“People come to my show in a Toyota, and they leave in a Rolls Royce, because I put on a great show,” says Luann de Lesseps, aka Countess Luann. Yes, ladies and gentlemen (and everyone in between) – this is the countess speaking. We have arrived.
It’s been more than 15 years since the reality TV star thrust her way onto our TV screens back in 2008, as one of the original housewives on the Bravo giant, The Real Housewives of New York City.
Yet since leaving RHONY behind in 2021, her fanbase has somehow only grown. It helps that during her time on the show, she created a discography of camp, audacious bops, including “Money Can’t Buy You Class” and “Feelin’ Govani”.
Since 2018, she’s been writing and performing her very own cabaret show. This summer, Marry F Kill landed in the UK, and it’s now heading back to the US. Yet it feels like just the start for Countess Luann’s inevitable worldwide domination.
To put it plainly, the gays are obsessed. “I always say, I could trip and fall and my fans would go, ‘Countess, that was so elegant’. You know what I mean? I feel so much love from the audience,” she says.
Speaking exclusively to PinkNews, Countess Luann spills the tea on exactly why the gays love her, whether she’d ever head back to the gilded walls of RHONY, and how she brought Marry F Kill to life.
Countess Luann: I like to write music, I started with “Money Can’t Buy You Class”, and then it was “Chic C’est la Vie” and there was “Feelin’ Jovani”. It’s always inspired by what’s going on in my life, and specifically to this show, it was really driven by the fans.
My cabaret show is pop culture meets cabaret meets comedy meets a fashion show. I do a lot of changes in the shows. How I work is, I pick a song that I know my fans will love because they grew up watching me, and their mothers were listening to the same music that I listen to. So they really feel involved and participate in the show. It’s like a big sing along. It’s really fun.
If one of your fans hasn’t seen the show before, what can they expect?
They can expect that I cover a lot of my music. They won’t expect me to do some Miley Cyrus or Tina Turner, that’s for sure. I do dating tips, because God knows I love to flirt, and I do a lot of that on the show. My fans are always asking me for dating tips. They can expect a lot of costume changes; they will expect that for me normally. You come in a Toyota and you drive out in a Rolls-Royce, because I’ve worked really hard at my show.
What’s the gayest thing about Marry F Kill?
Probably my assistant who does get down into the audience because we play Marry, F, Kill, and he’s the cutest twink you’ve ever seen.
Countess Luann performs at Mighty Hoopla 2024. (Getty)
“Money Can’t Buy You Class” came out in 2010 and it’s still a huge hit with your fans. You’re still performing it now. Did you ever expect that reaction?
No, I didn’t. Originally how I wrote and produced that song was because I wrote a book on manners and etiquette. I was so perturbed by what I saw going on around me, specifically when I moved back [to the US] from Europe. That’s when The Real Housewives of New York City happened for me.