The Drama Between Real Housewives Of New York's Erin And Brynn, Explained
Many viewers panicked when Bravo announced that they would be rebooting "The Real Housewives of New York City," effectively firing their long-time cast. After years of stale shenanigans featuring Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan, Luann de Lesseps, and more, a change desperately needed to be made — "RHONY" season 13 was so problematic that it didn't even get a reunion show, which is a first in the Housewives world.
After months of anticipation, the fresh cast made their debut in July 2023, and the diversity and real representation of New York were hugely appreciated. However, despite all of the new bells and whistles, at the core of the series, is and always will be the drama among the cast. The new lineup is filled with incredibly dynamic and successful women, and everyone has had a moment to shine on their own. However, two of the standouts were undoubtedly Eric Lichy and Brynn Whitfield.
Erin has a Bethenny Frankel narrator of the series type vibe, and Brynn has shown flashes of being the messy one of the group. However, one thing that sets them apart is their existing friendship. They were close before the series began, but it didn't take long for drama to erupt between them. Whether true or false, Brynn wasted no time stirring up trouble in Erin's life. In fact, Brynn took a platter of cheese and created an entire scandal from it.
Cheese Gate was just the beginning of Erin and Brynn's drama
One of the best parts about the "RHONY" reboot has been the light, refreshing drama between the women. A lot of the Housewives franchises have resorted to dark storylines such as "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" with Jen Shah's arrest and subsequent prison sentence. Viewers look to the Housewives for petty drama and aspirational figures. Thankfully, the women of the new "RHONY" have already delivered on that in their short tenure on the air.
In the first episode of the series, tension began between Brynn Whitfield and Erin Lichy over a cheese spread provided by Erin. Brynn repeated an alleged comment by Erin to Sai De Silva, claiming Erin didn't like what Sai said to her. According to Brynn, Erin told her that Sai looked at the food provided to her and said, "Cheese? That's weird." Sai vehemently denied ever saying that, and it created dissension between Brynn and Erin.
Erin discussed the drama with Us Weekly, saying, "Like, all I did was serve a cheese platter. Anything that you do with this group is like, this wasn't done right. And that was like, so then do it yourself." The trust was broken, but they seemingly moved on. Unfortunately for Brynn, she committed a different betrayal that hurt Erin. Erin wanted to spend time with the whole group, but Brynn (and Sai) couldn't catch themselves in the location she chose.
Brynn took issue with Erin forgiving Jenna so quickly
Erin Lichy wanted to get the entire group together for dinner, but Brynn Whitfield and Sai De Silva skipped out, claiming they couldn't attend. However, Erin eventually learned that they still went out, but they didn't want to be caught in public at the restaurant of her choosing. For them, the place stopped being trendy over a decade ago, so it wasn't their scene. Erin took offense to this because, to her, it didn't matter where they went as long as they were together.
At Jenna Lyons' home, it appeared as if Erin Lichy and Brynn Whitfield had hashed out their problems, but the third episode changed things again. After arriving at the cast trip to Erin's home late due to illness, Brynn was aghast to learn that Jenna had left early the night before. When it came to Brynn and the dinner drama, Erin came down quite hard on her, but she was quick to forgive and move on with Jenna.
In the episode, Brynn pointed this out, noting, "I got my ass chewed out for choosing a place over people. I was told that I'm not being a good friend, so that is the law of the land. It's gotta apply to everybody." Brynn brought it up at lunch, making it clear how the rules of the group should apply to everyone. She told Erin, "You're more offended by someone not going to one dinner reservation than about someone leaving your house."
Brynn crossed a line with Erin's husband
Despite all of the insignificant and petty drama between Brynn Whitfield and Erin Lichy in the early days of "The Real Housewives of New York City" Season 14, there was worse to come. According to Erin, the married man that Brynn was seen flirting with in the trailer was actually her husband. Erin revealed that, at her anniversary party, Brynn made inappropriate comments to Erin's husband about him potentially getting divorced and reminded him that she was single.
Erin commented to Us Weekly about the clip, telling them, "Thinking back on it and the behavior, it's just not something I would ever do. I don't think that ... it was the time or place or the behavior that I find to be quite frankly, normal behavior." Brynn's comments toward Erin's husband might have been the straw that broke the friendship beyond repair because of the lines it appeared to cross.
Erin also remarked on the journey of their friendship and alluded to a looming breaking point. She said, "There are things about [Brynn's] personality that I really love and gravitate towards, but when she gets to a place that I feel becomes ... too serious or like, icky, that's when I'm just like, 'OK.' I kind of put my hands up."