Jenna Lyons attends the Season 14 premiere of ‘The Real Housewives of New York City’.Photo:Michael Loccisano/Getty
Michael Loccisano/Getty
Jenna Lyonsof theReal Housewives of New York Cityreboot has opened up about being publicly outed as a lesbian before she was officially ready to come out to the world.
Speaking to the co-hosts ofThe Viewlast Wednesday, the former head designer and president of fashion brand J. Crew talked about being outed in 2011 while in the midst of her divorce from her then-husband,artist Vincent Mazeau, thanks to a story that ran in theNew York Post.
“I was so overwhelmed with everything that was happening in my life that I just said yes,” she recalled of being asked to confirm her sexuality.
While Lyons, 55, is the first openly gay New York Housewife, she’s expressed that the experience of being publicly outed was traumatic for her at the time because she had yet to come out to her friends and family.
“It was so hard and I think, you know, I hadn’t really been in the public eye that much, it was all still new for me, and I didn’t expect anyone to care what I was doing in my personal life and all of a sudden everyone cared,” she told the hosts ofThe View.
“And it was shocking to me. I was also not sure what the hell I was doing. It was all so new. I mean, I wasn’t [officially out] in any way, but I remember … the Post was calling our PR team, and they said, ‘Listen, can you get on the phone, we’re going to run this story, would you like to confirm or deny?’ ”
“I just said, ‘Confirm,’ and it was like an out-of-body experience.”
However, the mother-of-one has since embraced her sexuality and is now proud to be a role model to younger people within theLGBTQ community.
“[Representation] is deeply important for a number of reasons,” Lyons affirmed. “One of the things that I experienced when I was at J. Crew was I had a lot of young kids coming to me and their parents thought that they weren’t going to be successful. They were like, ‘My mom is so relieved to see someone successful who’s openly gay.’ And for some reason they thought that it was going to limit them, or they wouldn’t be happy, they couldn’t find success in career or happiness in love, and those things just aren’t true.”
Cindy Ord/Bravo via Getty
“And I think having someone you can look up to and be like, listen this person is surviving in the world, they’re doing fine, I’m thriving — and I think that gives a lot of parents who are scared a little bit more confidence,” she continued.
“It’s a whole new generation but it’s the parents who are nervous and I understand, like, you want the best for your kids, you want them to have everything, and you don’t want them to have any limitations, and [being gay] can be seen as a limitation, for why I don’t know — the sex is amazing!”
When Lyons was first outed in 2011, she was in a relationship with a woman named Courtney Crangi at the time. While the two split in 2017, Lyons confirmed she is now seeing photographer Cass Bird.
The Real Housewives of New York Cityairs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
source: people.com
