Ramona Singer accused Luann de Lesseps of ‘drinking on the side’ on Thursday during The Real Housewives Of New York City’s second season 11 reunion show.
Luann had been ordered to stay off alcohol as part of the plea deal she made after being arrested for drunken trespassing in Florida in 2017.
She previously violated her probation in May by having two mimosas at Easter.
Serious allegation: Ramona Singer accused Luann de Lesseps of ‘drinking on the side’ on Thursday during The Real Housewives Of New York City’s second season 11 reunion show
The 54-year-old knew she had to blow into a Breathalyzer three times a day, but it didn’t stop her.
‘Your mind plays funny games on you,’ she said. ‘I thought, ”It’s 10 o’clock; I don’t have to blow until 3 o’clock, I’ll be okay,” but it wasn’t.’
Ramona, 62, chastised her for leaving rehab too early after Bethenny Frankel, 48, testified that their friend had only stayed for 14 days, not 21, as Luann had argued.
‘This is like A-B-C, if the first month didn’t work for you, honey pie, you stay another six months, four months,’ Ramona nagged.
Cabaret star: Luann had been ordered to stay off alcohol as part of the plea deal she made after being arrested for drunken trespassing in Florida in 2017
‘Don’t talk to me, Ms. Pinot Grigio,’ Luann rejoined.
‘I don’t really give a s***, I don’t have an alcoholic problem,’ Ramona replied.
‘Give me a break,’ Luann said.
No problem: Ramona insisted that she did not have a problem with alcohol
‘No, I’m not going to give you a f***ing break,’ Ramona said. ‘I believe you’re still drinking on the side.’
The rest of the women seemed to have their doubts, too.
‘I think you’ve been drinking,’ Bethenny, 48, said earlier. ‘I don’t think you take sobriety that seriously.’
Sobriety doubts: Bethenny Frankel also admitted she had her doubts about Luann’s sobriety
‘Everybody on this couch has said that they’ve heard different stories.’
Luann said that some of the reports that had been filed about her behavior had been incorrect, and she was addressing it.
‘Do you think you’re an alcoholic?’ host Andy Cohen, 51, asked.
False reports: Luann claimed that some of the reports that had been filed about her behavior had been incorrect, and she was addressing it
‘I don’t really know,’ Luann mused. ‘I know that I was definitely self-medicating. And I was on a highway to hell.’
She was drinking to shore herself up against loneliness brought on by the end of her marriage and her kids growing up and moving out, she said.
When her children and ex filed a lawsuit against her for an $8 million house sale, she had an ‘episode,’ some of which she didn’t remember, she added.
Together again: Sonja Morgan, Dorinda Medley, Bethenny, host Andy Cohen, Luann, Tinsley Mortimer and Ramona Singer gathered for the season 11 reunion
‘You were having a breakdown,’ Ramona said.
Luann said the rehab she attended had supported the reason she left: to perform in a cabaret show.
The women, however, didn’t buy any of it.
‘You did not stay 21 days and you missed the reunion, and it was disrespectful,’ Bethenny said. ‘It was disrespectful for me to spend multiple weeks and days living on Team Luann, and you were having a mental breakdown.’
Rehab stay: Luann said the rehab she attended had supported her leaving to perform in a cabaret show
‘You’re not a psychologist,’ Luann said. ‘I have a psychologist who is my psychologist.’
For much of the episode, the focus had been on Ramona herself, as cast members revisited the ups and downs of what they called the ‘Ramona-coaster.’
Serial dater Ramona was first asked if she would ever reconcile with ex-husband Mario, and said they had grown too far apart to ever do so.
Serial dater: Ramona also was asked about her love life during the reunion
Then she was called on the carpet for past blunders.
She hedged when admitting she’d kissed castmate Sonja Morgan’s ex, Harry Dubin, which she had at first denied.
‘Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story,’ said Bethenny.
Good story: Bethenny noted that Ramona doesn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story
She was then confronted with proof she once ditched Dorinda Medley, 54, at a party by lying about her table assignment.
‘My mind is not so ageless anymore,’ she claimed, garnering laughs from the cast.
As Dorinda explained why the lie hurt her, Ramona said, ‘I didn’t know that was a lie,’ which made everyone apoplectic.
Feelings hurt: Dorinda tried to explain why Ramona’s lie was hurtful
Next, Andy asked Ramona why she had told her friend not to invite Sonja to her birthday party, but then later claimed she had ‘no say in the matter.’
Ramona replied that it was because she didn’t want her birthday party to be filmed, which her castmates found hilarious.
‘I can’t break the third world—the third line on TV,’ Ramona yelled.
‘The fourth wall,’ Andy corrected.
Fourth wall: Andy corrected Ramona about breaking the ‘fourth wall’
‘You made yourself look bad,’ Sonja informed her.
Ramona was more remorseful when asked about nasty comments she’d made to Bethenny about her late ex Dennis Shields’ drug use.
‘That, I just apologize profusely: To Dennis, to God, to everyone here, to his family—that was just beyond horrible,’ she admitted.
‘Listen, we expect you to have poor behavior,’ said Bethenny. ‘But there’s a build-up. I watch: Dig, smack, dig, smack, punch in the face.’
Apologized profusely: Ramona was more remorseful when asked about nasty comments she’d made to Bethenny about her late ex Dennis Shields’ drug use
‘Dennis had just died. How could you hit me when I was down?’ she asked.
She wondered why Ramona had failed to come to her and give her condolences in person after Dennis died.
‘Because I never know if I’m going to get my eyes scratched out from you or a hug,’ explained Ramona, adding that Bethenny often came after her ‘guns blazing.’
‘Touché,’ said Sonja, 55.
Bravo show: RHONY premiered on Bravo on March 4, 2008
‘I expect you to just kick and punch me,’ rejoined Bethenny, claiming Ramona made endless digs at her. ‘You have to work that out.’
‘Do you think you will ever take this and learn from it?’ asked Andy. ‘We’ve done this, like, 11 times.’
He showed footage of previous reunions in which Ramona repeatedly and lamely tried to excuse her behavior.
‘I’m trying the best I can,’ Ramona admitted.
The host: Andy asked the cast about developments since season 11 of the Bravo show
‘The viewers said that was the single most egregious, worst, vile thing that you have done on the show,’ Bethenny pointed out.
Andy brought up the New York Loves Kids charity event, with which Ramona had been involved.
During the evening, she bickered publicly with co-stars and made numerous other blunders.
‘It was all about Ramona,’ Dorinda revealed. ‘She didn’t want to share the limelight. She wanted to shove us in the back, like she does in pictures.’
‘I was horrified,’ sniffed Luann, author of the etiquette book Class With The Countess.
Charity event: Dorinda was shocked at Ramona’s behavior at a charity event
‘Oh Luann, stop it,’ Dorinda said. ‘You need to read your book and then come back. The way you act up in the Berkshires… ”I need massages, I need green juice, I need yoga.”
‘How dare they put me in the fish room,’ she added, pointing at Luann’s pretensions when she visited her home. ‘How declassé. How depassé!’
Tinsley Mortimer, 43, was also in the hot seat a she was forced to defend the source of her wealth and answer questions about her relationship with CouponCabin founder Scott Kluth.
Hot seat: Tinsley was put on the hot seat over her relationship with ex-boyfriend Scott Kluth
The socialite was buying expensive clothing and living in a fancy hotel while the women couldn’t understand how she could afford it—especially since she was supposed to have broken up with Scott.
‘The dollars and cents don’t add up,’ Bethenny said, as someone floated the idea that Tinsley and Scott had ‘an arrangement.’
‘What would he get out of this?’ Tinsley asked, saying that she had always grown up privileged, and had her own money.
‘My lifestyle has not changed my entire life,’ she noted.
Money talk: The socialite was forced to talk about her finances to shoot down rumors about Scott
Sonja, who put Tinsley up when she first moved back to New York, asked her how she’d gone from making small purchases to lavish ‘$4,000 to $5,000 ones.’
Tinsley said the trustees that controlled her money had initially been worried about her partying in the wake of her 2016 Palm Beach arrest for trespassing, and had reduced her income.
‘My mother was obviously pissed,’ she explained to Sonja. ‘I moved in with you because she did not want me to live by myself ’cause she was scared.’
The trustees had finally been appeased, she suggested, as Sonja thanked a now-embarrassed Tinsley for ‘being a real girlfriend’ and telling her what was happening.
Real girlfriend: Sonja thanked Tinsley for coming clean about her finances
‘Let’s settle it for once and for all,’ Andy said. ‘Do you have an arrangement of some kind with Scott?’
‘Absolutely not,’ Tinsley said.
‘Are you with him right now?’ he asked.
‘Absolutely not,’ she confirmed.
Tinsley confessed that she went on a trip with Scott, but that it didn’t work out.
Asked what she’d meant when she said in an interview that ‘Tinsley states women back 100 years,’ Bethenny said, ‘She doesn’t live in the real world, in many ways.’
Trip together: Tinsley admitted that she went on a trip with her ex Scott, but it didn’t work out
‘She’s a rich debutante from the South,’ Andy replied.
‘Well, that sets women back 100 years,’ Bethenny retorted.
On a more unusual note, Tinsley was forced to explain why she had recently frozen her dead dog, Bambi.
She told the women that it was so her sister, who had not been there at the dog’s death, could say goodbye.
Bambi had been cremated and was in a box now, just like her three Chihuahuas and her dad’s ashes.
‘They’re all in the living room in Palm Beach,’ Tinsley said.
‘I’m trying to control myself,’ muttered Bethenny, who was afraid she would burst out in nervous laughter.
Nervous laughter: Bethenny struggled to hold back her nervous laughter as Tinsley talked about freezing her dead dog Bambi
Later, Andy mentioned that Ramona had really been ‘feeling herself’ lately, and asked her what had changed.
‘I’ve been really working hard on myself…’ Ramona began.
‘On what aspect of yourself? Because you just got busted in like, nine lies, earlier in the show,’ Andy said.
Good question: Andy asked Ramona how she had been working on herself after getting busted for nine lies on the show
‘Physically,’ Ramona said. ‘I’m 15, 20 years older than all these women, and I think I look the same age.’
In an unaired scene, Ramona was shown dancing around Tinsley, saying the woman looked old for her age, while she, Ramona, still looked young.
Everyone smiled politely.
The Real Housewives of New York City third and final reunion show will air next week on Bravo.
Restroom break: Ramona ran off for a restroom break during the reunion