We can't deny it —our office has been a-buzz with talk about The Real Housewives of New York City ever since the release of Countess Luann's latest music video, "Chic, C'est La Vie". While we all know her as the reigning royal on the hit Bravo television show, we found ourselves wondering about the back-story surrounding the woman who thinks she defines class (literally, she wrote a book doing just that). We're still not sure if she's slyly hoodwinking us or if she really buys into all this, but either way the cookie ends up crumbling, she's winning. How can't you get behind a woman who thinks forty is the new twenty and decided to become a singer one day because, hey, she always liked to sing. She's definitely approaching Bethenny Frankel fame in a way Zarin's Spanx Skweez just ain't. How she makes as much bank as Beth, well that's a whole 'nother question, but we think checking these 10 facts you might not have known about the woman who's ruling the reality TV realm could yield some clues...
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1. Luann is never one to hide her Native American heritage (hello turquoise) but did you know her father is Algonquin and her mother is French Canadian? She grew up in Connecticut with six siblings.
2. In 1986, Luann was a geriatric nurse.
3. Luann was a Miss Connecticut contestant.
4. Luann first went to Europe as a model. Represented by Wilhelmina, she traveled to Milan where she ended up staying and becoming an Italian television personality, appearing on the show “Paperissima” (a show on bloopers, bleeps, and blunders) and co-hosting the soccer program, “Pressing.” She speaks fluent Italian as well as French and English. She recently revealed that Ford has offered her a modeling contract.
5. She was featured on the May 1990 cover of Playgirl magazine.
6. She met her husband, Count Alexandre de Lesseps, at a dinner party in Gstaad. Unfortunately, the marriage which the Countess described as a "fairytale" ended in what we think is safe to say the least classiest way possible: by email. Turns out the Count had run off with a much younger Ethiopian princess whom he met in Geneva. Luckily, divorce doesn't mean loss of royal status. Luann reportedly reportedly got a generous payout, in addition to keeping her title, the couples' $7.5 million house in the Hamptons, and sole custody of the kiddies.
7. When Kate Middleton and Prince William finally got engaged, the Countess did not waste anytime telling the world what she thought the Royal wedding should be like. She also gave Popeater seven tips for American women trying to snag a man with a title, one of which is this gem: "Europeans like American women because they have less baggage. Be carefree and easy going."
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8. Her daughter Victoria "withdrew" from her elite Hamptons boarding school, The Ross School, after pictures surfaced of her smoking and chugging vodka. There was also a questionable video of her rolling something that looked ever so slightly suspicious and using racial slurs. Nothing like a little ROHYNY drama.
9. Luann's son Noel has been keeping himself busy with his very own skateboard company. It's called FancyFool Skateboards and the 14-year-old came up with the idea after injuring his ankle and being unable to skate himself.
10. She recently traded in her signature brunette bob for long blonde locks for her music video, "Chic C'est La Vie." She stated on her twitter (which is chock full of brilliant Luann-isms) that everyone should get to live out a "fun fantasy."