Rebecca Minkoff Says She Didn’t Intend For Pregnancy Rumor To “Trick” ‘RHONY’ Fans: “It Wasn’t A Prank”
Rebecca Minkoff‘s debut season on The Real Housewives of New York City has officially come to an end — and the fashion designer, who has been booked and busy promoting the paperback release of her memoir Fearless and her Super Bowl collaboration with sports journalist Erin Andrews, is looking back on what some may consider a chaotic first experience with reality television.
After joining the Bravo series as a “friend of” in Season 15, Minkoff butted heads Brynn Whitfield, who repeatedly shaded her successful brand in her confessionals.
“I felt like she was trying to get a rise out of people to create the conflict and entertainment that people want,” Minkoff said of her co-star. “You think you’re going to get a rise out of me because you make fun of me? Like, come visit one of my three homes and then we can talk.”
Minkoff — who, like many of her castmates, did not stay in touch with Whitfield after filming wrapped — also responded to fans who were critical of her and Erin Lichy for planting a false story in the friend group to see who would spread the gossip first. The Season 15 trailer presented the rumor claiming she was pregnant with another man’s baby as though it would be a big piece of drama this season, leaving fans angry when it turned out to be a ploy to find the “leaky pigeon.”
“I thought in my non-production-oriented mind that the audience would be let in on it and they’d be brought along for the journey,” Minkoff said, noting that the rumor was never meant to be a prank. “It was to find a liar. It was to find a pot stirrer … And then it backfired because the audience wasn’t brought along and they were tricked. But I think if it had been done that way, then no one would have been upset.”
Minkoff also chatted to DECIDER about the Season 15 reunion, her feud with Lichy, and her exciting new business ventures. Check out the full interview below.
DECIDER: I’m so excited to talk to you again. The first time we spoke was right after the RHONY trailer came out and now the final part to the reunion is about to air.
REBECCA MINKOFF: Do you see all the gray hairs I’m hiding with hair mascara?
Oh, my goodness. Looking back, how would you rate your experience?
I think that my experience as it was happening felt very different than what I saw. And I go, “OK, what could I have done differently?” Because I think most of the season it shows me being quiet even though I wasn’t. And so I’m like, “How could I have done that differently? How could I have appeared even more active than I thought that I was?” So I don’t know. I don’t know that there’s an answer to it, but I think I would have just probably been more forthright in some things and opinion stated more firmly the minute I found out about them than being someone to respond to it later down the line.
That finale episode was really dark, but amid the chaos, you were the one trying to make sure everyone had eaten. Did you find yourself going into mom mode with the group often?
That whole trip, if you would have seen the footage – like, the camera’s on me, I was cooking. I was literally trying to just be like, “Let’s get the babies fed.” I know that when my babies are fighting, they need to go to bed or they need food. So that was like my go to because I wasn’t involved in the subject matter of the fight. So I was like putting food in front of people the whole trip.
You were just trying to calm it down.
Just trying to calm it down. I went into my mom mode, literally, like you need some food. Everyone’s been drinking a lot. And then stuff spirals out of control when that happens. And we obviously saw that happen.
I want to get into the Brynn of it all. What were your thoughts on everything that went down between her and Ubah? Do you think Brynn’s actions were intentional or was it simply a case of her not thinking before she spoke?
I would never put what her intentions were – like, I would never decide that. But from what happened and how it all went down there, it was it was not okay whether it was intentional or not to frame someone or weaponize sexual assault in that manner. And I think, you know, Ubah’s reaction on the show is a 10th of how horrible she felt and how scared she was. I was with her in the room, calming her down, getting her to breathe because she wasn’t breathing. She was calling and asking for people that weren’t around anymore. And so I think that when someone’s in that state, you’re like, it doesn’t matter what the intention was or not, this is unacceptable to do to another human.
Brynn spent a lot of the season making digs at you and your business, and then we see her belittling Ubah’s modeling career. Why do you think she always goes for the career?
Man, I’d like to know how things work up there for her. But I felt like she was trying to get a rise out of people to create the conflict and entertainment that people want. And I think with me, like, I’m not falling for that petty stuff. I’ve had real crazy stuff happen in my business. You think you’re going to get a rise out of me because you make fun of me? Like, come visit one of my three homes and then we can talk. And then with Ubah again, it was, “Let’s get a rise out of her.” Because she knows if she gets Ubah to react, it’s good for TV. But no one wants to see that produced effect. They just want to see us being real with each other. And I think that’s where you can lose people.
Where do you stand with Brynn? Have you spoken to her at all since filming the reunion?
No, but we weren’t even ever talking after we stopped filming. There was never a back and forth. There were maybe one or two texts that we shared throughout all the filming. Once the rat comments happened and the beginning of that, I was like, “Yeah, you’re not my people. So like, I don’t really have to talk to you on text message.”
Do you think she’ll come back next season?
I don’t know. One of the things that I am curious about is if someone wants to change their perception or make good on bad, it would be smart of them to come back and hopefully she can get some help and support that she really needs right now. And then maybe that’s great to show people like, look, people can change.
I’m really excited to see you in the reunion episode this week. I was surprised to see you going at it with Erin in the teaser. What happened between the two of you since filming?
Oh, gosh. Do you have all day? She’s upset that I didn’t reach out after the episode aired where her dad passed. We had had a bumpy weekend where she was kind of trashing me all weekend publicly, and then I didn’t reach out. I had actually reached out when her dad did pass. And so there was that. And I made a snarky comment about her that she didn’t like after she had again, before that, said something snarky about me. So I think we just have a conversation that we need to have that we haven’t had yet.
Hopefully things get resolved?
We’re working on it. Or not. I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that question.
I also want to ask about that pregnancy prank you and Erin pulled. A lot of fans were not thrilled with the whole prank thing. What’s your response to those critics?
I have a lot of thoughts and I’m glad you asked. Again, I said maybe we should do this, she agreed, so we both were all in on the idea. I thought in my non-production-oriented mind that the audience would be let in on it and they’d be brought along for the journey. So it wasn’t a prank. I even hate that it was called that. It was to find a liar. It was to find a pot stirrer. I knew who it was, but it seemed like no one else could see the writing on the wall. And so I was like, “Let’s make sure that everyone knows who’s doing this.” And then it backfired because the audience wasn’t brought along and they were tricked. But I think if it had been done that way, then no one would have been upset. They would have been like, “Yeah, we see it, too. Now we need all six of the other girls to kind of wake up.” If that makes sense.
That makes perfect sense.
And I think in hindsight, I did offend some women who are having infertility issues. And as someone that has suffered from it myself, [it was] probably a bad subject matter. I was just trying to find something that was somewhat believable at the time that like the pot stirrer would run with.
Right. Something juicy and crazy enough.
Yeah. And we chose my husband’s, you know, we have an open relationship and I’m pregnant and we don’t know who the father is. That’s even that seemed so beyond crazy that it would be unbelievable.
Going forward, do you see yourself wanting to sign on for another season?
I mean, I’m having a lot of deep conversations now. There are family members involved. And so we’ll just see.
I’d love to ask you a bit about your book, Fearless. What is it about and why did you decide to write it?
I wrote the book – originally, the published date was in 2021. This is the relaunch in paperback with an added bonus chapter. And it was really the idea that after being in business for 20 years and seeing all the things that I’ve seen – just 22 simple, rememberable rules so that when you’re in that moment of panic and I’m scared and should I pursue my dreams, should I ask for the raise, should I quit? You sort of remember these rules of like, I don’t need to ask for permission or I’m not going to ask for help. I’m going to ask for what I need or I need to overcommunicate my needs sometimes because not everyone is inside you or your brain. Or, you know, when weighing a risk, what’s the worst case scenario if you take it? And can you stomach that? Cool. If you can, dive in. And so that allows you to go forward – still scared. You don’t get to be like, “I’m fearless.” And so the goal is that it helps people in their career, in their personal life. This is not a self-help book. It’s really from the point of view of here are these rules here are the crazy, insane stories in my life and how I apply them and how you can gain help from it.
Out of all the advice you give in the book, what do you think is the most important for you to take at this point in your career?
Continuing to take risks. People will be like, “Why did you decide to do reality TV?” I’m like, “Because I like taking risks!” You have to be a little bit crazy sometimes and take it despite everything that you know.
Do you have plans to continue writing?
I think that writing and birthing a book is one of the harder things to do. No plans right now, but you never know. I am a big opportunist, and so if I get inspired, then maybe there’ll be another book in me. But for right now, there isn’t one.
You also have a really fun collab with Erin Andrews coming out just in time for the Super Bowl. Can you tell us a little bit about that and the inspiration behind it?
Yeah, so we came together because we’re both fans of each other and we were like, “What are the two worlds and how can they collide?” And so she came up with this incredible jacket, which reminds me of this Harley Davidson vintage. And I said, “Well, I have the perfect jacket, our bestselling Tabitha Moto.” And so it’s meant to be this oversized kind of rock and roll moment that I think for a woman who is attending games or is a sports lover, some of the products can be so cheesy. And so this is a way to be like, “I love my sports, but I’m going to look really, really cool doing it.”
In honor of Taylor Swift going to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row, is it true that you guys collabed on something years ago?
No, we didn’t do a collab, but she’s carried the bags before.
Love that! Maybe she’ll be wearing the jacket at the Super Bowl this year.
We have sent her one, so we need your prayers.
We’re manifesting! What’s next for you? Do you have any other exciting projects you can tease?
We have two more collaborations in the works. And then I’m going to slow the brain down a little bit, power down for a couple of months, have more time with my kids because on big launches like this, I’m not seeing them enough. And so I want to sort of swing the other way after this.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You can stream The Real Housewives of New York City Season 15 on Peacock.
