She said that having people to lean on was also nice. “And listen, we’re all going through stuff. So I think it’s nice that we kind of had each other to do that with,” she shared. Honestly, the newly dropped RHOBH trailer looks a bit different than women supporting one another but we’ll have to wait and see.
Plus, the life Rachel is living now is very different from her life back during her first show in 2008.
“I have full-blown children now and obviously I’m getting divorced, so that’s a whole ‘nother thing,” she revealed. Rachel filed for divorce from Rodger Berman in July, following 26 years of marriage. They have two sons together.
“Life is life-ing really hard on all sides right now, so I just have a lot,” she admitted. “I just have to stay positive because if I break, everything breaks. So there’s no breaking.” And she’s not wrong about the other Housewives going through things too. Kyle Richards is navigating life separated from Mauricio Umansky, while PK Kemsley and Dorit Kemsley are facing their own divorce struggles.
As for what fans will be seeing when RHOBH returns in December, Rachel is keeping mum about that! “I’d have to kill you if I told you, but I can’t tell you anything,” she said. “We had fun. I think it’ll be interesting.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 15 premieres Thursday, December 4 at 8/7c on Bravo. Episodes stream next-day on Peacock.
In a world of over-the-top, staged proposals, Paulie Connell just delivered a masterclass in heartfelt, chaotic, and utterly perfect romance. The “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dolores Catania is engaged, and the story of how her longtime love popped the question—in the middle of an Apple Store, with a fake PEOPLE interview as a decoy—is a tale of pure, unscripted magic.
The plan was elaborate. Dolores was told she had a PEOPLE interview for a new medication she was promoting. After getting full hair and makeup, the meeting was “canceled.” Seizing the opportunity, Paulie insisted they finally go get her new iPhone. “I kept saying, ‘Just go get it for me! Why do you need me?'” Dolores recalled. But Paulie was relentless, inventing a story about the “only one iPhone Pro Max in the area” being held for her.
At the Apple Store in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey—the very spot where they first met nearly five years ago—Paulie’s nerves began to show. “He was sweating so bad, his T-shirt was soaked, his face was beet red,” Dolores laughed. “He started saying these sweet, beautiful things to me out of nowhere and I was like, ‘Paul, are you okay?'”
As an employee led them to the exact table where their love story began, Paulie’s mind was racing. “I was so nervous, my knees where knocking,” he confessed. “I’m like, ‘What are you doing? Don’t start getting sad, you’re meant to be happy!'”
While he was trying to deliver a heartfelt speech, Dolores was still completely oblivious, even joking to the employee, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we got engaged here?”
Then, he pulled the box from his pocket. That’s when reality hit. “I immediately said yes,” Dolores gushed. The ring, a show-stopping 11-carat centerpiece from John Anthony Jewelers, was a testament to his devotion. “Go big or go home,” Dolores laughed.
This wasn’t the first ring Paulie had bought. He revealed he’d purchased a stone years ago, but after getting to know Dolores better, he realized it was the “opposite of what I got.” This new ring, which he’d had for over a year and a half, was perfect.
The proposal was a symphony of sentimental details. The date, November 10th, was the same day Dolores had moved in with him four years prior. The celebration dinner was at Rocco’s steakhouse, the site of their very first date. “There’s not a thing this guy didn’t think of,” Dolores said.
For years, Bravo fans have relentlessly asked, “When is he going to propose?” Now, they have their answer. In the most unexpected of locations, surrounded by iPhones and unsuspecting shoppers, Dolores Catania’s next chapter has officially begun. And as Paulie laughed, “I’m just glad Dolores won’t have to answer a stupid question anymore.”