Real Housewives Marriages That Didn't Survive Reality TV

File this under: reality TV traditions you might want to leave off camera. Across the Housewives universe, couples who re-tie the knot on TV have a funny way of untying it later. Call it coincidence, call it a curse — the pattern keeps popping up.

The vow-renewal talk that will not die

Back in April 2021, Dorit Kemsley told Us Weekly that Kyle Richards basically begged her not to do a vow renewal on camera. Kyle has seen how that storyline tends to end.

'Anyone she knows who renewed their vows... went on to get divorced.'

Dorit said that warning stuck with her, but she also pushed back on the whole curse idea. In her view, people love to say there is a Housewives marriage curse and divorces happen when you join the show, but if your relationship is actually solid, it survives the spotlight.

Still, fans are not imagining the trend. Across the franchises, more than a few couples have renewed vows on TV, then later filed for divorce — which is why the curse chatter keeps coming up.

Receipts, by franchise and timeline

We even had a weird little stat for a while: The Real Housewives of Dallas stood alone as the only Housewives show without a cast divorce storyline tied to the series — at least until The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City launched in 2020 and briefly shared that clean sheet. The streak did not last.

• May 2021: Dallas finally saw its first post-show split when Kary Brittingham announced at the season 5 reunion that she and Eduardo Brittingham were divorcing.
• July 2023: One of the franchise's biggest shockers — Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky separated after 27 years together. As of now, they have not filed for divorce, but the breakup rattled Beverly Hills fans.
• April 2026: Over in New York, RHONY's David Craig filed for divorce from his wife, Sai De Silva, after nearly a decade of marriage.

So yeah — if your producer pitches a vow-renewal episode, maybe think twice. Or at least keep the cameras pointed at the cake.