What Makes a Bravo Legend? Backstage at Andy Cohen’s Legends Ball

By the end of the first day of BravoCon—a three-day convention for fans obsessed with anything and everything Bravo, the network responsible for giving the world The Real Housewives in all of its incarnations—there was a heightened sense of frenzy in the air. Given the events that had already transpired that day, it made sense. A stampede had broken out ahead of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills panel. At said panel, Lisa Rinna was booed by approximately 4,000 people. And, according to Twitter, there may or may not have been an orgy in “the third floor toilet” of the Javits Center, where BravoCon was held. Chaos was in the air.

It was oddly fitting given the evening’s main event: Andy’s Legends Ball, a massive undertaking which would see more than 140 Bravolebrities onstage together—the most ever at one time—for an extra-special, supersized episode of reality-television demigod Andy Cohen’s beloved late-night television program, Watch What Happens Live. “It is a little daunting to think about,” Cohen told Vanity Fair over the phone before the big event.

He was inspired to throw his own version of a legends ball by the original legend, Oprah Winfrey. She threw Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball in 2006 to celebrate 25 Black women in the entertainment industry, including Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, and Aretha Franklin. “Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball is the most underreported, undervalued event in pop-culture history, in my mind,” Cohen said. “My hope is that this night will have the meaning that Oprah’s Legends Ball had for me as a connoisseur of pop culture. I hope that Bravo fans feel the same way about this very special night, where we’re going to be gathering basically everybody on one stage.”

Before you can get everybody onstage, you have to get them backstage. There, Vanity Fair was granted exclusive access prior to Andy’s Legends Ball to attend BravoCon’s 2022 Client Happy Hour at the Javits Center where Housewives past and present such as Cynthia Bailey, Crystal Kung Minkoff, and Kathy Hilton hobnobbed before the main event. Cohen intentionally left the criteria for what makes a “legend” vague for the event. “We are being really inclusive,” he said. “If you made a contribution to Bravo’s pop-culture history or pop-culture tapestry, then we want to showcase you in one way or another,” Cohen told me. “So I think our definition is maybe a little broader than some. You do have to kind of cut it off at some point, but I think that we want to represent the entire tapestry of the situation.”

So, what makes a legendary Bravo personality? Well, it all depends on who you ask. According to Kyle Richards, “a legendary housewife is someone who’s real and can put their life out there,” as she said after being pulled away from a hushed but intense one-on-one with Dorit Kemsley. “Speak their mind, but not be the biggest asshole.” Does Richards consider herself a legend? “I would like to think so if I’ve been here 12 years,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills OG said.

Richard’s RHOBH castmate Garcelle Beauvais agreed that becoming a Bravo legend is all about authenticity, saying it’s about “staying true to who you are no matter what.”