Time to relax in the Berkshires? Dorinda Medley wants her Real Housewives of New York City costar Luann de Lesseps to make a lifestyle change after her second alcohol relapse.
“I think Luann needs to quiet her life and really make it all about her being healthy,” Medley, 54, told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting her new SiriusXM series, Make It Nice with Dorinda Medley, on Thursday, May 23. “You know, sometimes you have to really accept that you have to stop and reset and I think she’s trying to do too much, too fast and I’m hoping that she’ll just take this time to just focus solely on herself and be quiet.”
Earlier on Thursday, de Lesseps attended a hearing in Palm Beach court for violating her probation, which stems from her Christmas Eve 2017 arrest. (In April, de Lesseps admitted to drinking two mimosas after one of her cabaret shows.) While the 54-year-old Countess and Friends star was originally ordered back to jail by the judge, she ultimately struck a new plea deal with new probation rules. After accepting the terms — which include weekly phone counseling sessions with her treating psychiatrist and taking an alcoholism medication — de Lesseps was released from custody.
“I’m glad the judge was understanding once made aware of the evidence provided and I was then released,” de Lesseps said in a statement to Us on Thursday. “I am now looking forward to completing my remaining few months of probation. I want to put this behind me and move forward with my life.”
Medley, for her part, admitted to Us that she changes her behavior around de Lesseps, with whom she has filmed five seasons of RHONY.
“Of course you do. Listen, we all have tons of friends that are sober, in AA, but they’ve kind of got a grasp on it,” Medley told Us on Thursday. “When people are really in recovery you don’t even notice that they’re sober. But when someone is going through it and in the struggling phase you don’t want to do anything to [make it worse]. … She’s going to say that it’s OK, but I think it’s hard.”
De Lesseps and Medley argued during season 10 of RHONY after the “Girl Code” singer accused her costar of drinking too much during the cast’s trip to Cartagena, Colombia. Medley shot back with a diss during de Lesseps’ cabaret show during the season 10 finale. While they made up during season 11, Medley noted they “didn’t hang out” much while filming the latest season. “I’m hoping that I was, throughout the season, aware of that and kind about it.”
Make It Nice With Dorinda Medley, which will feature the Bravo star sharing her tips and tricks on how to make everything nice, launches on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy channel Wednesday, May 29, at 11:00 am ET.
With reporting by Brody Brown
