The McCord van Kempens Want Gay Marriage

Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen are adamantly in favor of same-sex marriage, which will come up in the new season of Real Housewives of New York, particularly at a marital equality rally they appeared at along with other notables.

On the phone yesterday, the duo filled me in on their viewpoints.

Simon van Kempen: On a show like Real Housewives, we have a broad audience. We tend to stay away from issues because they're interested in us because we're crazy and wear red leather pants.

Alex McCord: They don't want us to be Sean Penn. But this is civil rights! This is a cause that we feel passionate about. The number one thing is it's not fair! My best friend from college shot a playdate with us on the show. I've been with him as his life was changed when got married in Vermont, and then again in Massachusetts when they moved there. One of the things that broke my heart is he'd gotten a dream job offer, but it was in a state he couldn't move to because his husband wouldn't have gotten health benefits and so on!

Simon: I came to the states almost 10 years ago for a three-week business trip. I met Alex. Fortunately for me, the Alex I met was Alexandra, not Alexander. I moved to the states and eventually got my U.S. citizenship. But if it was Alexander, our love would have been screwed. It's ridiculous that in 2011, there are people split up who can't live their lives because of the government!

Credit: The Village Voice (Michael Musto)

Alex McCord Dishes On RHONY's New Season

When Bravo delayed the premiere of the fourth season of the Real Housewives of New York from February until April, it seemed producers were concerned with early reactions to the show. However, Housewife Alex McCord tells In Touch that such rumors were "started by gossip columnists" and that the upcoming season is full of drama.

"It's not about one Greek tragedy, because I know that viewers got kind of bored with that last time," Alex told In Touch at Cat Ommanney's Inbox Full book launch party on March 3. "It's a series of explosions, one after the other."

As for the newest addition to the cast, Housewife Cindy Barshop will have a tough time replacing fan favorite Bethenny Frankel.

"She is certainly not the same as Bethenny — neither better nor worse," she said. "Everyone brings their own thing, and she definitely brings something to the cast."

This season, Jill Zarin, Ramona Singer, LuAnn de Lesseps and Alex all return as members of the original cast, making the NYC Housewives the most consistent of all the spin-offs.

"We all go in deep with each other because we all have a history together now," Alex said. "We know where everybody's buttons are — and I think that this is our best season yet!"

Credit: In Touch Weekly

Real Housewives of NY Premiere Date Finally Set

Get ready for more Big Apple drama, Housewives fans!

After a sudden schedule switcheroo in February that bumped the Real Housewives of New York City's fourth season premiere in favor of the Real Housewives of Miami's debut, the New York women finally have a premiere date.

Come April 7, Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, LuAnn de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, Kelly Bensimon, Sonja Morgan and newcomer Cindy Barshop will be back on the air, the network announced via their BravoTV.com The Dish blog Monday.

"From the gang's glamorous jaunt to Morocco, to our already-favorite dig "thug in a cocktail dress" (delivered by the ultimate messenger, Alex McCord), to the Countess finding love again, the new season will definitely be worth the wait," the Bravo blog post read.

Brooklyn-based cast member McCord agrees, and tells Us Magazine fans should clear their calendars for Thursday nights.

"I think this is definitely the best season so far," McCord tells Us. "[But] there was no way they were going to get [editing] done in time."

The Real Housewives of New York City premieres April 7 at 10 p.m. (EST) on Bravo.

Credit: Us Magazine

The McCord van Kempens At "Inbox Full" Party

Alex McCord and Simon Van Kempen of the Real Housewives of New York attended Cat Ommanney's 'Inbox Full' book party at Ted Gibson Salon on March 3, 2011 in New York City.

Credit: Getty Images

The McCord Van Kempens: Bailey House Auction

Real Housewives of New York stars Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen attended the 23rd Annual Bailey House Auction at Lexington Avenue Armory on February 23, 2011 in New York City.

Credit: Zimbio

Photos by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images North America

The McCord van Kempens Talk Show Delay

Alex McCord and Simon Van Kempen deny that a lack of drama was the reason Bravo pushed back the start of the Real Housewives of New York’s fourth season from February to April. Instead, the couple say it was a matter of timing. “We were done filming when they made the decision,” Alex told us at the Bailey House auction last night. “We finished filming February 1, we were supposed to premiere February 15. Do the math: You can’t finish a show in two weeks in post.” The couple said that in past seasons the show always aired two to three months after filming wrapped, and the new season’s timeline will now follow suit. “With these shows, no one ever has [gotten] 100 percent through post when it starts, but you’ve got to be at least two-thirds of the way through, otherwise you can’t send screeners."

The couple went one step further in heading off the rumors that the season was bedeviled by a lack of drama, maintaining that this is the best season yet. Simon pointed out that with four of the housewives having been with the show for four seasons, “The relationships are that much deeper. And it also means they know where the buttons are, and those buttons, I think you’ll see, get pressed and pushed and prodded several times." Alex agreed: “Absolutely. I mean, the longer you do a show like that the more you get to know each other. We’ve all seen each other naked.”

Credit: New York Magazine (Bennett Marcus)

Alex's Take on The Real Housewives of Miami

It's 30 degrees in New York City, so let's see whether the stars of the Real Housewives of Miami can heat things up ...

Before we even get to the credits, does anyone else think someone confused the wide-angled lens with wide-angled legs? But at least we know that everyone is completely bare – oops, wrong city. After the show before the show, we meet the ladies. So what did we learn, besides the fact that Marysol has a self-proclaimed witch for a mom? I can't wait to see more of Elsa! Housewives' moms with wine and inappropriate sexual questions are always welcome here.

Loved Lea's house and the story of how she met her husband, but why is she obsessed with collecting eccentric people? Is she bored with herself? We'll see. Larsa is beautiful and seemingly in love with her husband – and the other girls needed to give her a big break about staying out late. They have teenagers! Larsa has a 15-month-old and a few more under 10, plus she isn't divorced. The only thing I want to ask is that she please never say "funner" ever again. Oh, and don't shoot the nanny.

I wasn't sure about Adriana throughout the whole first episode – yes, it's Miami but I didn't quite buy that bravado. Turns out at the end of this episode, we hear that her husband had another wife and child (children?) tucked away in Brazil. Larsa piped up with sound advice – know the money, know the man, though a bit too late for Adriana. So does Ms. Bombshell act out in order to keep herself distant from other people? Just a theory – we'll see if that plays out in future episodes.

Alexia's seventeen-year-old son is going on a cruise with his girlfriend. Without mom. She says she's a little bit worried, naturally ... about ... his diet? I had a lot of questions too. Were they traveling with the girlfriend's whole family, with separate cabins (preferably on separate decks) and a curfew? I hope so. Let's not even get to the bottle service in clubs yet. If she is worried about his eating habits, she can start with explaining grass-fed beef.

Cristy met with a psychic, who told her that 2010 is going to be her year and she's going to meet Mr. Right. Now, we know this moment must have happened a while ago, which means we get to check out the psychic's accuracy. Did she meet him?

Marysol wins the award for the most shameless Housewives business venture plug to date, by writing her PR company name on the chef's hat at Lea's cooking party. In case you missed it, the ladies festooned their hats with "beauty queen," "head chef," "sex pot" and "The Patton Group." She forgot her Twitter handle. The only one to support Adriana's future lesbianism, Marysol is also anti-plastic surgery, or did she just mean before lunch? Well, knife or no knife, she looks like she's having fun. So much fun, she can't remember what day it is! I think I like her the best so far.

Credit: PEOPLE (Alex McCord)

Alex & Simon: WTB Nikki Lund & Richie Sambora

Real Housewives of New York stars Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen attend the WTB By Nikki Lund & Richie Sambora Fall 2011 fashion show at Style360 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on February 17, 2011 in New York City. Simon was wearing a SKULLebrities "Applehead" t-shirt ($30.00)

Credit: Zimbio

Photos by Marc Stamas/Getty Images North America

McCord van Kempens: Cynthia Steffe Fall 2011

Simon van Kempen and Alex McCord of the Real Housewives of New York attended the Cynthia Steffe Fall 2011 fashion show with TRESemme during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Studio at Lincoln Center on February 13, 2011 in New York City. Also pictured, Reshma Shetty.

Credit: Zimbio

Photos by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images North America

Alex McCord: "We Go to the Brink of Insanity!"

The Real Housewives are about to get real ugly.

Real Housewives of New York City star Alex McCord says this season viewers will see some extreme craziness go down—even with Bethenny Frankel and Jill Zarin's fighting done—because all is not rosy between the seasoned Housewives and new castmember Cindy Barshop.

"Oh, it's not one epic fight, it is 100 fights," McCord told us. "We're comfortable enough with each other now that it's no holds barred. I did not know Cindy before. You'll have to see what happens with her and everyone."

And where does her husband, Simon, fit in to all of this?

Simon says he's still pressing buttons, annoying the other wives—including Barshop—and, as usual, tagging along with his wife for this season.

"On Cindy all I can say it's really hard to come into a mature cast that has been around each other for four years," he told us today at the Cynthia Steffe show at Lincoln Center. "It takes a while to work out how to avoid the drama."

Alex says one incident reaches such madness that "you can't make up what happens."

"People go all the way to the brink of insanity and back and there and back again," she told us.

Bravo honcho and Watch What Happens host Andy Cohen also weighed in on the Housewives rumors from the front row at the Diane Von Fürstenberg show today. He assures us rumors of the show being pushed back because of problems with a boring plot are not true.

"It's great, it's an amazing season, we just wrapped three weeks ago, we really wanted to get it perfect and we had Miami sitting on the shelf," he told E! News. "It's great, we all love it. Bethenny and Jill had their own drama. What's interesting about the premiere is the dust is still settling on that feud so it's interesting to see how these women are picking it back up."

Credit: Marianne Garvey for E! Online

'Real Housewives Of New York' Valentine’s Day!

It’s sure going to be one beautiful Valentine’s Day for the gals of the cast of the Real Housewives of New York City! Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan, Kelly Bensimon, Alex McCord, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and Jill Zarin all share their plans for the special day with Hollywood Life exclusively!

Here’s what they’re all up to:

Ramona Singer: “I actually celebrated Valentine’s Day early with my husband Mario,” Ramona says. “I gave Mario a present. We got a double massage for two hours last weekend at the Equinox in a private room and shared a bottle of champagne. Because Valentine’s is on Monday, we are going out on Saturday night with four other couples for dinner. On Monday we are taking our daughter Avery (because she is the other woman in Mario’s life) to a nice dinner.”

Sonja Morgan: “I’m going to get my guy some red hot and white cashmere socks, and three long stems roses,” Sonja notes. “The rest I’ll leave up to your imagination.”

Kelly Bensimon: “My valentines are my two girls,” Kelly gushes. “I like to surprise them with some fun sweeties. Sea wants chocolates. Teddy wants gummy bears. Fortunately I love both!”

Alex McCord: “With Simon and I, every day is Valentine’s Day,” Alex rubs it in. “So we don’t do anything special on V-day. But now that our kids are getting older, they are starting to share Valentines with their friends at school. We sit at the table and go over the cards with the kids. We also had a romantic night on Feb. 10 (that was not V-Day related) where we cooked each other a big meal after the boys went to bed. Neither of us are big on the commercial V-day thing.”

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps: “I’m being surprised — it’s killing me,” LuAnn shares with us. “LuAnn is being ’surprised’ for Valentine’s Day by her boyfriend, Jacques,” confirms her rep. “She has no idea what the plans are! And then next weekend, she is taking her daughter Victoria for a girls’ weekend out in Miami.”

Jill Zarin: “Jill plans on spending a romantic evening at home with her husband Bobby and modeling the new lace design of her Skweez Couture shapewear,” Jill’s rep tells us. “Bobby always starts Valentine’s early by sending flowers a few days prior. The first bouquet of 500 imported french red roses arrived on Feb. 11.”

Credit: Lindsey DiMattina for Hollywood Life

The McCord van Kempens: Venexiana Fall 2011

Simon van Kempen and Alex McCord attend the Venexiana Fall 2011 presentation during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Studio at Lincoln Center on February 11, 2011 in New York City.

Credit: Zimbio

Photos by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America