Jessel Taank is confident she can squash her beef with Real Housewives of New York City costar Carole Radziwill at the upcoming season 16 reunion.
“We have probably a lot to talk about at [the] reunion, but [Carole is] not someone that is going to hold a grudge, I don’t think,” Jessel, 47, exclusively tells Us.
It’s certainly safe to say that Jessel got off to a rough start with Carole, 63, when the What Remains author returned to RHONY earlier this season after an eight-year hiatus.
Carole was reintroduced to the RHONY friend group at a raucous brunch and was quickly caught off guard with Jessel’s litany of questions about the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy. (Carole was married to John F. Kennedy Jr.‘s cousin Anthony Radziwill, who died from cancer mere weeks after JFK Jr., wife Carolyn and her sister Lauren Bessette were killed in a July 1999 private plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.)
Jessel Taank; Carole Radziwill Getty Images (2); Dimitrios Kambouris; Cindy Ord
As costar Daisy Toye danced around asking Carole for her thoughts about the dramatization of JFK Jr. and Carolyn’s lives on the FX series Love Story, Jessel interrupted with a completely unexpected question.
“Just ask the question: Was [Carolyn] a bitch?” Jessel shockingly asked Carole.
Carole seemed befuddled by her new friend’s outburst but explained that Carolyn was “a girl’s girl, like, before there was a thing called girl’s girls.” The two tried to clear the air a few episodes later, with Carole suggesting that Jessel’s question made her look like “a dingbat.”
“I feel like I have a little resentment, and I don’t want the resentment to grow into something else,” Carole admitted.
Those awkward early run-ins only intensified when Jessel repeatedly mistakenly referred to Carole as “Carolyn,” likely guaranteeing that their beef will be a major talking point at the RHONY reunion.
“I think [Carole is] someone that’s very rational, actually, and she’s very grounded,” Jessel tells Us. “As much as, you know, we didn’t see eye to eye at the beginning, I do feel like she’s someone that kind of, if you apologize to her or admit to wrong, she listens and kind of absorbs that, gives feedback.”
Jessel points out that she and Carole have often managed to coexist off camera regardless of whatever disagreements they may have.
Carole Radziwill‘s return to The Real Housewives of New York City took the reality TV world by surprise — but it was never part of her master plan. “I’m not sure I’d say [this was] ‘the right time,’ or even simply ‘the time,’” Carole, 63, exclusively reveals in Us‘ Reality Stars of the Year issue, […]
“I was with Carole all weekend at [Bravo] Fan Fest [in Charleston],” she notes. “I know the optics look that way, but we all really respect and care for each other. And I do feel like we are a cast, and the show obviously airing does create, you know, certain emotions that does then sort of lean into a little bit of a divide. But hopefully, you know, that it ebbs and flows as the season goes.”
Prior to their awkward introduction, the prospect of Carole putting her past estrangement with Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen aside and coming back to RHONY was genuinely exciting for Jessel.
“I think that obviously Carole being back is so iconic, and I knew as we were filming that this was going to be a standout season,” she tells Us. “I wanted to prove people wrong because I think for the past two seasons it has been such an uphill struggle, and you know, we’ve been battling against, like, the old RHONY and the idea of what that was. And I think that we are creating our own history now, which is so exciting to see people really embrace that finally.”
Us put Jessel’s knowledge of her new RHONY castmate to the test, challenging her to name some famous Carols, Caroles, Carolines and Carolyns from pop culture.
“Who f*** is that?” Jessel incredulously asked while struggling to identify classic horror villain Carrie White as played by Sissy Spacek in 1978’s Carrie.
Jessel also failed to match a face to the name with Dancing With the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, late Broadway icon Carol Channing and even comedy legend Carol Burnett.
Thankfully, she was able to successfully pick out her RHONY costar, even calling her “the iconic Miss Carole Radziwill.” A hopeful sign that there may be a peaceful resolution at the RHONY season 16 reunion, perhaps?
Season 16 of The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.
