'Real Housewives of London' cast talk dentist drama, representing London and dealing with 'trolls'

Yahoo

2 days ago

A new cast of six women joins 'The Real Housewives' franchise with London glamour
Real Housewives fans were treated to a new iteration of the franchise as Hayu premiered the first season of The Real Housewives of London (new episodes released Monday on the streaming site). While some may be surprised that's it has taken so long to bring the franchise to the British city, particularly after the success of other reality shows like Made in Chelsea, we'll see how the new show stacks up against the rest of the Real Housewives cities.
There are six women in The Real Housewives of London cast, the 30th instalment of the franchise. Some are born and raised Londoners, while others are Americans who now call London home.
The Real Housewives of London cast is:
Juliet Angus: Originally from Chicago, Angus is a mom of two who lives in West London. She was previously a cast member on Ladies of London and works as a "lifestyle blogger," "stylist" and "social media influencer."
Amanda Cronin: The former model is an entrepreneur who founded her own skincare brand, Amanda Caroline Beauty, and operates the aesthetics and wellness clinic The Secret Door in the Belgravia neighbourhood of London. She's also close with The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Meredith Marks, and former cast member of The Real Housewives of New York, Dorinda Medley.
Karen Loderick-Peace: Loderick-Peace, born in Jamaica, moved to London in her 20s, where she met her husband Jeremy, the former chairman and owner of West Bromwich Albion F.C. soccer club. She was previously on The Real Housewives of Jersey and is set to launch her on fashion label.
Juliet Mayhew: Originally from Australia, and former Miss Galaxy Universe, Mayhew now lives in London's Chelsea neighbourhood with her husband and two teenage children. She's a former actress who now hosts impressive events through her event planning company. Mayhew is also a friend to The Real Housewives of Dubai star Caroline Stanbury.
Panthea Parker: Parker moved to England from Iran when she was four and since the '90s has been partying with A-Listers in London. She lives in North London with her husband and their three children. Parker also has an adult son.
Nessie Welschinger: Born and raised in London, Welschinger's family has a home in London's Chelsea neighbourhood, as well as a 500-year-old estate in the Cotswolds. After a successful investment banking career, Welschinger now runs the Chelsea Cake Company and made a 90th birthday cake for Queen Elizabeth II. Welschinger also competed on Bake Off: The Professionals.
'We all have true London blood in us'
All the women on Real Housewives of London agree that it's about time the beloved city is added to the famous franchise.
"I think London is so unique in what it could offer the world," Welschinger told Yahoo Canada. "Just look at the panel that we have right now, everyone is from somewhere different and we're all representative of what London stands for."
"It's a really cosmopolitan city. It's multicultural, ... different languages, different religions, we all cohesively live together. It has culture. It's got music. ... It's got everything that you could possibly want in a big city, and more. And I really feel that we emulate that as Londoners. We're all true Londoners, whether you're born here or whether you've been living here for several years, or married Londoners or whatever, and I feel like we all have true London blood in us."
But some of the women on the show were able to tap their friends for tips and advice on entering the Housewives world.
"Caroline [Stanbury] always just says, 'Keep it real,'" Mayhew shared. "She's like, you're going to have the time of your life."
"[Dorinda Medley] came over recently. We had lunch at the Four Seasons, the two of us, and she said, because I'm very good at sort of sticking up for myself, ... she said, 'No you don't have to hold up the walls on your own, you're not an island,'" Cronin added. "Just because I'm strong it doesn't mean that I don't need support. She said, 'Make allies, it will be it'll be good for you.' So that was really good advice. ... I have made friends in the show, and I'm really proud."
Similar to the advice Cronin got from Medley, what Loderick-Peace learned from being on The Real Housewives of Jersey was to take the time to get to know the women in the cast.
"Sometimes being in a group with five other ladies, a lot of things can miss. You can be misunderstood and then you can misunderstand people," Loderick-Peace said. "So taking time out to get to know the girls, know them one by one, who they are, ... that was important. Because with Jersey, I think I didn't."
"So I'm taking the time out now to really get to know these girls on a level where, yes, we're going to have disagreements. It's like sisterhood and living with your sisters is not easy."
Dentist drama: 'I just had to be real'
As viewers expect with any Real Housewives show, conflict is going to happen, and we get right into it with Real Housewives of London, when Parker and Mayhew get in an argument about a dentist. A situation that happened before the show, there was some animosity between the two women after Parker wasn't pleased when a dentist gave her son multiple fillings, instead of fixing his braces, and she believes Mayhew was more loyal to her other friend, the dentist.
"It was so long ago, but at the end of the day, when somebody drills ... in your son's mouth, and when you ask for proof she says, 'Sorry I didn't have time to do an x-ray,' ... that will stay with you forever," Parker said. "And for me, out of all the girls, the one that I've known the longest and the one that I was actually friends with is Juliet."
"I just had to be real. And it would have been so easy to just be fake and not bring it to the table, but I had to bring it to the table, even though it's six, seven years later."
"I never realized it festered that long," Mayhew added. "I think I have very much respect for my friends. I think with friendship you're going to disagree on things, and I think my stance is that you can love the person, but not love the action and not have to agree with them. That shouldn't break a friendship."
'The sky's the limit'
While being a Housewives star comes great fandom, it also requires the cast to open themselves up to comments about their lives from the show's audience, from both fans and critics.
As these women set off on their journey in the franchise, Angus highlighted that she's ready to take all the good, and the more difficult elements, of being a Real Housewives talent with this cast.
"I've been doing social media for 10 years now, working with amazing brands. I just think it's such a great platform to do this show and I think I've developed tough skin and learned how to deal with trolls," she said.
"I took a few years out recently to focus on my children more and ... I'm just ready to soar again. My kids are getting to fly the nest and I feel like I'm going have more time, and there's so much I still wanted to do career-wise and brand-wise. So this is exciting. I think there's so much attention that comes with it. I think we're all ready to do such great things with this, in addition to entertain and be fun and funny and witty. ... The sky's the limit."