The real prenups of Real Housewives: Which wives signed on the legal line?

Money and marriage go hand-in-hand in the Real Housewives world. Find out which wives signed prenups before getting hitched.

If you are somehow not familiar, Andy Cohen’s Then and Now is a delightful Bravo installment from the Real Housewives godfather that is essentially Throwback Thursday come to life. Cohen regularly reflects on big headlines and iconic moments of decades-past. Especially as they relate to the current Bravolebs. Most recently, the man in charge grilled Real Housewives past and present about prenups.

In a “Revelations” segment, Cohen spoke to (mostly) Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — but also some appearances from Orange County and Atlanta — about whether they signed a prenup before marrying their husbands. The answers may surprise you, but they all stand to reason.

Camille Grammer // Beverly Hills // No Prenup

Once-wife of Kelsey Grammer and now staple of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reports that he must have loved her enough to be believe they’d be together for ever at one point because he didn’t insist on a prenup — they never even talked about it. As a result, she gets $30 million in spousal support after he called her up before the Tony Awards in the middle of the night to tell her he was done with their marriage. Nice, Kelsey.

In any case, she won’t make the same mistake: If she gets married again, she says she’s absolutely getting a prenup.

Kyle Richards // Beverly Hills // No Prenup

Kyle makes a good point: When she married Mauricio Urmanksy, the couple “didn’t have two nickels to rub together.” But, she’s very pro-prenup — or at least pro-self interest, saying that if she were to marry someone with less money than her, she’d make them sign a prenup, but if she were marrying someone with more money than her, she wouldn’t sign one.

Herself an actress, Mauricio has since made their fortune in real estate so were things to end poorly, they were be more to deal with than a dime.

Lisa Vanderpump// Beverly Hills // No Prenup

Another case of a pre-money marriage. Lisa reports they “didn’t have enough money to worry about” at the time of marriage — and of course, they were very, distractingly in love.

Erika Jayne // Beverly Hills // No Prenup

Erika might have our favorite reasoning yet. Take it away Erika:

"But let me tell you something, let me be very clear. I’m married to a very powerful lawyer. A prenup wouldn’t stand in his way anyway. So it doesn’t matter whether you had one or you didn’t, It’s gonna be all Tom’s way, I assure you. He’ll rip that piece of paper to shreds in two seconds!"

Shannon Beador // Orange County // No Prenup

Shannon reports that she knows “a lot” of people in Orange County with prenups, but she is not one of them. She then waxes nostalgic about prenups being “unromantic” — which, fair, but also money is money and we’re talking about a lot of money.

Kandi Burruss // Atlanta // Prenup

Kandi’s no fool. The only woman to participate in Andy Cohen’s Then and Now to admit to a prenup also had a fortune of her own to protect. The prenup conversation was “very tense for us” — and in fact, you may remember it from the on-screen antics of Real Housewives of Atlanta. Her now-husband, Todd Tucker, said she was being cold, but honestly she laid it out pretty straight:

"I love my husband, I loved him then, I love him now, I don’t ever want us to get divorced, but…This is not saying I don’t love you, it’s just saying if we fall out, this is what it is."

This all leaves us super curious about the other ladies’ marital arrangements. Especially in New York, where rumors about the longevity of Luann and Tom D’Agostino’s marriage started swirling before the vows were even exchanged.

Frankly, Kyle has it right. Self-interest dictates to push for a prenup when its your wealth and play the odds when its your partner’s. But, of course, that’s not very romantic, is it?