Dr Mama

So, I am NOT AT ALL trying to excuse any behavior by Bronwyn. But whatever Lisa and/or the jewelry store employee are trying to accuse her of--and I guess that would be pretending to buy a $4M necklace and earrings she had no intention of buying, and I guess not being able to afford such a purchase?--is just ridiculous. I mean, really. Lisa's whole big accusation seems to be there was a scene where Bronwyn and Todd looked at some VERY pricey jewelry as a possible anniversary gift, and the jewelry store told Lisa that the Newports never bought anything. WHO CARES!!! NOT A BFD!! And I feel a little like I did when Pavit was accused of shady crap because he claimed he was flying to Vietnam for a day for airline miles. People not familiar with the mileage run/airline status game thought that was a shady excuse. I've made similar crazy trips for that exact same reason, and there is a whole community of people out there who do the same. So, connecting that same thinking to the story of Bronwyn and the necklace. I don't know what Bronwyn and Todd's net worth is. I've seen estimates of $24M. Based on his career, it could be higher, but that number sounds reasonable. I still don't think that's $4M necklace territory, but I don't make their spending decisions. It is clear that she spends A LOT of money on couture clothing. You don't get to sit front row at the Valentino runway show without spending serious money. And Christian Siriano (not the same level as Valentino, certainly) said the same thing about her in terms of his work. She's been buying it--and a lot of it--FOR YEARS. And that's just ONE designer. And this is just clothing. They are also art collectors. So, maybe they were in the market for some jewelry as a gift. Maybe they had worked with the jewelry store before. Maybe production knew this jewelry store and made the connection. Maybe they and/or production thought it would be great to have a scene where she and Todd contemplate buying some over-the-top jewelry--it's a common enough HW show scene. Maybe they had an intention to buy something. Maybe the jewelry store was happy to participate because they thought they'd get a credit on the show, which might be good for their business. High end jewelers in LA (and elsewhere) often lend jewelry to people who have no intention of buying it--maybe some do it for advertising, maybe some do it to cement relationships with stylists who have other clients who WILL pay, maybe some do it to cultivate a relationship with the person who is wearing it in the hope of future business. Could be a host of different reasons. But, even in Palm Springs, it was clear that the jewelry was ON LOAN from the store at that time. I'm guessing the jewelry store participated in this scene because they thought it would be good business for them--either because the Newports might become customers or Bravo might work with them again (or both.) Or viewers of the show would come to the store. I seems very plausible that sometime after the scene in Palm Springs Bronwyn and Todd decided to buy something else from this jeweler--something that would need to be made. They definitely have custom high end jewelry money. At the reunion, it was Andy who asked her about the $4M necklace as he was welcoming her to the set. To me, that did not seem like the moment for a long, drawn-out explanation of the story. It seems possible to me that she considered asking to borrow that same necklace again for the reunion, which would be even more understandable if they were currently waiting on a different piece of jewelry to be completed. And so, I think it is plausible that's what she meant when she said considered WEARING it again. Some might assume that statement meant she was implying she OWNED it, but she wore it before on the show when she did not own it. But when this topic became a whole issue at the reunion, she at first seemed a little shocked that the jewelry store employee criticized her to someone while she thought (or claimed) they were working together to complete the Newport's order. She then detailed exactly what she and Todd ordered from that store (or claimed to.) I really don't know why she would lie about this, which is why I have trouble believing Lisa's attack. The Newports absolutely have enough money to purchase high-end custom jewelry. If they had decided not to purchase anything from that store at that time, it would have been super easy just to say that. They don't have any need to keep up a fiction that they are very wealthy. They are. And I don't think TODD would want her to LIE about what they may or may not have ordered. Like him or hate him, he seems pretty blunt about what he believes. The Barlows, on the other hand, are not nearly as wealthy. As in, a fraction of the Newports net worth. And Lisa makes so much of an effort to try and claim to be so rich that makes me think even the estimate of $5M net worth for the Barlows is too high. So, I think Lisa was super annoyed that the Newports had a scene where they even pretended to contemplate purchasing a $4M necklace--that's a whole different league than her $60,000 ring--so she wanted to take them down and attack them for not actually purchasing it. And if I'm wrong, that's fine too.

Yeah--I think there are a few other HWs who COULD pay for his clothes, including Heather D., Kyle, Sutton, Jenna. I'd forgotten about Heather's dress. Did she maybe just borrow it or did Christian forget she had also paid?

I rewatched the reunion and the WWHL. I never heard them say that she "immediately" ordered a different necklace after the Palm Springs trip. What I remember them saying in that episode is that they thanked the jewelry store employee for bringing those samples and that they would think about what they wanted to purchase. At some point later, it sounds like they made a decision on what they wanted, and the order was progressing well until Lisa revealed those texts at the reunion. On WWHL, Bronwyn said she checked with the jewelry store to see what was going on, and that's when she learned the texts were legitimate, so she cancelled the order. I would have done the same. Look, Bronwyn and Todd have WAY more money that the Barlows, and if they changed their mind about buying some jewelry from a specific store, that's hardly a crime (meaning, if they'd cancelled the order even before the texting issue.) Maybe that store thought they were going to be named in the episode, and when they weren't, the employee decided to text Lisa. Or maybe Lisa (or one of her people) initiated the conversation with the store to try to get dirt on Bronwyn. Who knows. I do know that Christian Siriano has said that of ALL the RHs, he only dresses Bronwyn because she pays. He said the other ones don't pay. This season, I've gone from generally neutral about Lisa to finding her pretty awful, but I appreciate that others see her very differently. That's probably why I still watch the show, and why I especially appreciate this forum!!

ABSOLUTELY!!! I went back to watch the whole exchange about Gwen's grandparents (the one at the reunion), and it was just mind-boggling how Lisa started crying about how SHE was in a "lose-lose-lose" situation for an issue where she deliberately inserted herself but has no real bearing on her real life. And when Bronwyn asked if she could just say she was sorry for causing pain to GWEN--no one else--she fought back saying something like "no one can tell me what to say." It was UGLY. And it reminded me SO MUCH of a toxic narcissist I've had the displeasure of dealing with who also has to be right about everything and tries to destroy anyone who challenges her.

He read what was on Lisa's phone. I don't think there was any way for him to verify that these were from the actual jewelry store employee at that moment, but based on what Bronwyn said on WWHL, she did follow up with the store, and the employee did send them.

Is it really that odd? I mean, if my 19 year old Mormon daughter was pregnant and planning to keep the child, and her 19 year old boyfriend had completely walked away from any responsibility, I could see myself wanting to let the boyfriend's parents know what was going on. Or maybe he was hoping to get their assistance in getting Bronwyn to choose a different path, and then realized she was going to do what she wanted to do so their help was not needed. Or maybe he called once in a moment of anger or frustration and then dropped any desire to hear from them. Who knows. I just think it is quite plausible that he reached out ONCE and then decided not to reach out again. And it's also possible that's not exactly what happened (her dad calling the boyfriend's parents once) but without hearing from either set of grandparents, I am not going to assume Lisa's version is accurate.

But it seems to me that all of this confusion was created by Lisa who is friends with Gwen's grandparents. I'd have to go back and watch several episodes, but what I remember Bronwyn saying from early in the season is that she and Gwen's father were 19 year old college students when she discovered she was pregnant. Her family was deeply ashamed, and the boyfriend checked out. I thought she said she let him know she was going to have (or had) the baby, but he never got involved. I also thought she said something about his family not wanting to be involved. And then when Gwen was still little (maybe 2-3 years old), the boyfriend/father passed away. It sounds like he was married when he died, but it wouldn't be unusual in a Mormon family to be married at 23-24. Until Lisa started stirring up this issue, I don't think Bronwyn said anything about her father calling the boyfriend's parents, but I don't find it super unusual that her dad may have placed one call to them to give them information and then washed his hands of them. Maybe he was mad they refused to get involved. The whole thing about Bronwyn claiming to have had a miscarriage apparently ONLY came from the boyfriend's parents. Without hearing directly from them, I have no idea if that's the story they have decided to tell, that's what their son told them, or Bronwyn just said that to the boyfriend when she was 19 and unexpectedly pregnant--EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO. I think it was super sh--y of Lisa to try to use that to criticize Bronwyn, and I thought Bronwyn really tried to take the high road in that discussion--telling Lisa it was OK if she wanted to believe what her friends (the grandparents) said, but that was not what she ever told them. I've never been a huge fan of any of the women on this show, but I've started to find Lisa really grating, and her inability to just back off from a battle when it doesn't really matter and it's clearly causing someone else pain was just horrible. She could have borrowed it again and worn it again. I did not hear her say "we bought it" and then backtrack from that statement. Look, I'm not a huge fan of any of these women, but, for me, Lisa has become incredibly annoying the last couple of seasons.

Lisa CLAIMED she had texts from the jewelry store employee. I do believe she had texts on her phone that claimed to be from the jewelry store employee. I do not trust that these are actual texts from the actual person--I think it would be bad business for a sales person to obviously send dirt on high net worth (potential) customers to someone else--clearly knowing it would become public. I rarely agree with Mary, but here I'd agree that if I had enough money to drop even hundreds of thousands on some expensive jewelry, I would NOT go to a store where the salespeople initiate gossip about customers to others. Todd clearly has money. I'm not sure it's $4M necklace money, but I'd be willing to bet it's way more than the Barlows have. My read of Bronwyn's response was trying to stay calm about this accusation, because there was nothing to be gained with trying to argue with Lisa about it, and take it up with the store later.

I assumed that was part of the fiction that the HW actually plan these trips themselves and invite and pay for their friends to join them. As a new HW, I'm willing to give Bronwyn the benefit of the doubt that she trying to maintain this producer fiction, especially since the only reason there was any mention of it was because Lisa doesn't "fly or carry coach." And that also could have been producer-initiated drama.

My understanding is that the show actually pays for some/most of the travel costs of these trips, and I'm sure they get some parts of the trips comped or at special prices in exchange for promotional consideration. One of the housewives is selected as the "host" for the trip, but that woman isn't actually picking up all (or most) of the costs (at least most of the time.) I've also read somewhere that while the show pays most/all of the costs for the women, the women are responsible for the costs of anyone they bring with them for hair, makeup, styling, etc. I did wonder how that worked with the trip for Bronwyn and Todd's anniversary. Maybe the show still covered the costs for the women and the husbands--or maybe they cover some portion of it. They did have non-show guests at their party. https://people.com/tv/andy-cohen-talks-firing-real-housewives/

It could be just the particular manager she had? Indra Nooyi was CEO of PepsiCo for many years (including all the time Boz was there), so I doubt it was a corporate-wide culture.

When I was watching that scene, I started to wonder if maybe Kathy is starting to have some cognitive issues. She's on the young side for that, but I thought I noticed her hand sort of shaking as someone else was trying to help her with her extensions. I don't know--something about that scene made me think there was something more than hot flashes involved.

We got a glimpse of Kathy pre-glam at the reunion show last year, I believe, and it was SHOCKING how different she looked with no makeup. The transformation was unreal. Made me wish I could afford to have full glam on standby! 😄

I noticed that too.

He's done a lot since then--he currently appears to be a venture capitalist, but previously he was an Executive Vice President at HP. I'm sure he was well compensated in these roles and made a ton of money through stock and stock options, and likely does extremely well as a VC. He's also on multiple corporate boards. Plus, SLC is a lower cost area than NYC or Silicon Valley, so his money goes further. I have questions about how a couple of the ladies afford the lifestyle they present on the show, but none about Bronwyn and Todd. https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-bradley-aa453a2/ https://www.oneequity.com/news/one-equity-partners-appoints-r-todd-bradley-as-operating-partner/