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Mean Girl

Alex explains why she's tired of playing nice with co-star and "mean girl" Jill Zarin.

By Alex McCord

 

How to Watch

Watch The Real Housewives of New York City on Peacock and catch up on the Bravo app

Part three of the reunion is upon us, and I don’t think we necessarily got any clarity. What am I looking forward to? For the first weekend in two months we have time at home. Tomorrow night Simon and I are taking the kids to see the Brooklyn Cyclones play (minor league baseball) and can’t wait to spend Father’s Day as a family. No book signings! We’ll be back on the road again shortly, and if you are looking for a Father’s Day book – ours is half written by Simon and gives the Dad’s take on things. Shameless plug over; let’s recap the madness. Ahem, discussion. Actually, no, madness is a better description. Madness with hair extensions, designer shoes, makeup and a confused-looking Andy Cohen.

Kelly thinks we are aggressive and dangerous. I respectfully disagree, but can tell you what I DO think we are – fed up with Kelly calling us that. I have always tried to enjoy spending time with her, to engage her and get her to relax a little. Doesn’t work. She called us unpredictable, and I have to say that with all the contradictions she herself is very unpredictable. It’s one thing to change your mind about something. Everyone gets to change their minds now and then. When you "change your mind" in the same sentence, that gives everyone else whiplash and makes us not trust her.

On to Jill. First, very quickly about the Bethenny situation – it was appropriate of Jill to apologize to Bethenny and nice of Bethenny to allow a hug.

Next, Jill says I hate her, and that she can’t film with me in the future. She’s attempting to play chess with me and with Bravo here, which is typical – she’s done it with Bethenny and with Kelly in the past. There have been a few people recently who have asked me why Jill gets me so upset, and tonight we saw an example. Because Jill was angry with me, when the subject of nude photos and hypocrisy came up, she started shouting that I had “spread eagle pictures in the hallway of my husband’s hotel.” Number one, that is not true and she knows it. Number two, she chose her words specifically to cause trouble for Simon, because perhaps someone out there would wonder whether it was true and ask his business associates about it. For the record, my photos were personal ones, not meant for publication, that got out. Jill doesn’t care about who is or isn’t nude – she even has her own vault, as mentioned to Mark Malkin here. In case you don’t want to take the link – here’s her sendoff quote – “She added, 'A lot of people have hot videos of themselves that they don't want published. People who say they don't or wouldn't, I don't know if I believe them.'"

 

 

This is an example of the way Jill plays. Jill is a mean girl, not a stupid girl, and she knows exactly what she is doing. Every time she goes on the attack against me or anyone else, she says something that she hopes will damage her target’s life or career. It’s really, truly dirty. She attacked our book. She has attacked my husband. She attacked our children. I have never once said a word about her husband, their businesses or her daughter. Not once. Ever. Have I ever been condescending to her? No. I have not. Over three years I have always been the one to be dragged back against my will to make up with someone who is underhanded and downright cruel. She has said we were never friends, but I have tried, on camera, off camera, I have invited her to events, etc. Jill is seeing red because I’m no longer willing to be under her foot like some of the other women, to be silent while she freely leaks stories to the press. On the same day a few weeks ago, Jill wished me well on Facebook while also calling a reporter and screaming at him because he interviewed me without her permission. When I called her out over Amazongate in Boston and posting under the pseudonym Susan Saunders; she denied something she wasn’t accused of (being J. Samples) in order to confuse people. In this same blog post, she went after Bethenny again and please note that her post was written after tonight’s episode, complete with teary hug, was filmed. This is hypocritical, and standard Jill Zarin.

Want some examples? Let’s review. January 2010 – Simon told a reporter who asked that he didn’t know why Jill was at Sundance. Less than a week later, even before season three was on the air, a blind item by the same reporter said Simon and I were off the show. Is her name on this one? No, but the reporter who wrote both is a friend of hers. Previously, an article in New York Magazine contained a comment by Simon that Jill felt was unkind. Shortly thereafter, she attempted to crucify him professionally by making up a story that sounded believable enough to cause him trouble. As she said on season two with a snarl, "If you hit me, I’ll hit you back." If you throw a spitball at her, she aims an AK47 at your entire family and livelihood. I remember when we filmed the skating event with Johnny Weir in CT - Kate Gosselin’s bodyguard wouldn’t let Jill into the bathroom until Kate came out, making her wait. A seething Jill came back and whispered the story in my ear, finishing with "I’m gonna ruin her." Because she had to hold it for a few minutes? This is the same Jill that told me not to film with Kelly in season two. Yes, Bethenny said it too, but it came from Jill first. This is the same Jill that told me not to film with Bethenny in season three. This is the same Jill who successfully made Teresa from NJ think that Ramona was attacking her one day, when Jacqueline and I could both see Jill was stirring the pot. It’s unfair, it’s nasty and it’s typical.

In St. John, had Jill acknowledged my presence whatsoever, I would have tried to find a way to salvage the situation. She strode in and shouted "Surprise! Hey, Ramona! Surprise!" She walked over to my chair and stood with her back to me. She said I was "butting into her business" and I still don’t know how – by my existence that she didn’t acknowledge? At tonight’s reunion, she said leaving St. John was the worst thing that’s ever happened to her. Worse than cancer? Worse than losing a family member? Really? No. Not really. But typical.

I have no doubt whatsoever that Jill will try every trick in her playbook to get me fired – she would love nothing more than to crush me, Simon and the boys because that’s what she likes to do to people. She’s put down the gauntlet already. As I’ve shown this season, I won’t sit silently anymore, and I hope that her playing dirty doesn’t pay. Watch what happens. Follow me on Twitter and feel free to tweet Andy and Bravo your thoughts about all this. To keep up with what we’re doing in the off season, including appearances on Bethenny’s Getting Married? , add us on Facebook. Have a great summer!

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