The Real Housewives is an American media franchise that consists of several reality television series broadcast on the Bravo cable network. Each series follows an affluent group of women as they socialize and cope with life's struggles. The franchise originated with The Real Housewives of Orange County in 2006, and expanded into New York City, Atlanta, New Jersey, D.C., Beverly Hills, Miami, Potomac, Dallas and Salt Lake City. , a total of 117 housewives have been featured on the American installments, several of whom have received spin-offs from their respective series. Cast members that have starred on every season of their respective series include Ramona Singer from New York City; Teresa Giudice from New Jersey; Kyle Richards from Beverly Hills; Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Robyn Dixon, and Karen Huger from Potomac; and Stephanie Hollman and Brandi Redmond from Dallas. Original cast members that have starred on the current or most recently aired season of their respective series after at least one season of absence or reduced capacity include Luann de Lesseps from New York City and NeNe Leakes from Atlanta. Vicki Gunvalson from The Real Housewives of Orange County has starred in more seasons of her respective series than any other housewife has starred in their own. The domestic franchise has inspired many multiple series across the world as international installments. The first of the international installment was The Real Housewives of Athens which premiered in 2011. Since the premiere of the series focused in Athens it has gown to include multiple series in different cities around the world that include; Vancouver in 2012; Los Angeles in 2013; Melbourne in 2014; Cheshire in 2015; Auckland in 2016; Sydney, Toronto and Hungary in 2017; South Africa in 2018. Since the premiere of the international series, the shows based in Athens and Vancouver as well as Les Vrais Housewives have ended., a total of 86 housewives have been featured across the international installments.
American installments
Several installments have featured cast members in a recurring capacity, referred to as "friends of the housewives." The first recurring cast member in the franchise was Jennifer Gilbert, introduced during the third season of The Real Housewives of New York City. Some cast members only ever appear on the series as friends; occasionally, friends are promoted to full-time cast members, and full-time cast members are reduced to friends. Housewives who have been featured as friends either before or after being a full-time cast member include Vicki Gunvalson, Jeana Keough, Lauri Peterson and Lizzie Rovsek from Orange County; Luann de Lesseps from New York City; Porsha Williams, Shereé Whitfield, Kim Zolciak-Biermann and Eva Marcille from Atlanta; Kathy Wakile and Danielle Staub from New Jersey; Brandi Glanville and Camille Grammar from Beverly Hills; Alexia Echevarria, Marysol Patton and Ana Quincoces from Miami; Charisse Jackson-Jordan and Katie Rost from Potomac and Cary Deuber from Dallas. Other women who have appeared in a recurring capacity across the franchise are listed below.
