Luann de Lesseps Knows What She Wants

“Mirror!” Luann de Lesseps calls out to one of the members of her small entourage. “Where’s that mirror?”

She’s being shot in the studio of renowned filmmaker and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, a Grammy winner who’s lensed the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Anjelica Houston, and Ruth Bader-Ginsburg. With nearly five decades of experience, he gets his shots quickly. He calls Luann over to look.

“His arm looks awkward here,” she points to Brandon, the male model on the screen. “Maybe he should take me like this.” She spins to Brandon, “Darling, give me your arms.” Once she’s coached him on the next set of poses, the photographer nodding, she studies the shots some more and gives herself direction. “Arm out, chin up,” she tells herself. She repeats this as she marches back into the frame.

This level of confidence was built before her career in reality TV, and it’s only deepened with her cabaret success. Over Turkish food, seconds and then thirds, Luann recounts her life and makes it clear that confidence has always propelled her forward.

Though she started her career as a nurse in her native Connecticut, she quickly tried her hand at modeling. And one of her magazine covers was Playgirl, shot on her birthday in 1990. She was draped over a shirtless cowboy in the same pose she’s being held in today—though this time, SHE’s the star.

Playgirl • August 2025.

Her path back on the cover hasn’t been linear. After struggling to model in New York, she headed to Italy where she said she was too “girl next door” compared to the waify models of Milan in the nineties. She didn’t fit in, but instead of packing her bags, she got involved in the Lady Universe pageant. Representing the US, she won the title – a car, a diamond watch, $10,000, and “exposure to a whole milieu of people including the Spumante family and the Pellegrino people.” These introductions took her to a party in Cortina where she met a man who put her on television. “I was the Vanna White of Italian TV,” she says.

While skiing in Switzerland a few years after arriving in Europe, she met Count Alexandre de Lesseps from whom she got her title. They married two weeks later. “Magical,” she says of their meet cute.

After 12 years bouncing between Europe and New York, Luann says she left Switzerland because she was bored. “It’s very quiet. It’s beautiful, but you’re living amongst the mountain goats.”

She found excitement in New York, where she joined The Real Housewives of New York City. The show took off and Luann stayed with the franchise for thirteen seasons.

Dress: Jovani • necklace and bracelets: Kenneth Jay Lane • other jewelry: Luann’s own.

“People loved it because they wanted to follow us, to know our story and to see how we made out. We went through some of the same shit as everybody else, just on television, and in a bigger way. Glamourized a bit.” But not all of Luann’s storylines were airbrushed for audiences. The series captured failed relationships, legal trouble that included battery and disorderly intoxication, and constant falling outs with friends. Despite this, Luann says that the on-air friendships were genuine, and the show worked so well because everything that happened felt organic.

The impact of the show on her life and on culture is reflected in how she interjects some of its most iconic lines into conversation, even when she’s not sure the people around her are fans. “Even Louis Vuitton makes mistakes,” she says in response to something that has nothing to do with Alex McCord’s shoes.

Luann also credits The Real Housewives of New York City for her cabaret career. To call it a second act undersells her ambitions. She has her eye on Broadway—an existing show she wants to star in, and an original musical she’s already begun writing lyrics for. This is against the backdrop of a solo cabaret act that started as “Countess and Friends.” “I was too scared to carry the show by myself at first,” she says. Fast forward to this summer: Luann brought her show to Europe, where she was introduced by Tilda Swinton, who she considers a close friend.

Dress: Yigal Azrouël • bracelet: Kenneth Jay Lane • other jewelry: Luann’s own • his shorts: Fleur du Mal.

“Who’s better in bed, European men or American men?” She answers instantly. “Europeans. They’re not afraid of their sexuality.”

Talking about sex and celebrity comes easy to Luann. When it comes to romance, she’s more meditative. She says her rocky relationship with Tom D’Agostino, which fueled the drama of Real Housewives’ season nine, threw her off. “If I had stayed with him, I would’ve never followed my dream to do cabaret.”

Heartbreak and love have always had a strong pull on her. She talks about leaving her TV show in Italy to marry the Count. “I had a huge career, and I said, you know what – you jump on that train when the door is open. Don’t be that guy left on the platform going, oh shit, I missed the train. I took a leap of faith because I followed my heart.” She leans in, “And my gut.”

Her instincts, and her penchant for trademarking lines as soon as she says them, make her infinitely watchable – something that’s recognized in how her fans span all genders and age groups. To many young fans, The Real Housewives of New York City is as bingeable as Sex and the City.

When this comes up, Luann mentions that Candace Bushnell, author of Sex and the City, is a friend. We briefly get on the topic of Darren Star who has a place in the Hamptons like Luann. Maybe he’s shooting Emily in Paris right now, I muse. The fifth season of the Netflix hit is currently filming in Rome and Paris.

“I speak Italian. And French,” Luann reminds me.

“You should be on it.”

“That’s a good idea,” she pauses for a moment and turns to her assistant who has been sitting quietly on the other side of the room for nearly an hour. “That’s a really good idea. Write that down!” Her voice booms with the same unshakeable confidence she used to direct Brandon and the photographer earlier.