Here's How Lisa Vanderpump Went From Restaurateur to Reality TV Tour de Force

The L.A. Real Housewives star is also a brand builder

Lisa Vanderpump isn’t what you’d call a typical housewife. More obvious descriptors would include businesswoman, style icon, activist and, of course, reality TV tour de force. But thanks to Bravo, it’s the title of housewife—or rather, Housewife—that’s made Vanderpump a brand name and national celebrity.

A decade has passed since America was introduced to the Housewife, capital “H.” Unlike the lowercase version, the Housewife wasn’t your average, stay-at-home mom—or even necessarily a wife—but a wealthy, sometimes nipped-and-tucked and often outburst-prone woman of a certain age who had agreed to let cameras invade her daily life.

Photo: Robert Ascroft

Since the March 2006 debut of the first installment, The Real Housewives of Orange County, there have been no fewer than 96 Housewives across nine cities.

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