The Second Coming of Luann

Luann de Lesseps defied expectations by not only surviving but thriving in her post-Housewives life — with the requisite bumps along the way. She invited Us into her Hamptons home to get a closeup look at her happiest era yet

- BY POLLY HUDSON

Luann de Lesseps is aging in reverse. At home in Sag Harbor, New York, the 60-year-old Real Housewives of New York City icon is wrinkle-free and snatched — but that’s not the most impressive thing about her.

She has an unmistakable joie de vivre and a mischievous spirit. Most former Housewives disappear into obscurity when the reality spotlight fades, but De Lesseps is booked, busy and thriving. She's reinvented herself as a cabaret star, with upcoming dates on her Lu-Niverse Show into next year and as far-flung as Australia.

It’s not just her career that’s red-hot. De Lesseps has never hidden her sex-positive outlook, and that hasn’t changed with age. Earlier this year, she starred in season 1 of the dating show Bravo's Love Hotel, where she did on screen what she does in life: try men on for size and move on when they don't fit.

Instead of fading into the background, she’s unapologetically taking center stage. “I’m living my best life, and there just happens to be a six in front of my age,” which, she admits with a laugh, “I’m not thrilled about. But it doesn’t interfere with the way I live my life.”

Practically nothing does. She’s picked herself up and dusted herself off literally — after falling into a bush on an infamous RHONY trip to Mexico in 2017 — and metaphorically, after an arrest the same year for disorderly conduct and other charges. You simply cannot keep a good countess down.

The Connecticut native — one of seven kids — initially pursued a nursing career, but fate had other plans: The 5-foot-10 bombshell was scouted to be a model on the streets of New York at 23. An unlikely stint as cohost of an Italian soccer show followed — as did a marriage to Count Alexandre de Lesseps in 1993 (they have two kids, Victoria, 30, and Noel, 29) — and in 2008, she was asked to join the cast of the NYC franchise of a relatively new reality show.