LuAnn de Lesseps

Background

Luann de Lesseps was born LuAnn Nadeau in Berlin, Connecticut, and grew up alongside six brothers and sisters. Her surname before marriage indicates her father’s Algonquin and French heritage as well as her mother’s French Canadian lineage. While not much is known about her early life, de Lesseps has shared that she was the captain of her high school softball team. In Connecticut, she became a licensed practical nurse, but quickly abandoned this vocation for a career in modeling, entering the Miss Connecticut contest. While she didn’t place, she was picked up by a talent scout who entered her into a New York-based modeling competition in which she placed first. She commuted to New York for six months, working as a model, before she moved to the big city full-time.

The New York lifestyle was not what she had hoped it would be, so she flew to Milan with her boyfriend at the time. In Milan, she parted ways with him and entered another beauty contest, making some quick cash and touring Italy. Despite not knowing Italian very well, Lesseps landed a position as the host of an Italian TV show. She attended a dinner party in Switzerland, where she met Count Alexandre de Lesseps, and after a very short courtship, the two were engaged. They embarked on a whirlwind traveling honeymoon. De Lesseps and the count quickly grew their family, introducing Victoria, and then, Noel into the world just 21 months apart.

The family summered in the Hamptons and spent the rest of their time in the Swiss Alps. After a car crash in which nobody was hurt, de Lesseps suffered from P.T.S.D., anxiety, and from the isolating effects of their remote Swiss home. Spurred by the need to make something of herself, de Lesseps decided to get back to working in television, returning to New York. While working on a small show, she met actress Jill Zarin, who soon approached Lesseps to be one of the main cast members of “The Real Housewives of New York.” The show premiered in 2008, and de Lesseps’s star was born. She starred for five seasons as a main character, changing her role to recurring ‘Friend of the Housewives’ in season six. During this time, she kept busy, writing “Class with the Countess: How to Live with Elegance and Flair,” which was published in 2009. With her busy career taking its toll on her marriage, de Lesseps and the Count divorced in the same year, but she would keep his name and the honorary ‘countess’ title.

The next year, she expanded into music, releasing the single ‘Money Can’t Buy You Class.’ She guest-starred in a “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” episode in 2011, and released her second single ‘Chic C’est la Vie’ the same year. 2013 saw de Lesseps accepting a smaller role in “The Real Housewives of New York.” She released another single, ‘Girl Code,’ two years later, and in late December 2016, married Tom D’Agostino Jr., officially losing her ‘countess’ title — although she continues to use it to this day.

However, the marriage did not last, and they were divorced less than a year later. In early 2017, de Lesseps landed a role in a small film called “Maternal Secrets.” It was around this time that she began to run into legal trouble in Florida, arrested for public intoxication, assaulting an officer, and more, in late 2017. She was charged with a third-degree felony the next year, but it was later dropped when she pled guilty to misdemeanor charges and joined a rehabilitation program for alcoholics after her release. Not to be held back, she hosted her very own cabaret show “#CountessAndFriends” in 2018, singing about her life alongside celebrity guests, before taking the show on tour. In 2019 and 2020, de Lesseps released two more singles, ‘Feeling Jovani’ and ‘Viva La Diva,’ with Desmond Child. Her latest appearance was in “The Real Housewives of New York” spin-off show “The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip” in 2021.