If there is to be one takeaway from the men at Bravo’s Love Hotel, it’s that James really loves his life.
The Real Housewives of New York City’s Luann De Lesseps quickly became the object of James’s eye when the 62-year-old entrepreneur from Santa Monica, California, entered the Hotel for a chance at love. Engagement rumors have swirled since the Season 1 finale, after Luann checked out with James, despite her initial concerns about them having a long-distance romance.
Bravo’s The Daily Dish caught up with James following their happily-ever-after ending to get the scoop on where they are now. And, well, he said that at the time of the interviews things were still as “hot and heavy” as ever.
“I f–ing love her,” he said.
James and Luann’s relationship
There was something intriguing from the start between the Housewife and the father of four.
The twice-divorced bachelor came in on the second wave of men to arrive at the Love Hotel (Season 1, Episode 3) and briefly caught The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Shannon Storms Beador’s attention. However, outside their one-on-one dates, James and Luann quickly bonded over their aristocratic backgrounds.
His stepmother, James said, was the best friend of Hollywood starlet-turned-Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly, on par with the crowd Luann rubbed elbows with when she was a Countess living in Europe.
Astrology readings aside, Luann and James’s relationship didn’t go without its hitches. Mark’s return in Episode 5 was a wrench in the works, in addition to Luann growing annoyed when James got a little handsy with The Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Cynthia Bailey in Episode 6. Both events certainly raised questions about lasting love.
Some of the others also took issue with how quickly James declared his undying love for Luann.
“I love people, I love life, and I love this experience of being a human being in this world, in this body,” he said in the recent interview. “So, I do fall in love pretty quickly. I fell in love with Luann fast, in a couple of days, as a person, as a friend … I fell in love with Adam, too. I fell in love with Earl. I fell in love with a lot of these guys, like, this is who I am.”
James on falling in love with Luann
James spoke with Bravo’s The Daily Dish about transitioning from one kind of love to another.
“What happened with Luann and me is that I fell in love with her as a human being, and then I started to recognize some other feelings happening,” he said. “Not just like, ‘I love who you are as a human being, but I’m sort of, kind of falling in that other love thing, like, the romantic thing.’”
James said it wasn’t hard to do, as they shared a lot of laughter, conviviality, and creativity. Audiences need to look no further than their one-line musical hit, “At the Love Hotel,” in Season 1, Episode 5.
“You can start to realize it’s not just [that] I love this person; you could feel, like, ‘I’m falling in love with this person,’” James continued.
The couple seemed to get more serious after the “Money Can’t Buy You Class” singer invited James to her room in Season 1, Episode 5, and covered Bravo cameras to conceal what nighttime activities followed.
James shares details about his romance with Luann
In his interview with Bravo’s The Daily Dish, James revealed he was still “100 percent” in love with Luann and had just returned from celebrating her birthday in New York City. Fans will recall, Luann initially questioned a long-distance relationship since James spends most of his time in Maui.
“When I got to New York, we went and had lunch at this little Italian restaurant. It was great,” James reported. “Then we went up to her place for a while — not gonna talk about that — then we went to Central Park at night. We watched these candles being lit. We did this whole romantic thing. We got in one of those pedicabs, we went around, and then the next evening, we went to the Sex and the City show … so we did that.”
Beforehand, he said, he attended her birthday party where the restaurant turned down the music to play one of the cabaret singer’s songs.
“It was awesome,” James said. “She’s great.”
James, who admitted in Bravo’s Love Hotel that he wasn’t entirely familiar with the Real Housewives franchise, said he has enjoyed watching Luann in Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake since the season finale.
Read what Luann had to say about the massive diamond on her left ring finger when recently spotted in the Hamptons and the wild engagement rumors that followed.
