New Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Amanda Frances is making it clear that she truly walked into Bravo life blind — and that includes not even realizing who Jennifer Tilly was before joining the cast.
In a new interview with Decider, Amanda opened up about feeling blindsided by how difficult her first season has been and admitted she had very little knowledge of the show or its cast before cameras started rolling.
“I don’t know, because I’ve never watched the show,” Amanda admitted. “I’ve seen a total of two episodes before my season. I had seen one episode when we started filming for the summer, when we all got together, so I didn’t know what to expect.”
The newbie explained that she went into the group expecting things to be easy — and was shocked by how icy the reception felt.
“I went in thinking, ‘OK, I like making friends. I’m a big fan of empowering women. That’s what I’m all about,’” she said. “If I just show up and I get to know each person, this is going to be easy. I’m going to naturally make friends with whoever I’m going to naturally make friends with.”
Instead, Amanda now admits she may have been “slightly naive” about what joining RHOBH would really be like.
“I didn’t think it was going to be hard or a challenge,” she added. “I was maybe slightly naive in that way.”
But one of the most eyebrow-raising moments from the interview came when Amanda confirmed she had no idea who Jennifer Tilly was before joining the show — something fans immediately clocked.
When asked directly if she knew who Jennifer was before filming, Amanda didn’t sugarcoat it.
“No,” she said. “And I said that to Jennifer, and Jennifer wasn’t fazed by it.”
Amanda explained that she only vaguely knew Jennifer was an actress — and didn’t connect her current look to her decades-long film career.
“I said it to Jennifer at a party that you guys won’t see for a while now,” Amanda shared. “But Jennifer and I were in the buffet line and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. Me and Eddie watched Liar Liar the other day. That was you. I’ve seen you in a million movies.’”
She added that Sutton Stracke had given her some background before inviting her to Jennifer’s home.
“When Sutton invited me to Jennifer’s house, she told me she was the voice of the Bride of Chucky or something, so I knew she was an actress in some form,” Amanda said. “She said she had been nominated for awards, but I had no idea who she was.”
According to Amanda, the moment wasn’t awkward — and Jennifer took it in stride.
“Jennifer and I were texting for like an hour yesterday,” Amanda revealed. “She’s one of my favorite people, but I just didn’t place her.”
“She’s had this long career. So we’ve seen her evolve,” Amanda continued. “Now that I know her look now and her look in all these eras of her career, I can point her out, but I just didn’t know it was the same person.”
And despite what fans might assume, Amanda insists Jennifer wasn’t offended at all.
“Jennifer was not offended by that,” she said. “She was like, ‘Oh, yeah. I loved doing Liar Liar.’ She was so chill.”
Still, with Erika Jayne and others already questioning Amanda’s place in the group, her confession that she barely knew the franchise — or its iconic cast members — is only adding fuel to the fire about whether she truly fits in with the Beverly Hills crowd.
14 comments
KyleEvolution hired her for one reason and one reason only ... to torture the other woman. Sutton is her first casualty, and I'm down with it. Rachel is a good addition as well; ridiculously over-the-top, but fun. Seeing her trapsing thru the Sedona desert in but 5 inch stilettos and gold lame' was hilarious.