Rebecca Minkoff Says She Didn’t Intend For Pregnancy Rumor To “Trick” ‘RHONY’ Fans: “It Wasn’t A Prank”

Rebecca Minkoff‘s debut season on The Real Housewives of New York City has officially come to an end — and the fashion designer, who has been busy promoting the paperback release of her memoir Fearless and her Super Bowl collaboration with sports journalist Erin Andrews, is reflecting on her first experience with reality television.

After joining the Bravo series as a “friend of” in Season 15, Minkoff clashed with Brynn Whitfield, who repeatedly criticized her successful brand in her confessionals.

“I felt like she was trying to create conflict and entertainment by getting a rise out of people,” Minkoff said of her co-star. “You think you’re going to get a rise out of me because you make fun of me? Like, come visit one of my three homes and then we can talk.”

Minkoff also addressed the criticism from fans about planting a false story in the friend group to test who would spread the gossip first. The rumor claiming she was pregnant with another man’s baby was presented in the Season 15 trailer, leading to backlash when it turned out to be a ploy.

“It was to find a liar. It was to find a pot stirrer … And then it backfired because the audience wasn’t brought along and they were tricked,” Minkoff explained. “But I think if it had been done that way, then no one would have been upset.”

Minkoff also discussed the Season 15 reunion, her feud with Lichy, and her upcoming business ventures in an interview with DECIDER. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: I’m so excited to talk to you again. The first time we spoke was right after the RHONY trailer came out and now the final part of the reunion is about to air.

REBECCA MINKOFF: Do you see all the gray hairs I’m hiding with hair mascara?

Oh, my goodness. Looking back, how would you rate your experience?

I think that my experience as it was happening felt very different than what I saw. And I go, “OK, what could I have done differently?” Because I think most of the season it shows me being quiet even though I wasn’t. And so I’m like, “How could I have done that differently? How could I have appeared even more active than I thought that I was?” So I don’t know. I don’t know that there’s an answer to it, but I think I would have just probably been more forthright in some things and opinion stated more firmly the minute I found out about them than being someone to respond to it later down the line.

That finale episode was really dark, but amid the chaos, you were the one trying to make sure everyone had eaten. Did you find yourself going into mom mode with the group often?

That whole trip, if you would have seen the footage – like, the camera’s on me, I was cooking. I was literally trying to just be like, “Let’s get the babies fed.” I know that when my babies are fighting, they need to go to bed or they need food. So that was like my go to because I wasn’t involved in the subject matter of the fight. So I was like putting food in front of people the whole trip.

You were just trying to calm it down.

Just trying to calm it down. I went into my mom mode, literally, like you need some food. Everyone’s been drinking a lot. And then stuff spirals out of control when that happens. And we obviously saw that happen.

I want to get into the Brynn of it all. What were your thoughts on everything that went down between her and Ubah? Do you think Brynn’s actions were intentional or was it simply a case of her not thinking before she spoke?

I would never put what her intentions were – like, I would never decide that. But from what happened and how it all went down there, it was not okay whether it was intentional or not to frame someone or weaponize sexual assault in that manner. And I think, you know, Ubah’s reaction on the show is a 10th of how horrible she felt and how scared she was. I was with her in the room, calming her down, getting her to breathe because she wasn’t breathing. She was calling and asking for people that weren’t around anymore. And so I think that when someone’s in that state, you’re like, it doesn’t matter what the intention was or not, this is unacceptable to do to another human.

Brynn spent a lot of the season making digs at you and your business, and then we see her belittling Ubah’s modeling career. Why do you think she always goes for the career?

Man, I’d like to know how things work up there for her. But I felt like she was trying to create conflict and entertainment by getting a rise out of people. And I think with me, like, I’m not falling for that petty stuff. You think you’re going to get a rise out of me because you make fun of me? Like, come visit one of my three homes and then we can talk. And then with Ubah again, it was, “Let’s get a rise out of her.” Because she knows if she gets Ubah to react, it’s good for TV. But no one wants to see that produced effect.