‘RHONY’: Are Luann de Lesseps and Former Boyfriend Jacques Azoulay Still Friends?
Luann de Lesseps from The Real Housewives of New York City hinted that viewers will get to see former boyfriend Jacques Azoulay this season.
Azoulay and de Lesseps host a comedy show in an upcoming episode, indicating that the former couple are clearly on good terms. Cameras show de Lesseps and Azoulay having lunch where Azoulay tells de Lesseps that one good glass of wine should be acceptable. Her response? “Not two, huh.”
Later de Lesseps is seen introducing Azoulay at her comedy show by saying, “I never f**ked the pirate! So please welcome to the stage, Jacques Azoulay!” The whole “pirate” controversy cropped up when de Lesseps was still dating Azoulay. The women went on a trip and met a man who resembled Johnny Depps’ character Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. The women later questioned if de Lesseps hooked up with the man, but she insisted she didn’t.
Why did de Lesseps and Azoulay break up?
The couple parted ways in 2013 and de Lesseps said the split was amicable, but they wanted different things in life. “We adore each other, but we want different things,” she told Life and Style, Bravo’s The Daily Dish reports.
“Jacques wants to have a family. We were just hoping that it would happen in all these years we’ve been together,” she continued. “We talked about adoption, but I’ve spent 18 years raising kids, (Victoria, 18, and Noel, 16)—I want to do other things.”
But they parted with love for each other. “Jacques and I want to be friends,” she added. “We do love each other, so I hope we can make a friendship work.”
Friendship seemed to come easily for the former couple
In 2018, de Lesseps reflected on her friendship with Azoulay, referring to him as family. While they remained close, she told Bravo’s The Daily Dish podcast they are definitely just friends and Azoulay had a girlfriend.
“No. He’s got a girlfriend,” she shared. “Actually, his girlfriend is a good friend of someone who’s in production on our show, so it’s interesting … Small world. He actually met her at a party I took him to last summer in the Hamptons. So, I was like, ‘Oh, Jacques, I see you’re hanging around that girl.’ I’m not jealous; I’m happy for him because we’re not together; we’re just friends. And our friendship will last a lifetime.”
She even joked about the time she was out to dinner with Azoulay and actress/comedian Tina Fey fangirled over her. “One day I was with Jacques and we were walking to a restaurant on the Upper West Side and this woman jumps up from a table … And she comes up to me and she goes, ‘I just wanted to say hello; I love you on the show.’ And I’m like, ‘Holy sh–, it’s Tina Fey!'” de Lesseps recounts.
This fall, de Lesseps teased the comedy show with Azoulay. “Catch me in a comedy show hosted by @ChanelOmari benefitting @thefortunesoc & @STOMPOutBullyng TOMORROW at @SLATENY see you there,” she wrote along with the event poster.
The Real Housewives of New York City is on Thursday at 9/8c on Bravo.
