The Real Housewives of New York City’s Dorinda Medley wasn’t going to let Ramona Singer’s N-word scandal put a damper on her BravoCon 2023 experience.
“I have not spoken to Ramona,” Dorinda, 58, exclusively told Us Weekly on Saturday, November 4, during the second day of the Bravo fan convention in Las Vegas. “It’s sad, it’s disappointing, but I just want to be in the moment with BravoCon. And the fans are great and it’s so exciting to be here that I really wanted to be present and centered here.”
In a Vanity Fair article published last month, Ramona, 66, was accused of allegedly using the N-word in a conversation with a Black crew member while filming The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy. She used the term again in text to a Page Six reporter while defending herself against the Vanity Fair article’s claims. “And the word I used was ‘N-word. Not n-g,’” reads a screenshot of the text shared by the outlet on October 31. Ramona was subsequently dropped from BravoCon’s lineup of reality star appearances.
Dorinda went on to note that the scandal happened around the same time she traveled from New York to Nevada for BravoCon. Though the controversy — and Romona’s absence — loomed over the convention, Dorinda chose to focus on the positive.
“I want [BravoCon] to be about me and about [RHUGT: RHONY] Legacy, you know what I mean?” she told Us on Saturday. “I want to stay in the moment, and then, we all have to address these things when we get back to reality again.”
Though the two weren’t able to reunite in person at BravoCon, fans will soon see Dorinda and Ramona back together on the small screen on the new season of RHUGT, which will feature a cast of former RHONY stars.
“It’s my second Ultimate Girls Trip, and how different this one is ‘cause I don’t have to host,” Dorinda quipped. “I don’t have to tell people not to wear shoes upstairs, not to eat food in the room, all the normal things that I shouldn’t have to tell people. I get to be a guest in St. Barts.” (Her Massachusetts Blue Stone Manor acted as the setting of RHUGT season 2.)
Joining Dorinda and Ramona on their St. Barts trip are fellow RHONY stars Luann de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan, Kelly Bensimon and Kristen Taekman. “It was as if we never were not together,” Dorinda said of the cast’s reunion. “And I’m not just saying that. Like, by lunch, we were back at it.”
Dorinda told Us she was particularly excited to film with Kelly, 55, and Kristen, 46. “I’d never filmed with Kelly. And Kristen, when I met Kristen, it was her last season, and she was a very different Kristen then,” she teased. “Kristen has a voice. In fact, Kristen goes after me a little bit. I was both proud and surprised. She’s very strong, she’s got a good voice, and I was kind of proud of that.”
Keeping in contact with her former costars is something Dorinda thinks is important to do. “I just think it’s important to show the audience that you keep evolving, that you keep growing, that you always have something interesting to bring to the table,” she shared. “And when one thing stops, it doesn’t mean it’s over. You just start to work on other things, and I love hearing that about the girls. These girls are great girls because you can’t keep ’em down. The magic just keeps happening on and off screen and it’s true. It’s true.”
The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy premieres on Peacock Thursday, December 14.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
