Alex McCord is officially back in the Bravo universe, and she’s opening up about unfinished business, healing old wounds, and why her long-lost Ultimate Girls Trip experience meant more than fans ever realized.
The former Real Housewives of New York City star joined Andy Cohen and John Hill on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live to promote her return on Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: Roaring 20th, and the conversation quickly turned emotional as Andy brought up the Morocco installment of Ultimate Girls Trip — the one that famously never aired.
Andy admitted one of his biggest disappointments about the shelved season was that fans never got to see Alex shine in that setting.
“One of the reasons I’m so glad you’re back here shooting this is you were so good on the Ultimate Girls Trip Morocco, which hasn’t seen the light of day,” Andy told her. “One of the reasons that I’m disappointed in that is that you’re so great for a whole lot of reasons on that show.”
Alex revealed that going into that trip, she was nervous — but it ended up being a turning point for her emotionally.
“That was a great experience,” Alex shared. “I remember being really sort of freaked out about it and like, ‘What’s this going to be like?’ And, you know, how sometimes you just have to take a flying leap off a cliff? I thought, ‘All right, I’m doing this.’ And it was great.”
She explained that the trip played a role in helping her process some of the negativity she experienced earlier in her Housewives journey.
“It was probably part of the whole healing of what the negative stuff was at the beginning,” she said. “I’m like, ‘This is actually a lot of fun.’”
Andy added that before filming, he tried to encourage Alex to simply relax and enjoy the experience.
“I remember emailing you. I go, ‘All you have to do is go on vacation and have fun. Like take the trust fall,’” he recalled.
The conversation then shifted to Alex’s unique place in Housewives history — including how she was ahead of her time with rewatch content and calling out production long before it became the norm.
Andy pointed out that Alex was one of the first Housewives to leave her show and then start publicly rewatching and analyzing episodes — something that’s now standard across podcasts and social media.
“You were the precursor to every podcast that’s out now,” Andy said. “You were kind of sometimes calling bullshit on production, which we didn’t love, but it’s done all the time now.”
Andy also reflected on the emotional aftermath of Alex and her husband Simon van Kempen leaving RHONY — and how Simon, in particular, took a lot of heat from viewers.
“There was a lot of emotion, I think, from Simon when he left the show and from all of us,” Andy said. “I think he felt a little burned by it.”
Alex confirmed that Simon struggled with the backlash and that she fully supported his feelings at the time.
“He got a lot of hate on the show,” she explained. “So I get it, and I fully supported his feelings.”
She also shared a small but telling update that longtime fans will appreciate.
“By the way,” Alex added, smiling, “he says ‘Hi.’ Tell them I said ‘Hello.’”
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