Bravo's franchise of Real Housewives shows is a juggernaut that, seemingly, cannot be stopped. It all began with The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006, and franchise executive producer Andy Cohen has gone on to give the people what they want, with a combined 72 seasons across 10 U.S. cities airing since that first, fateful premiere. When you're in charge of something this big, which requires this many cast members, you need to be on the lookout for new faces. Well, Cohen is now speaking out about the rumors that he's considering adding disgraced Fuller House and When Calls the Heart star Lori Loughlin to the roster.
Apparently, rumors have been swirling that Andy Cohen has been trying to get Lori Loughlin on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, especially now that she's finally decided to plead guilty for her part in the college admissions scandal which led to her losing work on the Netflix revival and Hallmark shows she'd been known for in recent years. Cohen has finally addressed those rumors on his SiriusXM show, Andy Cohen Live. Here's what he had to say:
There is a whole narrative, apparently, that I am pursuing Lori Loughlin for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. And the first I heard about that was Twitter. But it's not true. Lori Loughlin is a very nice person. She's going to have quite a story to tell. And she's always been lovely...So, anyway, that is not true.
Sooo, if you listen to the clip of Andy Cohen talking about the possibility of Lori Loughlin coming aboard RHOBH, you can tell that he seems a bit awkward while discussing it. And, who wouldn't be, at this point? Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were arrested and charged in March of last year (along with fellow actress Felicity Huffman and almost 50 others) for their part in the college admissions scandal.
Loughlin and Giannulli were two of 33 wealthy parents found to have paid college admissions counselor William Singer a combined $25 million to bribe college officials, sports coaches and entrance exam administrators to make sure their children were accepted into the higher learning institutions of their choosing. After over a year, it was toward the end of this May that it was announced that Loughlin would plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Assuming a federal judge signs off on the deal, Lori Loughlin will face a punishment of up to two months in prison, a fine of $150,000, supervised release probation for two years once she's done serving time in prison, and she'll also need to complete 100 hours of community service. So, with all this punishment pending for Loughlin, it makes sense that Andy Cohen doesn't want to cast her, or have her associated with his franchise.
Cohen was very careful on his podcast to say nice things about Lori Loughlin, and while you can make of that what you may, you might be wondering, in general, why people would think he wanted her to be a part of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, anyway. Well, RHOBH star Kyle Richards and her family are friends with Loughlin's family, and right after the scandal broke in 2019, Richards spoke about the news on the after show for Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen:
We know a lot of people in that circle, and it was really shocking. [My daughter] Sophia knows all of those girls...They’re really great people, and you kind of just go, ‘I’m really so confused by all of this.'
It's not unusual for Cohen to mine the real friendships of Real Housewives' stars when he needs to refresh the casts of his shows, so it makes a lot of sense that fans were speculating about him looking to recruit Lori Loughlin, but it would seem that this was not the case.
You can watch the many Real Housewives shows on Bravo, but for more to watch in the coming weeks, be sure to check out what's new to Netflix and see what's coming to TV this summer!
