THE FASHION DISH

Carole Razwill isn’t your typical housewife, in fact she isn’t one. However, this season she was one of three new women to join the cast of the hit Bravo show, the Real Housewives of New York. With her downtown vibe and love for public transportation she sticks out from the pack. Carole  first became well known when her memoir about her husband’s battle with cancer, “What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love” became a New York Times Bestseller in 2005. Prior to that she worked as a journalist at ABC. Her second book, a novel, titled “The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating,”will be out later this summer. Carole also interviews celebrities for such magazines, as Glamour. You can see her on RHONY Monday’s at 9:00pm. Carole dish’s with us on her relationships with the other women, the success of her book, and more.

HS: What three adjectives describe you?

CR: Lively. Resiliant. Inexplicable.

HS: You wrote an incredibly touching memoir about your husband’s struggle with and death from cancer. It became a New York Times Bestseller. Did you ever imagine your would write a memoir and that it would become such a success?

CR: No, never! I didn’t keep a journal because I was too afraid someone would find it and read it. Ironically, I am a quiet private person.

HS: Was the experience of writing the memoir a cathartic one?

CR: With great difficulty comes great reward. There were highs and lows throughout the process, but it gave me a measure of peace. When I wrote that story down, I finally allowed myself to live again.

HS: What’s your advice for someone going through the same situation as you did?

CR: Grief is a very personal thing. I don’t think any two people get through it the same way. You don’t know how long it will hurt or when it will get easier. It does, but you have to give in to it first. Your life changes completely with an unexpected tragedy. The best advice someone gave me was to embrace it.

HS: You also write for several magazines like, Glamour. What’s your favorite part about doing celebrity interviews? 

CR: I love talking to people who are extraordinary at what they do – whether it’s acting, music, playing a sport, writing. So many times we focus on images, or the “celebrity” piece and forget how talented these people are and the discipline it took to get them where they are today.

HS: This was your first season on the Real Housewives Of New York. Did you enjoy the experience of reality television? 

CR: I did. Without over-intellectualizing reality shows, for me it was like an anthropological experiment in social behavior. A sort of Heisenberg theory meets Stockholm syndrome. The presence of cameras changes what you are seeing, and after awhile you start identifying with the other women some of whom act quite odd. All in all, I don’t mind putting myself in strange situations and this was one very strange one.

HS: Would you do a second season? 

CR: That’s like asking a woman mid-birth if she wants another child. Let’s see how this all works out.

HS: Did you get along with the other ladies on RHONY?

CR: No couldn’t stand the whole lot of them. Real bores. No, it’s like dating – some I had instant chemistry with, others the more I got to know them the more I liked them, and then some the more I knew the less I liked.

HS: What’s your favorite part about living in New York City?

CR: I love everything about NY. I love its elegance and its naughtiness. I love the sidewalks and the cobblestone streets. I love the sound of the buses from my window. I love the parks and the river; the cafes and the theater. Most of all, I love the strangers I pass each day who make up a big part of my life in the city.

HS: What are you looking forward to this summer? 

CR: Starting my next book. I just finished my first novel, The Widow’s Guide to Sex and Dating. It will be out late summer. And now I’ve got a couple of drafts I’m playing with for my next one. Finishing a book is agonizing, starting one is the creative and fun part.

HS: What does the future hold for you?

CR: I’m not sure. I’ve been so lucky and have had amazing careers in both writing and journalism, met so many fascinating people, traveled to incredible places all over the world. Maybe next I’ll settle down get married and be a real housewife. That sounds kind of exotic to me now.