Each and every of the housewives in the Real Housewives franchises are pretty much filthy rich: That’s why I watch them on TV, after all: It’s fun to watch them drink all afternoon and then yell at each other while I eat ramen and cry into my student loan statements. We know Jill Zarin and LuAnn DeLesseps married into money, while Bethenny Frankel and Ramona Singer clawed their way to the top for it, but how did Dorinda Medley earn her money? Well, it was all a combination of both her husbands and her hustle.
According to her Bravo.com profile, Dorinda, unlike many of the other housewives, is a transplant — she hails from the Berkshires (just like Heather Thomson!) and, in true Real Housewives fashion, moved to New York City to work for Liz Claiborne post-college. (Do cast members of the Real Housewives franchises have to work in fashion to be considered for a place on the show? Because every other one has a fashion line, shapewear company, or was a “model in Milan” (I’m looking at you, Countess).
Anywho, after a stint across the pond in London where Dorinda started a Princess Diana-approved cashmere company (she also got married, had a daughter, and got divorced there), a newly single Dorinda came back to New York to seek her fortune (as so many do). According to the New York Post, Dorinda married her second husband, George Soros partner and hedge fund adviser Richard Medley, in an intimate dinner party ceremony in 2005, and they were married until his sudden death in 2011.
Given her extensive time in and out of New York City, Dorinda sure knows that New York is a city all about money. Since every housewife has something to shill on the show, from Bethenny’s Skinnygirl products to LuAnn DeLesseps’ next single, how will Dorinda Medley attempt to further her brand? I have a few ideas for her to fatten her bank accounts.
Cashmere Wine Koozies
I smell a collaboration between Ramona Singer Pinot Grigio and Dorinda’s cashmere experience! Dorinda and Ramona are longtime buddies, so they should totally team to create little cashmere sleeves for housewives all around the world to insulate their wine bottles. If cashmere is good enough for the late Princess Diana, it’s good enough for Kelly Bensimon.
Yummie Tummie Model
Heather Thomson may be the one who creates and designs Yummie Tummie shapewear, but Dorinda sure has the body to show it up. Fit and fabulous, she could give model daughter Hannah a run for her money. How about a tasteful magazine shoot, featuring some of Heather’s wares? For charity? Couldn’t hurt.
Sex Advice Column With Sonja
Sonja and Dorinda are both brash, saucy women: With so much life experience between the two of them, they’d be perfect to answer those questions that people are just too embarrassed to ask. Get them a radio show on Sirius, stat (too many censors on regular radio), or at the very least a podcast.
Though I don’t know exactly how she’ll be on the show from just one episode, all the previews I’ve seen have depicted Dorinda as a no-nonsense, bonafide New York City #bossbitch, so I hold out hope that she's like a saucier and less sexual Sonja Morgan or a meaner Carole Radziwill. The New York City women love to make their own money (remember, Ramona finds it “an aphrodisiac,” according to her first season tagline): I think it’s because New York really has that hustling energy that you don’t find anywhere else. In any case, I’m happy to watch Dorinda make that paper all season long.
Image: Giphy (3)
