In the eight years since Carole’s six-season run on RHONY ended in 2018, she said that a comeback wasn’t even on her radar. That was until Andy Cohen himself approached her after November 2025’s BravoCon with a cryptic message about them needing to talk. “For some reason, I had it in my head. I’m like, he’s going to ask me to be on [the show],” Carole recalled.
Though Carole’s single relationship status was one factor that led her to question that gut instinct, she turned out to be correct. Still, she went into the meeting planning to politely decline any potential RHONY return offer. After hearing Andy’s in-person pitch over coffee, “literally, I had a brain freeze,” she said. “I was like, ‘What? Like, I didn’t even think it could be a thing.’ To be honest, it was like 50-50, when I left the room. I really wasn’t sure.”
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What ultimately tipped the scales, according to Carole, were the fans. In particular, she recalled a “touching” interaction in a hospital’s ICU with a woman who told her just seeing her had brightened an otherwise terrible day. Despite not being a hugger, Carole embraced the “emotional” woman.
“Just something about that moment, not to be super corny or basic, but there was magic in it,” she added. “And I just thought, you know, people love that show. It’s these micro transactions that happen every day that really, over the long haul, change your life. You’re gonna bring them joy. It was one of the turning points.”
How Carole Radziwill is connected to the RHONY Season 16 cast
Needless to say, Carole signed on for RHONY Season 16 with a cast of women she’d never filmed with before. Even so, she already knew Erin and husband Abe Lichy, who live three blocks away from her in Manhattan and she’d randomly met at a Mexican restaurant, not realizing she was a Housewife. Carole also shares mutual friends with newcomers Erika and Daisy, and she’d met Sai at a beauty industry dinner. In fact, the only woman she “didn’t know at all” was Hailey.
Carole’s first day of filming was at an all-cast lunch, and she remembered feeling almost as if no time had passed at all. “I had such déjà vu,” she described. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, here I am, in the middle of six women, all talking my ear off and arguing.’ And I was right back into it.”
Despite her quick reacclimation, Carole was still working through some nerves, as the Season 16 premiere quickly approached. “I feel the pressure,” she confessed. “It feels different this time. It’s much more intensified. But I’m so grateful, because there’s so much love in the Bravosphere.”
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Erin, meanwhile, recalled her “great” experience welcoming her friend Carole back into the RHONY fold, as did Jessel and Sai.
“I read a lot on the internet that we would be like oil and water, so I was a little bit nervous,” Jessel admitted. “But she’s really fun. I absolutely adore her. I really enjoy spending time with her. She has a lot of interesting insights. She’s good listener. I think she has good advice.”
Sai, for her part, added, “I love Carole for the simple fact that we’re from a different generation. She’s learning things about us that didn’t happen when she was on RHONY. More to come with our personal story, but Carole is very interesting and really funny. But she does say, ‘In my generation…’ a lot. A lot.“
Erin Lichy, Jessel Taank, and Sai De Silva tease friendship drama ahead on RHONY
As returning cast members, Erin, Jessel, and Sai came into their latest round of filming with an established history of ups and downs in their friendships. With two seasons already under their belts, Sai noted that the trio now has a much “closer bond” than they did when they were just getting to know each other.
“Now it’s like a whole different ballgame, and it feels better,” Sai said. “We understand the assignment now. We get it. But we’re great. We fight with a conflict resolution vibe, and it’s like a sisterhood. I love them both very much.”
Erin, on the other hand, revealed that all was “not exactly” good between her, Sai, and Jessel, early into filming Season 16. “I’m a little surprised by a certain, I’m not gonna say person, but…” she teased. “Since the cameras were off, things have changed and happened behind the scenes.”
Jessel’s friendship updates, meanwhile, fell somewhere in the middle. “Sai and I are very close and in a really good place, which is something that happened gradually last summer,” she shared. “Erin and I have always had a little bit of tension. Our friendship has always been a little bit up and down. Right now, we’re sort of in a down phase, but nothing that a conversation can’t [fix].”
She further previewed that viewers can expect to learn more details on RHONY. “Oh, you’ll see it all,” Jessel hinted. “It happened very early on in the season. Because so many things have happened to me, I kind of changed the way I found situations. Before, I would maybe shy away and kind of let it slip, but I’m not that person anymore. I’ve confronted everything in every way, and it’s causing ruffles because I think that we’re not used to seeing that.”
The RHONY vets share their impressions of the new cast members
Even before Carole signed on for Season 16, a longtime friend reached out and asked if she could give Daisy advice on what to expect as a new Housewife. Carole agreed, but by the time the two connected via text message, she had already decided to join the cast herself and suggested they meet on camera, instead. “I love Daisy,” Carole gushed.
Jessel named Erika as the newbie whom she’s closest to. “We met at a dinner a couple of years ago, actually,” she said. “I was sitting next to Martha Stewart, and she just kind of walks in and tells her husband, ‘I know you don’t like this outfit, but I’m wearing this outfit.’ I was like, ‘I love her.’ She’s really fun, funny, self-deprecating, doesn’t really care about what people think of her, and I just love that energy. She’s very carefree.”
Jessel and Daisy also became fast friends. “I immediately knew I would like Daisy because she’s a makeup artist, and I’m all about aesthetic,” Jessel explained. “It’s rare that I, being British with my dry humor, find someone else to be very funny, and she’s so hilarious. I have a really good time with her. We banter and bicker, but it’s never too serious. She’s doing great.”
Sai was already close to Daisy, whom she’d befriended more than 20 years ago while working at Upper East Side strip club, Scores, where she was a bartender and the latter was a waitress. “Because our friendship is so long, it’s very easy,” Sai elaborated.
As for Erika, Sai continued, “I think she is so sweet. I’m like, ‘Come on. I gotta ruffle your feathers just a bit.’ All of us, our synergy is great. We gel together very nicely.”
Erin similarly remarked that the new ladies “fit in really well” with the rest of the cast. “Daisy and I are still friends. I feel like I know Hailey. It’s a good group.”
Meet the RHONY Season 16 newbies
Daisy Toye
- Job: Makeup artist who has worked with Martha Stewart for 17 years
- Relationship status and family details: Married to husband Eugene Toye for 10 years with one son, Quentin, 8
- How Daisy would describe herself in three words: “Fun, curious, and bossy.”
- Daisy’s connections to the group: “Sai and I have been friends for 20, 25 years. Martha’s friends with Erika’s husband. I was actually supposed to go to Erika’s wedding in Egypt with Martha.”
- How Daisy would tease RHONY Season 16: “There’s definitely a lot of laughing, a lot of self-deprecation, and a lot of bossiness.”
Erika Hammond
- Job: Fitness entrepreneur and founder of PS Active
- Hometown: Waco, Texas; has lived in NYC for 10 years
- Relationship status and family details: Married to husband Ankur Jain for two years. “We don’t have any kids yet, but as you’ll see on the show, we’re working on it.”
- Erika’s connections to the group: “Jessel and I have been friends for two-and-a-half years, and we originally met through my husband. I’m very close with her. She’s like a big sister to me. Daisy and I know each other from Martha. Carole and I have known each other for maybe half a year now. We met through mutual friends.”
- How Erika has adjusted to cameras and documenting her life: “I thought it would be easier. It’s a lot of work. After the cast trip, I was like, ‘I need like three days to decompress. No one talk to me. I just want to rot.’ It’s fun, but it’s a lot. It’s definitely a job. You don’t realize how tough it is until you’re in it.”
Hailey Glassman
- Job: Public relations professional. “I fell into PR by being in the tabloids at a young age. I needed crisis management, so I got into PR to help people who couldn’t defend themselves and didn’t have a voice.”
- Relationship status and family details: Married, but her husband does not appear on RHONY. “I’m in a lavender marriage. We’ve known each other since he was 12 years old. We were neighbors in Martha’s Vineyard, and we met at sailing camp.”
- How Hailey would describe herself in three words: “Authentic, resilient, and compassionate.”
- Hailey’s connections to the group: “I came in knowing no one, like a lone wolf. But then I got to know the women. I formed a really nice relationship with many of them.”
- Who Hailey clashed with the most: “You’re going to have to tune in, but it’s probably not who you’d expect. I have a more colorful personal life and personality than the rest of the group.”
