Martina Navratilova’s partner Julia Lemigova, the first openly gay housewife, will make her reality debut in The Real Housewives of Miami in two weeks.
While former franchise members like Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Brandi Glanville have come forward as part of the LGBTQ + community, the 49-year-old star is the first to identify as gay in her first season.
In the new tear-filled trailer for RHOM, Julia appears to avoid drama as her co-stars like Larsa Pippen and Adriana de Moura clash, as she is seen kissing his tennis ace wife, Martina.
Making History: Martina Navratilova’s wife Julia Lemigova, the first openly gay housewife, will make her reality debut in The Real Housewives of Miami in two weeks (seen in the teaser above)
New Edit: Lemigova (left), who was once Miss USSR, is part of the cast of The Real Housewives Of Miami cover (pictured with wife Martina Navratilova, right, in 2019)
While she does several cameos in the teaser, the preview is mostly about the drama between many women and Pippen.
Julia, who was once Miss USSR, was announced as part of the cast of The Real Housewives Of Miami cover in late October.
Martina and Julia are both from the former Eastern Bloc – the tennis star was from communist Czechoslovakia and his wife from the Soviet Union.
Mixing the New and the Old: The series will star returning housewives Alexia Echevarria, Lisa Hochstein and Larsa Pippen as well as Guerdy Abraira, Julia Lemigova and Dr Nicole Martin
“I guess our similar origins in Eastern Europe provided the connection early on,” Julia later told the Daily Mail. “There was a lot of commonality. I remember she was very funny and we laughed a lot.
Born to a father colonel of the Red Army in Moscow, Julia became Miss USSR in 1990, just one year before the disintegration of the country.
Julia is one of three new faces to join the cast as a housewife, alongside event organizer Guerdy Abraira and anesthesiologist Nicole Martin.
At one point, Adriana de Moura ruthlessly criticized Larsa Pippen for “trying to be the new Kim Kardashian”.
Model: The former Russian beauty queen is married to Navratilova, who was hailed as one of the best female tennis players in the world in the late 1970s and early 1980s
Unbelievable: In the preview, Adriana de Moura ruthlessly slammed Pippen for “trying to be the new Kim Kardashian”
The original winner in 1990 was a Belarusian girl named Maria Kezha, but when she was disqualified, Julia won the title.
Julia, who also had a nude modeling career before her marriage, became the second runner-up in Miss Universe 1991.
She moved her professional life to Western Europe and eventually got involved with eccentric banker Edouard Stern, one of the richest men in France.
Throwback: The series initially ran for three seasons on Bravo about a decade ago; Lea Black, Joanna Krupa, Marysol Patton and Ana Quincoces are pictured in the initial race
Old faces: Larsa Pippen (right) and Alexia Echevarria (center) return to the series as full housewives while former housewife Kiki Barth (left) will be as a friend ( seen in July)
They had a baby in 1999, but he tragically died of internal injuries at the age of five months, just days after Julia hired a Bulgarian nanny who quickly disappeared after the infant died.
Years later, she told the Daily Mail that the official investigation “had been stopped without me being able to do any further research, so it was beyond my control.” You can’t force these things. We couldn’t go any further, which made my loss even more painful.
Edouard was discovered shot dead in pink latex after a sadomasochistic bondage session in his Geneva residence in 2005, and his lover Cécile Brossard was finally found guilty of murdering him.
Remember when: Born to a father colonel of the Red Army in Moscow, Julia became Miss USSR in 1990, just a year before the disintegration of the country; photographed in 1991 in London
Julia and Martina were involved for years before the world-famous athlete was offered on television at the US Open in September 2014.
They tied the knot three months later in New York City with a guest list of names ranging from Brooke Shields to Mayor Bill De Blasio.
Julia had already had two daughters – Emma and Victoria – before meeting Martina whom she said the children “loved” from the start.
Her children “speak French to each other, English to Martina and Russian to me”, while Martina and Julia communicate with each other in English.
Meanwhile, in the new teaser, Adriana de Moura ruthlessly criticizes Pippen for “trying to be the new Kim Kardashian.”
Frederic Marq’s wife, who previously worked as an art gallery manager, hurled the insult at Pippen during a fiery dinner in front of the entire cast.
‘You left this group of women [after season one]Come back with an ass as big as Kim Kardashian’s, trying to be the new Kim Kardashian, which you’ll never be, “the 56-year-old Brazilian model shouted from across the table.
As Pippen glanced irritably at the camera, while running her fingers through her hair, her costars were speechless at de Moura’s tirade.
In the clip, Larsa admits to being “obsessed” with creating content for her OnlyFans – a site known for hosting X-rated images and videos sold to fans by sex workers and models.
“If you make $ 10,000 a day, you show more of it,” Alexia Echevarria said, hinting that Larsa was undressing on the subscription social media platform.
The series initially ran for three seasons on Bravo from 2011 to 2013 before becoming one of the only Housewife franchises to be canceled.
However, the program has been revived for Peacock and will premiere in December with a new cast list reported by Page Six.
Pippen, who was only on the show’s first season during his Bravo years, is one of the old faces returning for the reboot.
Lisa Hochstein and Alexia Echevarria, who are both also alumni of the original race, will also have housewife status on the Peacock show.
Fans of the original Bravo series will also get to see a handful of familiar faces that don’t return in full capacity as a housewife.
Marysol Patton, Kiki Barth and Adriana De Moura, who were housewives on the Bravo show, will now feature as a guest star known as a “friend” of the cast.
The New Russia: Julia is pictured in 1991 during a photoshoot for the opening of a Littlewoods store in former Leningrad, which was recently renamed St. Petersburg.