Catherine Answers Viewers Questions

WWHL After Show Clip And The "Cross Blondes Debate 2010."

Catherine's Bravo Blog

Post from Bravo

Time Is a Healer
By: Catherine Ommanney



Photo:Bravo



Mmmmm. I went off the radar last week, so firstly I want to say a huge thank you for all of you who have written so many kind things and really lift my spirits in very challenging times. Also, even those of you who write nasty negative things, thank you too, because no one is ever too old to learn and many of your comments I've taken on board (not the one who complained I've got too much pink in my wardrobe!! You can keep your opinions to yourself!! If your going to slag me off, then don't make it about color - we've had enough crap about that in the show so far!!!).



So last's weeks episode - Sarah Palin/Edwina stuff?? Had to. Compulsory to lift the mood. This town can be way too serious for a mildly insane woman like me. And this week's episode? Well... firstly, loved the scene of Mary and me discussing who had more "mothers guilt." We had such fun on so many occasions - LOVE that lady! I know you see me teasing her, but I'm very protective of her. She also wins, hands down, for the funniest facial expressions of any friend I know! Watching her watching Lolly at the Men Against Breast Cancer event was hilarious! And from laughter to tears... I was dreading seeing and reliving the pain of losing my dear friend Phil - such an incredibly painful time for all of us who loved him so deeply. A true character in life. Made me so happy and was one of the most positive people I know - he always made my problems disappear, and he used to take me out dancing in London until we could dance no more and leave me with the biggest smile on my face when he dropped me home.The expression "time is a healer" can be true, but I will always, always miss him...

I'm so grateful and lucky to have so many friends here in D.C. who care for me and in particular Lynda, Mary, and Paul kept me going whilst we were filming. Thanks again to you all, and especially to my beautiful girls who always keep me going with no shortage of hugs and loving going down in our house between the three of us. You see - I do have a heart. It's just very deeply hidden. It's my way of protecting myself, putting on a brave face. So for all of you who thought I was the iron lady? Think again... Until next week! Adios. Xx

Catherine Unsure About Michaele Having MS

Article from DBKP.

By LBG1

During an appearance on Watch What Happens L!ve with Andy Cohen guest Cat Ommanney said her book Inbox Full will be out in December. Cat appeared with Real Housewives of New York City’s Ramona Singer. Ramona told Andy she hadn’t seen cast member Kelly Bensimon this summer. Ramona had been with LuAnn de Lesseps the ‘night before’ and had spoken with Jill Zarin yesterday on the phone. When Andy asked Ramona would what happen if former Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Danielle Staub were to become a cast member of RHONYC, Ramona said she’d ‘go on strike’.


Photo:Jamie Windon

Cat’s appearance on WWHL, after her divorce from Newsweek photographer Charles Ommanney. Cat not very complimentary about the New York Times article about Charles, The ‘Housewives’ Husband Who Wishes He Said No. Cat, on the internet rumors about her ‘past’ in the U.K.–Andy Cohen referred to Tiger Woods’ mistress Rachel Uchitel–Cat claiming that while she doesn’t read the ‘blogs’, the rumors were from an individual Cat knew. When Andy asked Cat about the news Michaele Salahi has MS and whether Cat believed Michaele had MS, Cat implied she was cautionary about Michaele’s claim. Cat, telling Andy, Diane Dimond, the author of the new Salahi book, Cirque Du Salahi, was paying the Salahi’s bills.

Yesterday the site Popeater reported Bravo had booted Michaele and Tareq Salahi from the next season of RHODC. Popeater’s Rob Shuter posting Bravo “had had it” with the Salahi’s:
Michaele and Tareq Salahi’s fifteen minutes of fame may be up now that I’ve learned publicly-annoyed Bravo has decided not to invite the White House party crashers back to tape another season of ‘The Real Housewives Of DC.’

“The DC show is the only show in the entire franchise that isn’t a true hit,” an insider tells me. “And the Salahi’s are the biggest reason for that. At first, execs thought they struck gold with all the attention the couple got over the White House dinner. But now they realize not all press is good press and this couple’s involvement in the show has turned more viewers off than on.”

According to Shuter, the Salahi last straw that broke Bravo’s back, a statement made by the Salahi’s in Dimond’s book:

But the final straw came to light just this week, when the couple claimed (in a new book about them) that their “iron-clad” contract with Bravo doesn’t allow them to talk about the White House-crashing incident to the media. Of course, they’ve never been shy about talking-up the scandal (except for when Tareq clammed up at a Congressional hearing!) and famously spoke to Matt Lauer about it just days after the State Dinner.

Popeater reported on Tuesday they’d received a press release from Bravo:

“From the time of the incident until now, Bravo and Half Yard Productions, the producer of the series, have consistently and repeatedly stated to the Salahis and their representatives that they were free to speak to press, law enforcement, Congress and anyone else about attending the State Dinner. Indeed, they have given multiple press interviews on that very subject.”

What’s unusual about the Popeater report, Bravo’s previous pattern of not issuing statements about cast members, especially those who are sent packing by Bravo. In comparison, the rumor Bravo had fired Danielle Staub, leaked by Bravo insiders to the site, Life & Style. The Danielle Staub won’t be returning to season three of RHONJ, leaked after Danielle taped the second season reunion episode. Bravo issuing a casual note on their BravoTV.com site under the “News” section, the reunion episode was Danielle’s last appearance on RHONJ, posted after part two of the RHONJ reunion episode aired. The Bravo insider news the Salahi’s won’t be back, leaked before the taping of the Real Housewives of DC reunion episode.

Was the info leaked before Michaele announced her “secret” she had multiple sclerosis?
The Washington Post’s Lisa de Moraes made the following observation about Michaele’s ‘announcement’ she had MS:

For the rest of the show’s run, any time another cast member comments about how thin Michaele is — it’s been one of the leitmotifs of this edition in the “Real Housewives” franchise — or rolls their eyes at something Michaele says or does, or says they don’t want Michaele invited to their Fill In The Blank — both that Other Housewife and Bravo are going to look really, really cold.

Lisa de Moraes reported Bravo’s response to Michaele’s MS news, a Bravo Senior VP of Communications telling the Washington Post, Michaele never mentioned to Bravo she had MS.

The Popeater post, Bravo plans on not asking the Salahi’s to return next season, published Wednesday at 7:22 AM EST. No mention in the article of Michaele’s ‘major announcement’ on FOX and Friends, Michaele had MS. FOX and Friends, airing at 6 AM, EST. Later that day, Lisa de Moraes’ article on Michaele’s announcement and the report Bravo had issued a press statement about the Salahi’s statement in the book. A statement very similar to the one posted by Popeater:

“The notion that the Salahis have been barred under their contracts relating to ‘The Real Housewives of D.C.’ from speaking about their attendance at the White House State Dinner is simply not true. From the time of the incident until now, Bravo and Half Yard Productions, the producer of the series, have consistently and repeatedly stated to the Salahis and their representatives that they were free to speak to press, law enforcement, Congress and anyone else about attending the State Dinner. Indeed, they have given multiple press interviews on that very subject.”

de Moraes’ article included what Dianne Dimond said on FOX and Friends about Michaele’s cast members picking on Michaele in the first season of RHODC. After reading what Dimond said, interjecting Michaele’s multiple sclerosis as an excuse to chastise the cast members who ‘picked on’ Michaele, Dianne Dimond needs to have her head examined. de Moraes observation, Michaele and Tareq effectively tarred her cast members as “really, really cold” in still unaired episodes. With the news from Popeater, Bravo potentially painted as a cold-hearted villain, booting a victim of multiple sclerosis off one of their reality housewives shows.

Ramona And Catherine At WWHL

Picture from Andy.

We're live at 10 with our 2 cats in a bag turtle time spectacular with Cat and Ramona!!

Catherine-RHODC On "The Scoop"

Clip of Catherine on MSNBC.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Catherine Loves Washington D.C.

From The Washingtonian.com.


By Alyssa Rosenberg

It's become common for reality show stars, if they end up as the bad guy in the editing room, to embrace the role. If you can stir the pot without inciting calls to the cops or physical violence, you become a valuable commodity. Not so for Cat Ommanney, the British import to the Real Housewives of Washington, DC who became a lightning rod on-camera for a series of social faux pas in early episodes of the show and off-camera when the marriage that brought her to Washington dissolved. In a conversation with Washingtonian.com, Ommanney was frank about her missteps and clearly distraught about the role she's been assigned by the media. But she also told us about why she's excited about her move to 14th Street, and what she's learned about reality television editing and when not to wear a Sarah Palin outfit to a costume party. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Photo: Bravo

I've spent a fair amount of time in both the UK and Washington. What did you find to be the differences between the social scenes in England and DC?

If I’d known about the differences like you, I probably wouldn’t have said half the things I said because I didn’t realize I was offending people with my brash, rude British sense of humor. I never mean to offend people or upset people, it’s not in my psyche....Someone asked me the other day if I learned anything about myself doing the show, and I definitely did, because I speak my mind before I think about how it sounds and how it’s reflected and how I’m portrayed, and if I were to do it again, I’d definitely put a filter on because I never mean to upset anybody or offend anybody, much less really, really get people upset.

Washington does have a large international community. Did anyone who moved here from abroad help you figure out the city? Were there things you learned along the way?
I should have been given ten years to give my head around DC. Closed doors is an understatement. I didn’t realize how much of a fish out of water I’d feel....I wish I’d gotten a crash course in DC, which I didn’t, because I always imagined DC as before I arrived there as being like New York or Los Angeles, big city, skyscrapers. Everyone’s so say the right thing, do the right thing, do the right dinner parties, it’s all about power and politics, which isn’t of interest to me. It’s not my bag.

Definitely don’t go dressed up as Sarah Palin to any Republican party. That’s Thursday [the episode that will air tonight].

How do you think editing affected the way you appear on the show?
I take on Edwina Rodgers, she’s really a lovely lady. I liked her, and I had fun with her, but of course they take our laughter out of the scenes to make it look like we’re having a ridiculous conversation....I sent an email to Andy Cohen the other night saying if you think your New Jersey wives are out of line, wait ‘til I get on the air. There’s got to be a villain on every show, but I never imagined myself to be set up to be the villain, but maybe I shouldn’t have been so short-sighted. Who better than the Brit? Let’s edit the Brit to make her the bitch, the rude, loud-mouthed racist, let’s make her out to be everything and maybe she’ll end up okay. I did get on with all the women and the show, except Michaele. You are who you are. You have nothing to hide. You have nothing to hide. But in Washingotn of all places, it took me a while....When I look at the first three episodes, and I’m having lunch with Mary, and she’s glaring at her daughter, Lolly, who is serving us, and they make it look like she’s glaring at me.

Are you coming back to Washington?
I love Washington. Considering I’ve said closed doors, I think I’ve managed to hunt down the coolest, loveliest people in Washington, and I have good friends there now....I’m not a suburban woman, I’m either in or I’m out. I’ve just moved temporarily, I don’t know how long for, to a place on 14th Street that I love. It’s more my kind of places...Desperate Housewives in Chevy Chase [where she lived with her ex-husband] was never my style. You couldn’t walk out the door if you didn’t have a stroke of makeup on and spandex and a dog. It wasn’t really my scene. 14th Street is really more my scene, being downtown where people are....I’ve got to say, I’ve always had a lot of gay friends, and known a lot of gay men, and there’s a lot of bars and restaurants [she's got good things to say about the Gibson in her new corridor, and likes the Four Seasons further afield] and fabulous gay men on 14th Street, so I’m at home.

How are your daughters holding up?
They’re great. They’re just incredibly beautiful children, and I’m very lucky to have somehow been able to produce such lovely girls. They’re magical. They’ve had their first two or three days in their new school. There are these reports of Cat’s shipped her girls back to the UK, and it’s the biggest bullshit I’ve heard in my life. They’re in boarding school in the UK, which is what they’ve always wanted to do. I’m missing them massively. It’s what they wanted. It’s not necessarily what I wanted.

And are you doing all right?
As of episode five, people start seeing a little bit more of me. I rang the producers and said I can’t believe you made me to be this absolute nightmare bitch, racist cow from hell, and they said you’ve got to hang in there. Hopefully America will see that. I am the lion from the Wizard of Oz, knocking on the door for courage.... I’ve put on a brave face, but it is incredibly hurtful. Losing my husband, and my family, and everything else, to be portrayed as this woman is incredibly challenging.

Catherine-RHODC Back In The USA

Post from The Washington Post.

(Stephen J Boitano/Bravo/AP)

By: Roxanne Roberts & Amy Argetsinger

Hey isn't that...?: Catherine Ommanney at the Four Seasons

Cat Ommanney drawing a smattering of applause as she walked through the Four Seasons lounge Tuesday night -- as well as whispers of "Cat, we love you!" Little black dress on a thin frame. A surprise appearance by the breakout "Real Housewives of D.C." star/villainess, who has mostly hidden out in her native England since the show's premiere and her breakup from photographer husband Charles Ommanney. She was spotted having drinks with Fox5 anchor Will Thomas -- then dinner with her lawyer, A. Scott Bolden.

Watching The RHODC Is Difficult For The Ommanney's

Article from the NY Times.

By SARAH WILDMAN
EARLIER this summer, as he stood alone in the lobby of Washington’s Mandarin Oriental hotel with a packed car parked out front, there was no one to say goodbye to Charles Ommanney despite a decade of life in the city. Six months earlier, he had a wife; two children; three dogs; a house in Chevy Chase, Md.; and a gaggle of cameras following him around.

Every Thursday night, you can still see that earlier version of Charles Ommanney’s life, like a “Twilight Zone” episode in which, in a strange quirk of post-modernity, his previous life continues to play out in real time even as his current life runs in the opposite direction. That’s because Mr. Ommanney, on Bravo at least, is Cat Ommanney’s spouse on “The Real Housewives of D.C.”

Photo: Bravo

“I haven’t seen it, but I’ve seen the previews and I made a promise to myself to not sit and watch my ex-wife,” Mr. Ommanney, sounding miserable, said by telephone from Miami. “It’s just too painful. I’ve got eight more weeks of hundreds of Facebook requests from people I don’t know. I’d almost like to go and live in Katmandu. I have very few regrets in my life, but this is the one.” Once, he points out, if you Googled “Ommanney,” you would have discovered three centuries of naval admirals going back to his great-great-great-grandfather. Now you find rumors about the marriage breakup and snarky tattling on the show.

Before the divorce, the Ommanneys’ story was the stuff of rom-coms, or reality heaven. Known for bowling over presidents and women (George W. Bush nicknamed him Chuckles and, for his wild hair, Lion King) during nine years of covering the White House for Newsweek, he was an award-winning photojournalist who had chronicled wars in Rwanda and Bosnia, among other assignments. She was a summer fling from 1989, the glamorous baby sister of a friend, who got back in touch in 2008 after two children, an infamous kiss with Prince Harry that won her tabloid fame, and, between them, two marriages.

After a five-month courtship, Catherine followed Charles Ommanney to Washington with her children, where they rented a spacious pale yellow clapboard house with a wraparound porch. About a year later, Ms. Ommanney was being filmed in scenes of parties and polo, and Charles had become a father to the girls.

“D.C. has its own code of conduct, and it’s all about who you know,” intones one of the housewives in the opening voice-over of the reality show’s first episode. Mr. Ommanney, a reluctant TV presence, is the nearly invisible ballast for the cast, the one with real access to power in Washington, or at least to the Oval Office. His wife plays a putative mean girl (the show’s answer to Danielle Staub of New Jersey’s “Housewives” and Jill Zarin of the New York franchise), thus far exhibiting racially awkward social skills. Onscreen, she’s wrapping up her book, a kiss-and-tell on leaving her first marriage. She’s all brash British tell-it-like-it-is, and all very much in love with her dashing new mate.

But that was 2009. Since the show wrapped in November, the marriage has imploded after less than two years, the house’s lease has expired, the book is on hold and, while Ms. Ommanney will move from London back to Washington next week (her children, by custody agreement with their father, will remain in England), her television husband has fled the city.

“To be a photojournalist at the highest levels like that requires a great deal of innate political skill,” said Jon Meacham, the former Newsweek editor in chief. “You have to at once make people so comfortable with you that, at hours of great tension and great trial, they let you into the room. Then, once you have talked your way into the room, you have to disappear. It’s a very tricky skill set. Charles has it.”

But it is just that ability to fade into the woodwork that Mr. Ommanney has lost by becoming a cast member. Now he stands out wherever he goes, even if he’s with the vice president.

“With any reality show, you have to be careful — you can lose control of your own reputation very easily,” said Chris Edwards, the White House director of press advance under President George W. Bush, who worked closely with Mr. Ommanney and remembers him as well-respected and well-liked even if his political views “didn’t match” those of the former president.

Photo: Bravo

Described by friends and colleagues alike as never one to step in front of the camera, even to promote his own work, suddenly Mr. Ommanney has become the story. As the weeks of filming progressed, he stopped contacting friends. “Primarily I was embarrassed,” he said. “Secondly, people didn’t want anything to do with it. People were like: ‘Are there going to be cameras there? I don’t want dinner. Are there people from Bravo filming it? Are you miked?’ ”

It’s hard to believe that Mr. Ommanney, after years in the news media, was really so surprised. Washington is a city where quiet power often trumps the kind of visibility other parts of the country crave. “In a way, I was naïve and foolish to sign off on doing this,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, it was innocent. I wanted happiness for someone I was in love with. I put all my reservations aside and said: ‘Go for it. Do it if it makes you happy.’ Then I regretted it. I lost touch with everyone, and mix that with my marriage falling apart and the show taking over, it was very sad.”

The trick of this sort of docudrama is a sense of vérité mixed with a dash of humor; we all know the scenes may be staged or reshot, we all know the friendships are encouraged or discouraged by editors and producers, directors and lights.

The trade-off is success. Many of the women of “Real Housewives” of other locales have spun their screen time into fame, fortune, their own shows. Even some of those whose relationships fall apart profess happiness with their television life.

But what happens to the ones whose private lives play out onscreen more because they’re entwined with a character than because they’ve sought fame?

Christopher Morris, a close friend of Mr. Ommanney’s who covered the Bush White House for Time magazine during both terms, describes the reaction of fellow correspondents as “shock and dismay” that Mr. Ommanney had signed on for reality television. “Charles is a very solitary person,” said Mr. Morris, noting that Mr. Ommanney often skipped White House correspondents’ events. “He’s low profile, so being thrust into that environment, it seems odd.”

Richard Wolffe, a close friend and a former Newsweek colleague, said: “He was doing it for her, he was very reluctantly involved and I think that comes across. He wanted minimal participation. Preferably none. But you can’t. You can’t be half pregnant with these shows.”

Ms. Ommanney, reached by phone in London, said she was pleased with the show, and her new friends, but called watching her short marriage on television “absolutely heartbreaking.”

“The fact that I am set up to be the villain, I could probably have lived with if I was still in my life with my husband and family,” she said. “But having all that gone has been incredibly challenging, and I’ve had to do a lot of soul searching about how we’ve got to this point.”

“Every time I see Charles,” she added of watching the show, “especially last week, when he comes and surprises me on a photo shoot, and the look of love for him I have, and the admiration I had and in some way still have — it’s painful.”

On that, at least, the two still agree.

Michaele Gives Us Her Opinion On The Other Housewives

Post from Radar Online.

WireImage/Fame Photo

Michaele Salahi, the world’s most infamous ‘gatecrasher’ and star of Bravo’s Real Housewives of D.C., is responding to claims she is anorexic — and has her co-stars in her sights.

Proving the pen in mightier than the sword, the over-the-top blonde has penned a brutal blog in which she dissects a number of her co-stars and provides a cutting assessment of arch-rival Lynda Erkiletian, who has accused Michaele of being paper-like thin.
“Lynda takes pleasure in tearing down other women, which I think is wrong,” Michaele wrote on her website, adding she is “sick of her not being up front and talking behind my back”.

While Lynda admits she's had worries about costar Michaele’s health, the D.C. Housewife insisted last week she has never called Salahi anorexic.

"At the beginning of filming, when I would see her I felt that she had lost a lot of weight and I was genuinely concerned," Lynda said.
"As a [modeling] agent, I don't ever use the A-word, which she's been parading around and making up and the media has picked up on. I know better."
But according to Michaele, Lynda -- who she met 15 years ago when working as a make-up artist -- is obsessed with her former pal turned foe’s weight.

“Lynda, as seen in episode one and again in this episode, continued with her obsessive behavior, ranting and raging about my weight... good grief,” Michaele wrote.
“Who cares what size I am?”

Said Michaele, “I have tried my best to teach Lynda that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes -- and shines from within.

“I have repeatedly forgiven Lynda for her anger and hate, and have moved forward. Girls need to celebrate one another and build each other up. Life is hard enough!”

Michaele also took aim at co-stars Catherine Ommanney and Mary Schmidt Amons, who visited the Salahis now closed winery for a polo lesson under the tutelage of husband Tareq, during the most recent episode.

As Mary arrived, clearly bemused, she said "we were told the dress code was going to be jeans" when she realized Michaele had dressed up in riding chaps for the occasion.

According to Michaele, both Catherine and Mary “are always the type of women who have to wear what I wear”.

“Silly really,” she wrote.

“Cat and Mary decided that they wanted to be a little sarcastic about my attire - they were upset that they were in jeans and I was wearing riding pants.

“I am married to a polo player - of course I wear riding pants.”

As for Mary, a second generation Washingtonian who spent summers at the Kennedy residences as a child, Michaele noted: “It was a dream for Mary to get involved in our world and to be included in the polo and the wine community.”

Cat And Stacie RHODC Have Become Closer

Post from TV Guide.

by Denise Martin

It had been a long day of hyping their new Bravo series, and The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.'s Catherine "Cat" Ommanney desperately wanted to change the subject from co-star and alleged White House party crasher Michaele Salahi.

She and her castmates — Stacie Turner, Mary Amons, and Lynda Erkiletian — had been asked quite enough about Salahi, thank you very much. (Salahi was absent during this chat two weeks ago, later explaining to TVGuide.com that she and husband Tareq had been busy hiring a lawyer, Lisa Bloom — and just in time, it seems.) Ommanney instead wanted to focus on the premiere, and specifically the questions she was fielding about her tirade against Tyra Banks and President Barack Obama. Indeed, last week's series opener had more than a few racially charged moments.

There was Amons' tipsy, drawn-out declaration that black and white women should be going to the same D.C. hair salons — "I had been drinking," she said during the group interview— followed by Ommanney's dismissals of Banks and President Obama.

Banks, Ommanney said in the episode, thinks she's "the most important woman on the planet ... beautiful but hideous."
And Obama, well, he didn't show up to her soon-to-be ex-husband's award ceremony and that didn't sit well with Ommanney. Photographer Charles Ommanney was feted last year by the White House News Photographers Association for his shot of Obama moments before he would be sworn in as president. "I'm sorry, I've been really impressed by you and all the hope you've given America, but you know what, Obama, you've just gone down in my estimation," she said.
Turner, the D.C. edition's "grounded" housewife, defended Ommanney. "I thought the scene with Cat and I was a little amplified and made to have a racial undertone to it, which really didn't exist when it happened," Turner said. "The reason we're reacting like this is because every single reporter has brought up the exchange between Cat and I — when it was happening, it was more of a healthy disagreement."
"In Washington, there are many different opinions." Amons added.

"The fact that I was putting Tyra Banks down and mildly disappointed with Obama, it has nothing to do with color," Ommanney said. "It just happened to be two people I mentioned on the same night. I despise racism and sexism."

The Real Housewives of Washington, D.C.: Power players? Get real!

Ommanney — who split with her husband after the show stopped filming — said that as "the shocking Brit" she's probably "too outspoken, but Stacie now says I'm quite refreshing."
Turner said the two have since become close. "If she did that today, I'd be like, 'Yeah, Cat, whatever.'"
Erkiletian acknowledged that they all want their show to be a hit — no matter the cost.

"There's always something that's going to be pulled for each episode, and we can only hope that it's interesting enough that people want to keep watching — whether it's true or misconstrued," Erkiletian said. "The fact is we want our show to be a success."

Catherine and Charles Ommanney Divorcing

Article from DBKP.

In the first episode of Bravo’s newest Real Housewives franchise, Real Housewives of DC, Brit cast member Catherine Ommanney also known as Cat Ommanney talked about her romance with her husband photographer Charles Ommanney, a romance which, according to Catherine, Charles shared with Obama. Catherine talked about her wedding which, sadly Obama didn’t RSVP. Catherine showed her new Real Housewives “girlfriends” a cellphone pic Charles snapped of sexy, suave VP Joe Biden in the back of a limo. But that was then, when Bravo cameras were filming the episode, somewhere in the misty, murky early summer of 2009. A year later Reliable Source reported “Real Housewives of D.C.’s” Catherine Ommanney and husband Charles split, even before show airs.

Reliable Source:

When reality TV entered her life, Ommanney was both extremely new to her marriage and extremely new to Washington. Few in D.C. cocktail culture had heard of the blond, British mother of two when her name surfaced in connection with the show’s taping last year. And it was only in the summer of 2008 that she wed the prizewinning photojournalist, after a brief courtship in England, and followed him to the States.

Sources close to the production have described Ommanney as well-liked by the rest of the cast, and by most indications she hasn’t provided as much drama as, say, her White House-dinner-crashing co-star Michaele Salahi. (Bravo hasn’t officialy unveiled the cast, but other presumed stars include McLean socialite and mom Mary Amons, D.C. real estate agent Stacie Turner and modeling agency owner Lynda Erkiletian.)
Media Life Magazine:

The freshest-feeling member of the group is Catherine Ommanney, a British interior designer and writer who divorced her husband and moved with their two children to the States to marry a fellow Brit who’s a White House photographer. Despite her posh-sounding accent, Cat proves to be the biggest boor of all when she can’t stop bragging about her husband and sharing unwelcome opinions at a little party Stacie throws.

On June 18th the New York Times reported Catherine and Charles’ split occurred after taping ended with the shutters now drawn on the “pretty yellow clapboard house” the Ommanney’s rented, Catherine’s daughters “shipped back to England to live with their father”.

In July of 2006 the Daily Mail published an article about Catherine Ommanney who at the time was Catherine Davies, a divorced 34-yr-old mother of two. Catherine caused a sensation after sharing a night out and a passionate kiss with then 21-yr-old Prince Harry. The following quote is from the Daily Mail article. An article which Catherine, who didn’t want to reveal the “details”, delivered to the press the equivalent of a short story about her night and her kiss with Prince Harry.

Well-spoken Catherine is not the archetypal ‘kiss and tell’ girl. The daughter of an entrepreneur, she was born in Marlborough and educated at private school Dauntsey’s before moving to London and starting her property development and interior design business.

She married in 1997 and had two daughters, Ruby and Jade, now aged six and eight, with husband Stephen. The couple separated two years ago and she now lives in London with their children. It is understood they were being cared for by the nanny during Catherine’s night out.

Her only reason for breaking her silence, she says, is to set the record straight over her encounter with Harry. Rumours that she and the Prince did more than kiss have infuriated her.

“I had no intention of ever saying what happened that night,’ says Catherine. “The only reason I am is because somebody else squealed and I’m being absolutely hounded. Nothing happened and nothing ever is going to happen. We had a great time and a fun evening. I’ve committed no crime and nor has he.”

The RHODC Videos From Premiere Night

A few videos from last night of the RHODC.

Catherine Ommanney-RHODC

Post from Guest of a Guest.

By Gabrielle Bluestone
Despite her British roots, Cat Ommanney appears firmly rooted here in D.C. (why else would Bravo cast her as a Real Housewife?) Today we take a look at the only foreigner in the D.C. cast.


Interestingly, this Housewife is much more elusive on the internet than our past bio subjects, Mary Amons and Lynda Erkiletian.

Family: Rumored to be separated from her husband, Newsweek photographer Charles Ommanney. Mother of two children.

Jade

Ruby

Catchphrase: On 13-years-younger Prince Harry: ?He kissed me, I didn't kiss him. I did nothing wrong. I certainly wasn't trying to seduce a 21-year-old."

Of all the new Housewives, Ommanney may be the biggest stretch in terms of representing D.C. The blond British interior designer wed prizewinning Newsweek photographer Charles Ommanney in 2008 and moved stateside with him and her two children from a previous marriage.

While Ommanney?s turn on Real Housewives of D.C. may bring her celebrity, the show will hardly be her first stint in the press. The blond garnered notoriety after revealing details to the British press of a night spent flirting with ? and kissing ? Prince Harry.

And although the Salahis may have enjoyed the most negative public attention from their White House crashing antics, it seems Ommanney also suffered from filming the first season. According to the Washington Post, the show contributed to the dissolution of her marriage.

"There's no question that having a television crew in their home all those months was a huge strain,? a friend told the Post.

Catherine Ommanney-RHODC splits with hubby

Here is an article from The Reliable Source-Washington Post about one of the RHODC getting a divorce.

By: Roxanne Roberts & Amy Argetsinger

Real Housewives of D.C.'s Catherine Ommanney and husband Charles split, even before show airs.

Even before the series airs, one of "The Real Housewives of D.C." is on her way to becoming an ex-wife.

Catherine Ashley Ommanney, one of five local women that a TV crew tracked for several months over the past year, is expected to be announced soon as a cast member of the hit Bravo franchise's upcoming Beltway edition. And we've learned that she and her husband, veteran Newsweek photographer Charles Ommanney, have recently separated.

"There's no question that having a television crew in their home all those months was a huge strain," a friend of the couple told us.

Reality TV can be hard on relationships -- both LuAnn de Lesseps of "The Real Housewives of New York City" and Tamra Barney of the original "Real Housewives of Orange County" split with their husbands after the show catapulted them to fame.

When reality TV entered her life, Ommanney was both extremely new to her marriage and extremely new to Washington. Few in D.C. cocktail culture had heard of the blond, British mother of two when her name surfaced in connection with the show's taping last year. And it was only in the summer of 2008 that she wed the prizewinning photojournalist, after a brief courtship in England, and followed him to the States.

Sources close to the production have described Ommanney as well-liked by the rest of the cast, and by most indications she hasn't provided as much drama as, say, her White House-dinner-crashing co-star Michaele Salahi. (Bravo hasn't officialy unveiled the cast, but other presumed stars include McLean socialite and mom Mary Amons, D.C. real estate agent Stacie Turner and modeling agency owner Lynda Erkiletian.)

Yet, as we reported last month, Ommanney does have a flair for the sensational: In 2006, when she was known as Catherine Davies, Ommanney blabbed to a British tabloid about her brief make-out session with much-younger Prince Harry. And friends say she has a dishy memoir in the works.