It’s a crisp October afternoon, and Andy Cohen is sprawled across a banquette at London’s Chiltern Firehouse. His voice, rasping from a cold courtesy of his five-year-old son Benjamin, is still commanding. Between sips of tea, the Emmy-winning producer and Watch What Happens Live host sets the stage with an anecdote about bumping into Nicky Rothschild—daughter of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kathy Hilton—at the bar the previous night. It’s classic Cohen: equal parts glamour, gossip, and candour.
His knack for blending authenticity with drama has made him the king of American reality TV. At 56, he commands a multi-award winning franchise spanning 11 U.S. Real Housewives series, 21 international editions, and countless spin-offs. Despite his casual demeanour, his focus is razor-sharp. “I’m in the business of making interesting, provocative television,” he says.
The broadcaster has come a long way from interning at NBC in the ‘90s. His trajectory from behind-the-scenes producer to one of the most powerful men in American TV is legendary. After pioneering Bravo hits like Project Runway and Top Chef, Cohen revolutionised unscripted television with the debut of The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006. The show’s mix of aspirational lifestyles and interpersonal chaos struck a nerve, spawning a pop-culture empire that continues to evolve nearly two decades later.
Cohen is speaking to The Standard after crossing the Atlantic to attend the inaugural HayuFanFest, where the event’s highlight was a major reveal: The Real Housewives of London is officially happening. After years of rumours, his empire is set to introduce a new group of sharp-tongued, champagne-loving women—this time from one of the world’s most iconic cities.
At the time of our conversation, the RHOL announcement hadn’t been made public, but Cohen was already teasing its potential. “I love that show,” he said when discussing a former offering, Ladies of London, and whether it might return. “Well, [Caroline] Stanbury lives in Dubai. I mean, like, several of them are divorced. They've moved. A lot’s changed with that group.” When pressed on a possible reboot or a London edition Housewives, he said kindly steered the conversation away, “I don’t know. I mean, Ladies of London, I think, is what it is. And that’s as much as I—you know, I’m not in charge of programming at Bravo anymore, so I can’t speak to that.”
However, he remains deeply involved in casting decisions for Housewives’ hiring and firing. “I am one of the people in that universe, yes,” he clarifies.
That point is never more evident in the week before our interview when Real Housewives of New Jersey star Jennifer Aydin claimed she was returning to the franchise after a contentious season. Cohen, however, rather embarrassingly for Aydin pushed back, saying her comments on Instagram Live were premature during one of his Radio Andy broadcasts on SiriusXM. “No, she kind of misspoke,” he reflects when asked about her future. “It wasn’t that deep. My reaction on the radio was a genuine reaction to something that I hadn’t heard.”
“Sometimes we’ve found that people just need some time away from the cameras in order to just kind of live their lives and let their roots spread,” he says about what lays ahead for the show. “And so, I think that’s the moment we’re in with Jersey.”
Although Cohen hinted at a possible RHONY-style reboot for New Jersey, he remained noncommittal. “Everything's on the table. I think there's like four ways we could go with the show, and we just haven't decided yet. We're in no rush.”
As the mastermind behind one of television’s most lucrative franchises, Cohen’s influence is undeniable. From the first openly lesbian cast member Jenna Lyons on RHONY to Vanderpump Rules’ “Scandoval” dominating global headlines, the American network has become a pop culture powerhouse. Still, Cohen is quick to deflect questions about certain decisions, such as the future of Vanderpump Rules. “Well, I don’t think that’s a conversation right now that’s happening at Bravo, and a conversation that I’m not involved in, by the way,” he reveals. “I’m not anymore a producer of that show, so I know that whatever is decided will be the right decision.”
Producing shows about politically incorrect people in a world where political incorrectness is not necessarily embraced has been interesting and challenging
Asked about whether VPR regulars Lala Kent and Scheana Shay are becoming full-time cast members on The Valley amid Vanderpump Rules’ break in filming, Cohen plays it coy: “You have to wait and see” before declaring that he wasn’t a producer of the series either, “so can’t even speak to it.”
Despite the glitz and acclaim, Cohen is no stranger to controversy. Bravo and parent company NBCUniversal recently faced a “reality reckoning,” with allegations of on-set misconduct, sexism, and calls for unionisation among reality stars with former Real Housewives of New York star Bethenny Frankel leading the charge. Though Cohen was cleared of misconduct following an investigation, he remains pragmatic. “You know what? Through all of that noise, [I] just kept focused on producing the shows and doing my job,” he says. “And it was good because BravoCon came about right in the middle of that - and so to hear one person kind of spewing a lot of things, and then walk into, actually, 30,000 people who love what we're doing, it was a really good moment.”
The fans, however, are anything but noise to Cohen. At events like HayuFanFest or BravoCon, he’s reminded of the franchise’s passionate global following far beyond U.S. borders. “Walking through Marylebone, people come up to me saying how much the shows make them happy,” he shares. Even the most critical social media users don’t faze him. “It's the gift of what we do, that people care so much, and so I would never look down even if they're saying terrible things on Twitter.”
However, Cohen’s influence stretches far beyond the screen. Under his leadership, Bravo has become a platform for stars to launch businesses, music careers, and personal brands. Housewives like Frankel and Lisa Vanderpump have parlayed their TV fame into multimillion-dollar ventures, redefining what it means to be a reality star.
Although he’s helped dozens of women become Housewives, he is often regarded the “messiest” Housewife of them all. Does it bother him? “I think it's funny, and I should wear it as a badge of honour,” he says. Madonna, once dubbed him a “troublemaking queen” on stage—a title he proudly embraced. “I thought it was great,” he laughs. “I thought Bravo should use it as a pull quote.”
In addition to overseeing the Housewives empire and hosting his bold late-night talk show Watch What Happens Live!, Cohen juggles a range of projects. He regularly hits the road for speaking tours across the U.S., runs his own book imprint, and has authored several bestselling memoirs filled with juicy gossip as well as heading up his radio show, Radio Andy. While the activities may seem diverse, they all fall under his broader mission: creating drama.
Reflecting on the future of reality TV, Cohen acknowledges the challenges of producing shows about politically incorrect figures in an era of heightened cultural awareness. “I think, you know, producing shows about politically incorrect people in a world where political incorrectness is not necessarily embraced has been interesting and challenging,” he says. Yet, he remains optimistic, crediting the franchise’s longevity to its willingness to evolve. Breaking the fourth wall, for instance, has become more common, as audiences grow increasingly savvy about the mechanics of reality television.
Despite his packed schedule and life as a single father of two—both welcomed via surrogate— Cohen isn’t slowing down. “It’s nothing I think about,” he says of the idea of stepping back from his multifaceted career. Whether he’s teasing the next Housewife, joking about a reprising the Barney’s shoe salesman on And Just Like That (“I’m going to tell Sarah [Jessica Parker] you said that”), or wrangling drama-filled reunions, Cohen seems perfectly at ease in his current chapter. “Fatherhood keeps me going,” he says. “Everything else is just gravy.”
At the helm of a cultural juggernaut, Cohen remains at the centre of it all: sipping cocktails with A-listers on WWHL, masterminding reality TV’s biggest franchises, and shaping pop culture with his signature flair for drama. With The Real Housewives of London on the horizon and a loyal fanbase eagerly awaiting the next twist, Cohen proves that chaos—when expertly managed—can be the foundation of extraordinary success.
Stream Season 21 of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on Hayu
