One season after the major reboot of The Real Housewives of New York, a new face is joining the fold.
Racquel Chevremont is the newest addition to the cast Bravo reality series for Season 15. GLAAD was the first to report it. Born in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, Chevremont is a force in the fashion industry and has been working since 1993. Her face has been featured on campaigns for Benetton, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Fila, L’Oréal, Nivea and international Elle magazine covers. In 2003, she joined the acquisition committees of the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
She’s also a business owner. Chevremont co-founded and personally funded the State Street Salon, which is a Brooklyn-based hub for artists, curators and collectors. She founded it in 2008 and has curated the Tribeca Film Festival.
“It’s exciting,” Chevremont told GLAAD in an exclusive interview announcing her casting to RHONY. “I honestly didn’t think they would be interested in me in the end because they already had a queer woman. I wasn’t sure if they were going to want two queer women on a franchise that has historically been about married heterosexual women. I think it was a bold decision and honestly a more authentic representation of NYC.”
Chevremont isn’t a RHONY franchise superfan. But, once she accepted the offer, she binge-watched the show and spoke with her loved ones about the show. “My family and I really had to think about it; in the end, it made sense,” she told GLAAD. “My entire adult life has been about representation and using whatever platform I have to get the voices of queer folks of the diaspora out there. What better way to do so if not as a member of this iconic franchise.”
She added: “I’m hoping to bring it all, show people a loving fun family along with our chosen family. It’s extremely important to me, [because] this show reaches millions of people. In the current world climate it’s important for not only our community to see themselves represented but also for the world to get to know a queer family in a more intimate way and show that we all have more similarities than not; That queer women can be successful, beautiful and in loving relationships raising children too; That this world exists.”
Chevremont joins returning and OG reboot cast members Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Lichy, Jenna Lyons, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield.
Rebecca Minkoff is also a new star for Season 15, joining as a Friend of the Housewives.