American attorney and television host Eboni K. Williams recently announced that she would be joining the cast of The Real Housewives of New York for season 13 in 2021.
Her recruitment makes Williams the show’s first Black cast member. Williams follows in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Garcelle Beauvais’s footsteps, as Beauvais became the first-ever Black housewife on their Beverly Hills series.
“This isn’t a lecture hall, nobody’s doing any classroom instruction, but it is an authentic revealing of some really essential dope parts of New York,” Williams on People’s TV show. “I don’t know how you have this show for 13 years and you don’t reveal and revere those aspects of Black culture as they so deeply correlate with the New York City experience.”
She continued: “This is not the first time I’ve been the first Black woman in a space. I was the first Black woman at my law firm coming out of law school,” she said. “When you are privileged to be the first, you represent your entire culture. I’m not just on this show as Eboni K. Williams, in many ways, I’m on this show representing Black womanhood. I take that responsibility very seriously. I don’t have the option to be a shrinking violet.”
Her arrival may mean that the ladies of the previously all-white cast will have to weigh in on race issues, which will likely have at least a couple of them squirming in their seats.
“We’re going to have all the race discussions,” says Williams. “I’m not somebody to bite my tongue and I don’t hold back. And that’s not for the sake of confrontation, that’s only for the sake of growth.”
