Mention it all — in a book! Plenty of Real Housewives have started their own beauty brands and clothing lines, but there’s no more common pastime in the franchise than writing a book.
Forty Housewives past and present have become authors over the years, writing everything from self-help guides to children’s books and juicy memoirs. Teresa Giudice, the most prolific author from the Real Housewives of New Jersey cast, began her writing career in 2010 with the publication of her first cookbook, Skinny Italian: Eat It and Enjoy It — Live La Bella Vita and Look Great, Too!
The recipe guide was a commercial success, but its 2011 sequel — Fabulicious!: Teresa’s Italian Family Cookbook — wasn’t such a hit with her castmates. Caroline Manzo took issue with a line that described her cooking “as Italian as the Olive Garden,” while Melissa Gorga felt slighted by Teresa’s claim that she copied her sister-in-law down to “the chairs on my front porch.”
The New Jersey cookbook drama was hardly the last time a Real Housewives tome caused tension among friends. In April 2022, Erika Jayne made headlines when she shared an Instagram photo of costar Garcelle Beauvais‘ memoir in the trash. “Garcelle, even though you unfollowed me I’m sure you’ll see this,” the Georgia native captioned the post.
Six months later, however, Lisa Rinna confessed that she was the person who threw Love Me as I Am in the garbage. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum explained that she was upset by an early edition of the book, which discussed her daughter Amelia Gray Hamlin‘s eating disorder. The Rinna Beauty founder subsequently threw the book in the trash and sent a photo to a group chat that included Erika, who then posted the now-infamous snap because of her own feud with Garcelle.
“She got so much s–t about [not] recycling,” Lisa joked during the RHOBH season 12 reunion in October 2022. “That’s when I really felt bad.”
Some Housewives, meanwhile, take on bigger targets in their books. In her memoir, Bad Mormon, Heather Gay detailed her time in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I really felt like it was important if I was going to break the legacy of generations before me,” the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the book’s February 2023 release. “I wanted to make sure that I told it with my voice, with my experience from my perspective, so that my daughters would understand, the generations that come after me will understand and that I left no stone unturned. And it felt like the only way to do that was with a book.”
Keep scrolling for a complete guide to every Real Housewife who’s written a book: