Free Life on the Ramona Coaster by Ramona Singer

and my father to develop True Faith Jewelry. And now she has other businesses that she’s developed because of it.”
    That’s really why I did the show, to help my husband. And then I quickly realized that it was an amazing opportunity for me, too. I was getting burned out doing the closeouts and it was time for me to try something new. The first opportunity that came my way was a chance to promote the skincare line I had been developing for some time. I partnered with a top chemist and it really works. It’s made my skin look fifteen years younger. I didn’t put it out in stores, or do that much marketing for it. I mostly did it to show Avery how to take a business from beginning to end. Then I did an HSN Jewelry line, which was a dream come true for me. Ultimately, I was even able to develop my own wines, Ramona Pinot Grigio and Ramona Merlot.
    One of the biggest benefits of doing Housewives has been that it has allowed me to show my daughter that you can find business opportunities anywhere and at any age. Here I was in my fifties and all these doors were opening up for me.

 
     

• 4 •
     
    Previously, on The Real Housewives of New York City . . .
     
    I FIRST MEET ALEX Mccord at Townhouse, David Burke’s innovative restaurant on the Upper East Side. My first impression: this woman is a boring Stepford wife. Judgmental? Yes. At this point in my life I have a tendency make to snap judgments based on first impressions, but this is something about myself that I am about to learn that I need to change.
    It’s the fall of 2007 and we have just begun filming the first season of The Real Housewives of New York City. I already know or have met all of my castmates, with the exception of Alex. The executives at Bravo have planned for us to meet a bit later in the season. But, as often happens in reality television, it doesn’t quite work out that way.
    Mario and I have just finished a romantic dinner together and are about to leave the restaurant, when I hear Jill Zarin’s raspy voice coming from over by the bar. She is waiting to be seated with her reserved, soft-spoken husband, Bobby. Beside them at the bar is a lanky, fair-skinned blonde and a flamboyantly dressed, animated man with closely cropped ginger hair. For a moment, I wonder if Jill has replaced her “gay husband” Brad, but then I see the man affectionately caressing the blonde’s slender back.
    Oh my God , I think to myself as I scrunch my face in distaste, are they a couple?
    Mario and I walk over to the bar and say hello. Jill, who prides herself on connecting people, introduces us to the couple.
    “Ramona,” she says, “I’d like you to meet Alex McCord—who will be filming the show with us—and her lovely husband, Simon.”
    I am taken aback. This is Alex and Simon. The same Alex and Simon with whom I will be spending the next few months filming. Now that I’m seeing them in person, I suspect the reason Bravo wanted us to meet after we started filming was so that they could capture my initial reaction to them on camera. Too late.
    “Nice to meet you,” I say cordially to Alex as I kiss her on the cheek.
    Alex opens her mouth to speak and I hear a grating, Australian accent. Although I may have had one too many cocktails, I know that voice doesn’t belong to Alex. Suddenly, Simon is standing up and talking to me. He drones on, and on, and on. I’m not even listening to the words coming out of his mouth. I cannot believe that he won’t let his wife get a single word in.
    I interject enthusiastically, “So, Alex, are you excited about filming the show?”
    She opens her mouth to respond, but Simon speaks over her and answers the question himself. Alex doesn’t seem bothered by his interruption. Quite the opposite. To me, she seems like a puppet sitting on her ventriloquist’s lap, content to simply sit in the background, smile, and nod her head in agreement. She says nothing.
    My head is spinning . . . and it’s not from too many