Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon, Cindy Barshop & Alex McCord Axed From 'Real Housewives of New York City'?
Bravo's 'Real Housewives' franchise always manages to make headlines, even when the drama is unfolding off-camera.HuffPost Celebrity's Rob Shuter is reporting that Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon and Alex McCord were all let go from 'The Real Housewives of New York City' on Thursday, and that three new ladies will be added to the cast for its new season. Us Weekly claims Cindy Barshop is also off the show.
The 'Housewives' housecleaning leaves Ramona Singer and former Countess LuAnn de Lesseps as the only original cast members remaining. Sonja Morgan will also be staying with the show. No word yet on last season's new addition Cindy Barshop, although it's been widely reported that she will also not be returning.
Bravo has yet to release an official statement about the casting shake-ups, and it's unclear why these three ladies in particular were let go. It's possible that as original cast members, their salary demands were getting too high for Bravo's liking. As we saw this past season, all the women seemed very concerned with their own fame, personal branded products and endorsement deals.
Another possible cause is that the network, like many viewers, was getting tired of Jill's bossiness, Alex's constant need to start fights and one-up her fellow 'Housewives' and Kelly's increasingly erratic behavior.
There were also rumors that Jill was looking to do her own spinoff, a la ex-BFF Bethenny Frankel, including a possible 'Real Housewives of London' offshoot.
Either way, rumor has it that Bravo is trying to keep the ladies on the line, just in case their new crop of 'Housewives' hopefuls don't pan out.
What do you think of this news? Will you watch 'RHONY' without Jill, Kelly and Alex?

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