‘RHONY’: Tinsley Mortimer Describes Strange Cast Hierarchies
Tinsley Mortimer from The Real Housewives of New York City shared she was proud that she walked away from the series and revealed the show is a web of “strange hierarchies.”
“You are just in this intense world,” she admitted on the Reality Life with Kate Casey podcast. “It is your life, but amplified and so intense. There are these strange hierarchies on the show and these fourth wall issues that come on camera. You have to be on your game and to be strong.”
She recalled how her entrance to the show wasn’t during a happy time in her life. “When I joined the show I was at the lowest point of my life,” she remarked. “I was so humiliated. I had been in a relationship that was awful. All of a sudden the script was flipped on me basically, the way the press was portraying it.”
Tinsley Mortimer formed a true friendship with Leah McSweeney
While her timing felt off, she said returning to New York was the right thing to do. “It might have seemed like the wrong time to join a reality show and be part of it,” she said. “But for me, it seemed like the absolutely right time because there was no place to go, and to be in New York.”
Mortimer was always younger than the rest of the cast too. But the vibe shifted when RHONY cast Leah McSweeney. “We had met and I had sort of tested her, filming together,” Mortimer said. “We hung out a couple of times and when she got the show I was so thrilled to have a younger girl on the show. I definitely had moments with different people.”
“Sonja [Morgan] was more like an older sister to me,” she added. “So in a way, I didn’t feel like I could be wild and crazy. To have Leah there was really great. I am still friends with Leah and talk to her all the time. I adore her.”
Could she ever return to the show?
Mortimer’s position is never to say never about an appearance on RHONY. “Hopefully, when the world gets to a place that is somewhat normal I will go back to New York, and I will see people,” she said. “Can I say that I will reach out to some of the girls on the show if I am in New York? Probably not. Mainly Leah, and maybe Sonja. Of course, I will still watch the show. Maybe filming a scene or two in New York with Leah.”
But Mortimer doesn’t regret leaving the series. “I was really taking a leap of faith and really trying to trust my gut and follow my heart,” she said. “When I see myself driving off, I am proud of myself for doing it.”
Mortimer adds that she and fiancé Scott Kluth are making wedding and baby plans. The couple is looking at a 2021 wedding. “Then we will work on the baby,” she dished. “That’s the plan.”
