Hailey Glassman is bringing a new piece of her private life into the open just as The Real Housewives of New York City Season 16 is about to begin. She says her husband will not appear on the show, and that their marriage is a “lavender marriage,” a setup she described in unusually direct terms ahead of the premiere.
The timing matters because RHONY Season 16 premieres Tuesday, September 8 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo, with episodes streaming the next day on Peacock. Glassman is new to the cast, and her relationship is already being set up as one of the season’s main talking points before viewers even see the first episode.
Glassman did not publicly disclose her husband’s identity, but she said he is a descendant of the “first Jewish settlers on Martha’s Vineyard” and that he has “a really big business” there. She also said the two have known each other since he was 12 years old, adding that they were neighbors in Martha’s Vineyard and met at sailing camp. Now, she said, they split their time between New York City and Martha’s Vineyard and spend the summers out there.
What she described is a marriage built on unusual rules. Glassman said, “I sleep with women intimately as well,” and said her husband is OK with that arrangement. But she also said he would not film RHONY because he was not willing to compromise and “didn’t want to ruin his family’s legacy.” That leaves the show with a central relationship that is visible in conversation but absent in person, which is exactly the sort of gap reality TV tends to turn into a storyline.
Glassman has also explained the rhythm of the life she says she prefers. “I just like living on a yacht or in the water and just hanging out and smoking joints,” she said, while also saying her work life has been stressful. In her bio, she is described as someone who once graced tabloid covers in the early 2000s, is an instant hit within the group and is still trying to come to terms with her past while finding her voice when friends question the pillars of her identity. By the time the season opens, the question is not whether her marriage will come up. It is whether RHONY can tell that story without the husband who, for now, stays off camera.
