This interview was conducted on Monday, July 3, before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
June Diane Raphael is a woman of many talents.
The Grace and Frankie star has simultaneously maintained a stellar acting career and made a considerable name for herself in the podcast space — all while making sure she catches the latest Real Housewives every week!
Raphael chats exclusively with OK! about the power of telling women's stories at any age, her deep love of Bravo and her latest true crime comedy Based on a True Story.
"The number of women who come up to me and say that Grace and Frankie and those characters were proposing a scenario that they had never thought of before that they now want is amazing," she says of the unique storyline.
"The idea that growing older as a woman, where we're told over and over by our society that we lose currency and our value, that actually we might gain more humanity, s-------, humor and even business acclaim is so powerful," the "The Deep Dive with Jessica St. Clair and June Diane Raphael" podcast cohost explains.
The blonde beauty's point of view bleeds into her love of the Real Housewives franchise. "It's such a celebration, and I'm not the first person to talk about this. But it is such a celebration of middle-aged women aging in their glory," she notes.
"We have made these civilian middle-aged women into celebrities," she notes, referring to Bethenny Frankel and NeNe Leakes, who are fierce women in the Bravo world. "There's something about that I really f------ love."
The latest tale the funny lady is focused on telling, along with her real-life podcast cohost Jessica St. Clair, is her role in Peacock's Based on a True Story, where the two play the murder-loving "Sisters in Crime" podcasting duo, alongside the likes of Kaley Cuocoand Chris Messina.
Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!
"So much of this is sort of the origin story of how Jessica Sinclair and I came to these roles is hilarious to me because I used to joke all the time on our podcast about how I invented podcasts," Raphael sarcastically quips before getting serious about melting her two worlds together.
"To me that's incredibly powerful," she notes of being a pioneer in the medium. "Hearing women's voices, and definitely comedy podcast, how that resonated with our female audience and how important it was is major."
Based on a True Story is now streaming on Peacock.
