Crystal Kung Minkoff, founder of Real Coco and wife to the animated Lion King director Rob Minkoff, is set to join the season 11 cast of the Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills (RHOBH) as the show’s first-ever Asian-American housewife.
The entrepreneur and mother of two will be the latest addition to the series upon the exits of Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave and Denise Richards, whose contracts were not renewed. Arroyave said on Instagram, “Of course I could give you the standard response of, ‘Oh we both came to the decision that it would be best.’ Nah, I’m not going to do that — that’s not who I am. Of course when I got the news I was sad. It feels like a breakup, almost,” the former housewife said. “Because you develop such strong relationships with the cast, with the crew. And you get to do incredible things that you probably never get to experience without the show.”
Crystal’s list of accomplishments prior to her television debut include being the founder of Real Coco, a company that centers around coconut-related products, and raising her child alongside her husband, Richard, the director of The Haunted Mansion, Stuart Little and Stuart Little 2. The couple has been married for 13 years, which the new housewife called in a recent Instagram caption the “best decision I’ve ever made.”
Crystal will bring some much-needed diversity to the historically all-white series that has only brought new people of color into the fold in recent years. Real Housewives of New York City only welcomed its first African American housewife, Eboni K. Williams, after 12 seasons. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s new Muslim housewife, Jen Shah, will make her debut in November.
