Bravo executive producer Andy Cohen is best known onscreen as the host of the late-night show Watch What Happens Live!, those drama-filled Real Housewives reunion shows and oft drunk-and-snarky New Year’s Eve programs with Anderson Cooper, but the Bravolebrity recently revealed those very hosting skills have landed him in hot water over the years.
Cohen is known for asking “incredible personal, incredibly direct” questions to a whole host of subjects. The 2023 TV schedule featured him interviewing everyone from A-list celebrities on Watch What Happens Live! to the reality stars from the network’s various popular series, including Vanderpump Rules and The Real Housewives and Below Deck franchises, in season-ending reunion specials.
He’s also rarely afraid to share an opinion; for example, he has admitted there are Real Housewives stars that he hates and refuses to follow on social media.
The host recently discussed such interviewing tactics in a November 2023 TODAY interview with Evan Ross Katz, claiming that it’s that very directness that has made the Watch What Happens Live! clubhouse “the place that you go for uncensored, unpredictable fun.”
I’ve asked incredibly personal, incredibly direct questions of Real Housewives for years. I think that was kind of my practice ground for going in and then saying to J. Lo, ‘Why were you on your phone texting during Mariah Carey’s performance?’ I think the show has a reputation of being the place that you go for uncensored, unpredictable fun.
However, not all Bravo die-hards appreciate Cohen’s candor. He’s been criticized by guests like Kathy Griffin in the past, and the television personality was recently on the receiving end of social-media pushback from fans after asking weight-related questions to several Bravo stars. Notably, Cohen had inquired whether The Real Housewives of New Jersey cast member Dolores Catania was using Ozempic, a drug used to medically treat diabetes that has famously been coopted by Hollywood for weight-loss purposes.
Speaking to TODAY, the host said that the audience pushback was eye-opening for him:
What I have been careful to say (since then), especially with Emily Simpson, (‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’ star) who lost a ton of weight, is, ‘I thought you looked great before. You still look great.’ The note (to self) is: Don’t pat someone on the back for being thin, because what you’re then doing is perpetuating a false narrative about beauty, and that’s not right.
As a whole, Cohen says he now welcomes constructive criticism not only from Bravo viewers watching at home but also from the guests sitting across from him during interviews, who “really get mad” when he crosses a boundary.
If I go too far, believe me—my audience calls me out, and so does the talent. I’ve had guests turn on me during the show. That is authentic and interesting TV, and I think it’s why people like the show. I’ve had guests really get mad at me, but I’ve also had many a Kardashian say, ‘I’m so glad we talked about that.’
In the 14 years he’s acted as host of Watch What Happens Live! and 16 years as emcee of Bravo’s reality TV reunions, Cohen says he has “gotten way better at knowing what the line is”:
I think that sometimes when you do or say something that gets picked up everywhere, it’s initially very jarring. It’s scary. So I think I’ve gotten way better at knowing what the line is. And I think it’s from sometimes getting burned.
Cohen also revealed details both professional and personal. As for his personal life, he shared that he plans to refrain from showing the faces of his two young children on his social media handles. (He welcomed his son, Benjamin, via surrogate in February 2019; a daughter, Lucy, followed in April 2022.)
On the job front, he commented on who he thinks should take over the Bravo hosting reins should he step down in the future.
There are a couple people that I’ve thought would be really good, but some of them are super opinionated. And if the Housewives are still going, you have to figure out a way to be somewhat of an island if you’re going to be sitting down with Housewives that you’ve been super vocal that you don’t like.
Here’s hoping whoever it is, they heed Cohen’s advice!