Entertainment

The Real Housewives Have Some Famous Relatives

by Marenah Dobin

The women from Real Housewives are all about living that rich and fabulous lifestyle, and a big part of that is talking about their celebrity connections. A lot of the ladies have celebrity friends, which is pretty cool, but there are also plenty of women on Real Housewives who have famous relatives. Some of these connections you've heard about a million times, like Kyle and Kim Richards talking about niece Paris Hilton whenever possible during the first season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills; some of the relations are clear (I mean, having the same last name kind of dulls the shock); and then there are others that are definitely less obvious. Even if you're a loyal viewer there are probably a bunch of famous relatives of Housewives who you don't know about.

Fans are used to the stars of Real Housewives bragging about anything related to celebrity, so it's pretty surprising that not all of this information has come to the surface already. But I guess you gotta keep the people wanting more sometimes, so I'm prepared to give you just that. Get ready for fun fact central. How many of these Real Housewives relatives were you aware of already?

The Hilton Family

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This is an obvious one, but it also can't be ignored. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Kim and Kyle Richards are the half-sisters of Kathy Hilton, which means they are the aunts of Paris and Nicky Hilton. Viewers have seen these famous relatives in some cameo appearances and they have been referenced in plenty of episodes.

The Kennedy Family

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This one might be a little tough to follow, but stick with me. Real Housewives of New York City star Carole Radziwill's late husband Anthony Radziwill is the son of Lee Radziwill, who is the younger sister of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. This means that John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy were cousins, which I guess makes Carole their cousin-in-law? I'm not totally sure on the title, but either way she was related to the Kennedy family though marriage, which is pretty cool.

Fran Drescher

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Now that you hear it, it might sound obvious, but Fran Drescher is related to former RHONY star Aviva Drescher. Aviva's husband Reid Drescher is Fran's cousin, which means that they are related through marriage. I wish Fran made some Real Housewives cameos, but now that's never going to happen since Aviva is no longer a cast member.

Dick Van Patten

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If you've been watching RHOBH this season, you have seen Eileen Davidson and her family dealing with the death of her father-in-law Dick Van Patten. The actor was the father of Eileen Davidson's husband Vince Van Patten and the two of them had a very close relationship.

Gilles Bensimon

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Gilles Bensimon is a famous fashion photographer and the ex-husband of former RHONY start Kelly Bensimon. Their relationship wasn't talked about a lot on the show and Kelly hasn't been a cast member for a long time, so despite their same last names, this one is pretty surprising.

Hosea Williams

Real Housewives of Atlanta's Porsha Williams has talked about her grandfather Hosea Williams, a famous Civil Rights activist, quite a few times on the show. I wonder what Hosea would have thought of Real Housewives if he was alive today. I have to assume he would have cringed when Porsha said that she thought the underground railroad was an actual railroad.

Jon Lindstrom

Soap opera legend Eileen Davidson used to be married to another well known soap star, Port Charles actor Jon Lindstrom. This actually came up on the current season of RHOBH when Eileen was asked about meeting her current husband while still married to Lindstrom, which has got to be a touchy and complicated subject.

Christopher Mayer

Eileen's other ex-husband is Dukes of Hazzard star Christopher Mayer. The union didn't last two long with the couple only staying married for a year in the '80s.

The Jenner Family

The word "related" is a bit of a stretch here, but it's still a pretty interesting connection. Yolanda Foster's soon-to-be ex-husband David Foster used to be married to Linda Thompson, who is the mother of Brody and Brandon Jenner with Caitlyn Jenner. So, in some convoluted way this means that Yolanda Foster is connected to the entire Kardashian-Jenner fam.

This basically could have been a piece titled "Six Degrees of Eileen Davidson," because it's weird to think how many famous people she is or was related to. Maybe some other celeb connections will come out now that two more Housewives series are getting started.