Six seasons in, and Lisa Hochstein is still adjusting to life on reality TV. The Real Housewives of Miami star is currently in the middle of some drama on the series, with a rift between her and Larsa Pippen taking center stage. Parade recently caught up with Hochstein, breaking down her perspective after all these years in the public eye, what sets this season apart from the others, and if there’s any way her and Pippen will be able to repair their once-close friendship.
When Hochstein joined RHOM back in 2012 during the series’ sophomore season, she didn’t fully understand what life in the public eye would look like. “It has great opportunities that arise from being on the show and it opens a lot of doors,” she explains. “[But] I never expected that I would get a divorce mid-filming on national TV. I really was blindsided with that.” Fans may remember, her divorce from Lenny Hochstein was central to the series in Season 5.
While tough to share on national television, her journey has inspired “countless” fans, she reveals to us, saying she gets messages from other women who have gone through divorce. “Divorce is a $50 billion industry,” she adds. “Divorces are at an all-time record high and they are very stressful.”
On this season of RHOM, Hoschstein is in a new era in her life, settling down with her boyfriend Jody Glidden, all while her friend group deals with major changes.
“This year, there are so many shifts in friendships,” she teases. “People never expected that Larsa and I would be not friends at all.” The rift between these two is certainly shocking, and by the middle of the season, does not seem to be letting up anytime soon.
As for Lisa’s perspective on the rift, she seems very clearheaded on the issue. “I think she is delusional,” she says. “She lies a lot. She will say anything to get a reaction, I don’t know. I think she really needs a storyline, and I think it’s terrible that she can say these things, because most of it is just not true.”
The divide between the two stems from Glidden’s friendship with Marcus Jordan, Larsa’s ex-boyfriend. While Pippen feels Glidden should not spend time with Jordan, Hochstein finds herself having to defend her boyfriend. “She’s coming after somebody I love, who is not a castmember, but it’s like she’s trying to make him a castmember,” she explains. “It’s like she’s obsessed with him. It’s just not fair to bring the men in, especially these wild, reckless accusations.”
“It’s very strange because some of the girls seem to have her back because she is working overtime behind the scenes with people who she didn’t even like, this season, because she needed a group of people to go against me,” she adds, saying that she’s never given Julia Lemigova “the time of day” before this season.
“Now Julia is up her butt, blindly taking her side on things that she has no idea about,” Hochstein says. “I think it’s very reckless to say things about people’s partners … it’s not nice, it’s not fair.”
This season also sees Hochstein dealing with the loss of her father. Despite the massive loss in her family, she still came under fire from her castmates, something she finds “incredible” and not in a good way. “Did people forget?” she asks. “What was the thought process behind that? Did people forget that I just buried my dad, because it sure seemed so. I would never in a million years treat a friend like that and pile up on them.”
As for other rifts in the cast, she says that plenty of changes came out of left field for her. “Adriana [de Moura] and Julia [Lemigova], that one was very disappointing. Then Julia and Guerdy [Abraira] … I didn’t see that coming, I thought they were good friends.”
She refers to this season as a “rollercoaster ride of emotions,” adding, “These are real friendships that are really going through it … these people are really friends, and there are a lot of feelings involved.” Only time will tell which friendships survive.
The Real Housewives of Miami airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
