Real Housewives of New York City star Jenna Lyons recalls ‘shock’ she came out -TGN

Real Housewives of New York City star Jenna Lyons on her public reveal. (Getty)

Real Housewives of New York CityJenna Lyons, the first openly gay star to go public in 2011.

Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) aired the season 14 premiere episode Sunday (July 16), ushering in the next generation of housewives with a brand new cast of “six independent and successful women.”

Among them is former J.Crew president and creative director Jenna Lyons, 55, who was “traumatically exposed” as a lesbian by the New York Post in 2011 during her divorce from then-husband of nine years, artist Vincent Mazeau.

While the Manhattan business mogul is now a proud ambassador for the LGBTQ+ community, her journey to being her authentic self hasn’t been easy as she told the co-hosts of The view on Wednesday (July 19).

The star admitted it was “so hard” to get details about her personal life on the front pages of the New York Post, especially since she wasn’t ready to come out to family and friends.

“It was so hard and I don’t think I had been out in the open that much,” she recalled on the talk show.

“It was all still new to me and I didn’t really expect anyone to care about what I was doing in my personal life and suddenly everyone cared.”

Lyons, who is now CEO and co-creator of eyelash brand LoveSeen, recalled how someone tipped off the New York Post about an alleged “intimate dinner” she had with another woman at a restaurant.

“It was shocking to me,” she continued. “I wasn’t sure what I was doing, it was all so new. I wasn’t official anyway, but apparently the Post called the (J.Crew) PR team.

And they said, ‘Listen, can you get on the phone, they’re going to tell the story. Do you wish to confirm or deny?’ And I don’t know why, but I just said “confirm.”

“It was like an out-of-body experience. I was so overwhelmed with everything going on in my life that I just said yes, but I was shocked that someone took it upon themselves to call the Post and share that information.

Lyons has previously spoken about her experience discovering her sexuality and the trauma of coming out later in life in a candid article for The Cut. In last Sunday’s RHONY premiere, she told the story of how she found out she was a lesbian while having dinner with fellow housewives Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield.

“I had no idea!” Lyons told the other housewives over dinner. “I was in a really awkward situation. My very close friend was gay. And we had a conversation and my relationship with my husband fell apart and I asked her, like, ‘What happens to women?’

“Like, I was just curious, I had no idea, honestly. So in the same way as you probably don’t. And by the end of the conversation, after many details, I realized that the way I was, I felt so hot, like I’d never had that feeling before. Like I just wanted to kiss her.

The close friend was Courtney Crangi and the couple soon embarked on a six-year relationship, which ended in 2017.

Lyons doesn’t underestimate the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in a major franchise like Real housewives. She explained The view why it is so “very important”, especially when LGBTQ+ rights are under threat across the US.

“When I was with J.Crew, I had a lot of kids whose parents didn’t think that would be a success,” she continued. “They were like ‘my mom is so relieved to see someone so successful and openly gay’.

“For some reason, they thought it would limit them, that they couldn’t find career success or love happiness and those things just aren’t true.

“Having someone they can look up to and think ‘listen, this person is just surviving in the word, I’m fine, I’m fine’, that gives a lot of parents who are scared a little bit more confidence.”

“Because the kids are out, it’s a whole new generation, but it’s the parents who are nervous and I understand that. You want the best for your kids, you want them to have everything and you don’t want them to have limitations and that can be seen as a limitation.

“I don’t know why, because the sex is great,” she concluded with a cheeky joke.

Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New York City airs every Sunday night at 9/8c on Bravo in the US and will be available to stream on Peacock the next day.