The "Real Housewives of New York City" are back with plenty of new taglines, tearful confrontations and quotable moments.
"Season 10 is everything," Carole Radziwill told TODAY. "It has everything people have come to expect from a 'Housewives' show, except no one throws a drink in someone’s face. It’s real friendships, it’s going through real stuff and it’s petty drama, which we all love. It’s petty gossip, and it’s real relationships breaking up and evolving. And good outfits, good hair and a trip from hell. Drinking, crying, laughing — you know, the usual."
The veteran journalist, author and newly minted marathon runner, who joined the show in season five, also revealed how she starts her days for TODAY's Morning Routine series.
What time do you wake up?
I open my eyes about 8 o’clock. And then I immediately like to take a nap. The best time to take a nap is right when you wake up. So I nap from like 8 to 9:30. A long nap. Then I walk Baby. I walk to Jack’s and I get a cup of coffee. And then I walk home.
What’s your go-to breakfast?
I recently started doing this paleo thing — all meat and eggs and vegetables. So I can’t have a bagel with cream cheese anymore, which is what I had every day with my coffee. It’s only been two days on the paleo. Yesterday I had four eggs with spinach and mushrooms. I like French toast, but I can’t have that on paleo; apparently the cavemen didn’t eat bread.
Where do you get your morning news?
My morning news, I get from the radio — very old school. I have NPR on, so it’s sort of playing in the background all morning. And then I get it where everyone else gets it, on the computer. And mostly Twitter; it’s like a news feed. I follow all the political sites and news people.
How do you like your coffee?
I like a small coffee with one Splenda and milk. I don’t know why it’s sometimes so difficult, because half the time they put hot milk in the coffee. When you say, “I’d like a small coffee with milk,” it’s cold milk. Now it’s like, "Is it 2 percent? Low fat? Skim milk? Do you want whole milk? Do you want it steamed?" No! I just want coffee with milk … which is why I go to the same coffee place now, because they know, so I don’t have to explain it. But when did we have to start explaining coffee?
You trained for the New York City Marathon — what was your regimen like?
I went to a proper gym to do weight training two or three days a week, and then I would run three days a week. But the first time I ran, I ran 1 mile on a treadmill, and it was like 18 minutes. And then I started running on the road, like a few weeks in, four miles and then six miles. And then it turned out I really liked it. So then I would run three, four, six miles, nine miles, back and forth. And then the longest run I did before the marathon was 21 miles. When I say run, I’m not running the whole time. It’s more like a run, walk, just finish kind of thing. But I’m on my feet. Twenty-one miles took like four-plus hours.
Who's your ideal breakfast buddy out of the "Housewives" cast?
I don’t think I could see any one of them that early in the morning … although Dorinda (Medley) does call me early. She’s an early riser, so if my phone is ringing like 7:30-8, it’s Dorinda.
Who out of the New York housewives is the biggest morning person, and who's the most likely to be grumpy?
I’m the most likely to be grumpy, 100 percent. The morning people on our show are Luann (de Lesseps) and Dorinda, which is hilarious because they stay up at night, too. And even late at night, drinking — I don’t know how they do it. I wake up like I’ve been drinking all night, and I don’t drink. I wake up at 9, 9:30, 10, and look like I just drank a fifth of vodka. They do drink like that, and they wake up at 6 in the morning, fresh. I remember the first time I went away with Luann, we went to St. Barts, and everyone was drinking like crazy. The next morning I woke up, bleary-eyed like I’d had a whole bottle of vodka to myself, and Luann was coming back from a jog, and she did have a whole bottle of vodka.
What’s your beauty routine?
I’ve never, in like 40 years, ever gone to bed with my makeup on. I don’t care if I come home at 4 in the morning. I take my makeup off. That is the No. 1 beauty thing, to wash your face at night. Now, I wash my face, I do exfoliation, I do serums, vitamin C serums; I’m big into face masks and all of that. I believe that beauty starts the night before. And then when you wake up in the morning, my skin looks the best in the morning with no makeup on. La Prairie has this foundation-moisturizer, which I love, and the top of it is an undereye concealer, which is amazing. I’m into La Prairie. I’ve recently found a compact that has an eye cream mixed in with a highlighter. It’s so soothing under your eye, and it gives you a little brightness, And the other side of the compact is a smooth lip balm with a hint of color. And then it comes with another compact with a peach cream blush.
La Prairie Skin Caviar Concealer Foundation, $185, Amazon
Is there a song that pumps you up in the morning?
This morning I was listening to Taylor Swift. I like it. It’s poppy. I was up at 6 o’clock to do early press, so I needed something poppy. Usually I would listen to something like the Eagles radio, Elton John radio, that kind of thing. I’m a ‘70s girl. Oh, and Justin Bieber. I like Justin Bieber.
What’s your favorite and least favorite part of your morning routine?
Well, my least favorite part is getting out of bed after my morning nap. And my favorite part of the morning is my morning nap. It’s really good to slide into the day that way. You wake up, you don’t get out of bed and you just nap for an hour. I really recommend it; so good.