Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen are, and this is saying a lot, the most talked about couple on the New York social circuit.At least the circuit that forms the nucleus of The Real Housewives of New York City, a delicious little reality show that takes viewers insides the lives and limos, the mansions and, um, the minds of the pretty people who populate the elite echelons of Gotham.
Alex McCord is one of the six "housewives" on the show, though like the others she really isn't a housewife, at least not in the traditional sense, because she works outside the home.
Nor is she quite yet a bona fide Manhattan socialite - having neither married nor inherited such vaunted status - and thus is working hard on acceptance into the club.
In fact, while the show focuses on McCord (visual merchandising) and five other posh women - Jill Zarin (home furnishings), Luanne de Lesseps (a countess), Ramona Singer (fashion entrepreneur), Bethenny Frankel (chef) and newcomer Kelly Killoren Bensimon (model/editor) - it's McCord who usually finds herself the odd-girl out.
The reason for that? McCord's erudite hubby Simon van Kempen, a charming fellow who manages a Manhattan hotel and who is inseparable from his wife.
Their symbiotic relationship sets them apart - they are the youngest couple, he's 44 and she's 35, and have the youngest children- and their joined-at-the-hip attachment means he crashes the girls-only parties and shows up where he's not always welcome.
It's just one source of irritation, and tension, on the show, which premieres its second season tonight on Bravo.
A spinoff of its popular older sister, The Real Housewives of Orange County, season two was filmed last year between June and November, and follows the frenemies - oh, they like each other, but don't let that fool you - as they deal with their careers and families, fretting over fashion and frown lines, and flitting from dinner parties on the Hudson to summers in The Hamptons.
It's 12 new episodes of much drama and not a little bitchiness, and you can be sure some of the latter will be directed at McCord and van Kempen.
One bone of contention among the housewives is what they consider the pair's unorthodox parenting skills.
The couple is raising two sons - Francois, now five and Johan, three - in their Brooklyn townhouse and not only brag that their boys are brilliant (especially Francois) but seem to substitute discipline and rules of etiquette for being "present" in their boys' life.
The couple, on the phone from New York last week and getting ready for the premiere party, say they were naive when filming the first season.
Alex, who has acting experience, says: "We were primarily concerned with doing good TV. We weren't prepared for how literally viewers took everything."
Adds van Kempen: "Of the five-and-a-half thousand minutes they filmed us, we had about 60 minutes of screen time. We didn't come off season one looking particularly good. Most of the footage of Francois wasn't particularly good."
But, he says, they certainly aren't embarrassed by any of it and, in fact, have been inundated with emails from viewers wanting parenting advice.
"We were amazed by the tidal wave of emails coming in from people asking us specific questions about the kids - how do you work full-time and raise kids in the city, how do you manage to handle more than one language, what do you do when you travel, what's the different between an au pair and a nanny?"
So when they were on vacation last summer, "we just started writing," says McCord.
The result is a book, to be published later this fall and tentatively titled The Urban Parent: Adventures from a Real House in New York City.
It's not a how-to book, they caution, but more about what they've discovered raising their boys - who take swimming, art and French classes - in one of the most vibrant cities in the world.
Their advice includes leading by example, being consistent, having dinner and conversation together with the kids every night, and ensuring you are "emotionally present" in your child's life.
Which isn't to say season two is all about the kids.
McCord, in fact, promises things will be "pretty juicy" among the housewives, especially when she and Jill, the oil to her water, pick up where they left off.
Why Does Alex McCord Keep Being Naked?Alex McCord, one of the stars of Bravo's strange and upsetting reality series Real Housewives of New York City, continues to be nude. In a recent interview with In Touch magazine (a publication as prestigious as Parade magazine if someone pooped on Parade magazine), the square-headed fame grubber spoke out about the photos, saying "it was a celebration that a new mom can be in great shape." Um, OK. Fair enough. But riddle me this, Ms. McCord: Why did the photographer you mention, James Demaria, recently email us and describe these photos as a Playboy audition? (A slightly NSFW image follows) Was being in Playboy part of the new mommy celebration? And what about those other, decidedly more raunchy naked pictures you took with photographer Bob Coulter? You know, the ones that can be found here, here, here, here, and here. Were those post-pregnancy celebrations as well? Just fess up! Naked pictures can make you famous! And you and your homosexual husband really, really want to be famous, don't you? Ugh. This woman continues to reduce her life to a hideous, squirmy, sad embarrassment.
