Season 10 of The Real Housewives of New York City just concluded earlier this month, but Andy Cohen and the RHONY ladies are already getting our hopes up about new drama for the future. At a Tribeca TV Festival panel on Sunday, they fielded a question about the possible return of Jill Zarin, and well, didn't exactly say no to it.
"Every time a Housewife leaves the show, I always say the Housewives is like the mob, you can never get out of the family," Cohen told the audience when asked if Zarin might return. "You will always be identified as a Real Housewife after [leaving]."
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Bravo fired Zarin in 2011 after season 4, when the Zarin Fabrics owner wrote a letter to some of her cast mates saying she wanted to leave the show on a high note. She said she immediately regretted the letter, but got the call from the network anyway. While in interviews she has often said she didn't know why she was fired, exactly, she also said she thought Bravo was choosing sides in her feud with Bethenny Frankel.
"It felt like my funeral," she said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2012. "I was heartbroken and I felt like [the network was] my parents and that when it was 'Bethenny [vs.] Jill,' you picked favorites."
Zarin made a brief guest appearance in season 9, before friend Luann de Lesseps' wedding. Then a much sadder occasion brought her back for season 10, when some current cast members, including Frankel, attended the funeral for Zarin's husband Bobby in January. In a moving, yet awkward, moment, the two former friends seemed to make peace.
"Regarding Jill, I was happy to see she and Bethenny have that moment last season, and as I said, I was happy it happened in front of the camera, actually, just as a fan of the show," Cohen said on Sunday. "Never say never. I think it would be cool."
Sonja Morgan, Dorinda Medley, and Tinsley Mortimer, the Housewives who were at the panel all seemed to agree it would be great to have Zarin back. Earlier this year, Zarin herself said she was open to the idea, especially in order to support De Lesseps.
"I would like to come back as a friend," she told E! News. “I couldn't do it for many years because of Bobby, and I was taking care of him. But now I have the time. And I think Luann needs me."
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