Just because there’s a whole crop of Real Housewives gallivanting around D.C. doesn’t mean there’s not room for one more.
Jill Zarin, of the “Real Housewives of New York City” cast, is popping down to Washington this weekend to speak at the Bone and Joint Decade Global Network Conference. Mixed in with the cocktail parties, charity events and catfights depicted on “Housewives,” Zarin has used the TV show as a vehicle to depict that arthritis is more than a disease that just afflicts old people: Her 16-year-old daughter, Ally, has it. And recently stepson Jonathan was diagnosed with Still’s disease, another form of arthritis.
“Nobody thinks that arthritis affects children,” Zarin told Yeas & Nays. “That’s one of the reasons why we did the show.”
As part of dealing with her kids’ arthritis, Zarin said she knew what it was like to battle with insurance companies, though she said she wouldn’t be chomping off the whole health care debate while she was in town.
“That’s heavy,” she said. “And I hate to say I’m not smart enough to understand, [but] nobody knows what it is, so nobody can support it,” she added.
Zarin is filming season three of the New York “Housewives” franchise, which has added two new New Yorkers to the cast.
“It’s so explosive that I’m not sure if I’m going to watch it when it airs,” she said.
As for the D.C. cast of “Housewives,” she gave this advice: “Don’t look at the cameras.”
And even though she chats with members of other casts, like New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice, she has yet to meet the Washingtonians.
“We are not supposed to interfere in other people’s shows,” she said.
