Kristen Taekman To Appear On ‘RHONY’ Still? Says She’ll ‘Still Be Around’

Kristen Taekman has revealed that she won’t be a starring housewife on Season 8 of The Real Housewives of New York City, but does that mean that viewers won’t be seeing her at all?

On Monday, Kristen announced that after two seasons, she won’t be holding an apple for next season’s opening credits. She posted a message to her Instagram account in which she said that while she has had a great experience on the show and made some great friends as a result of it, she has decided to now concentrate on her family and business ventures. She added that she “will remain a Housewife and part of an amazing franchise forever.”

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In response to a fan who wrote that it’s terrible news because Kristen’s her favorite housewife, Kristen replied that she’ll “still be around.”

“ohhhhh I’ll still be around don’t worry!”

Perhaps Kristen’s response, combined with her comment that she “will remain a Housewife,” means that while she won’t be a starring housewife next season, she’ll be a recurring housewife or pop up on a few episodes from time to time? Or perhaps she simply means that fans will still get to see what’s she doing via her fashion blog and media appearances?

Kristen’s announcement received a lot of comments, both bad and good. Her fans told her that they’ll miss her presence on the show, since she was one of the more “normal” and “nicer” housewives. Others told her that while they’ll miss her on the show, they’re glad that she’s getting away from the drama to focus on more important and positive things.

At the same time, Kristen’s critics weren’t shy about letting her know what they think of her announcement. Many people speculated that Kristen is leaving the show because she doesn’t want her husband’s Ashley Madison drama to be a story line. They guessed that she’s too embarrassed about it and/or is afraid of more things coming to light should she continue to stay in the limelight.

Some people wrote that the show’s producers probably told Kristen Taekman that she needs to talk about her marriage and film with her husband, Josh Taekman, if she wants a spot on the eighth season, much like what happened to Vicki Gunvalson of The Real Housewives of Orange County.

In December 2014, Vicki told Us Weekly that producers threatened to reduce her role on the show if she didn’t film with her then-boyfriend Brooks Ayers.

“It’s really frightening bringing back Brooks into my life publicly. [Bravo] basically put the gauntlet down and said, ‘If you don’t film with Brooks, then we are reducing your role.’ And I was like, ‘Oh no! You did not just say that!'”

As viewers of The Real Housewives of Orange County have seen, Vicki’s relationship with Brooks, a controversial figure disliked by many of the show’s fans, has been a major focus on the current 10th season. The two announced their split in August. Vicki’s critics have bashed her for her involvement with Brooks, who have been accused by the other housewives of faking his cancer diagnoses.

Does Kristen not want her relationship under intense scrutiny like as has happened with Vicki and Brooks? During Kristen’s premiere season on The Real Housewives of New York City, the problems in her marriage to Josh, who wasn’t shown in a favorable light and came off badly, was a major story line. On the next season, Season 7, Kristen’s drama came instead from her interactions with her co-stars and Josh was hardly seen.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Josh was outed in August as someone who used the marital cheating site Ashley Madison years ago. He initially denied any involvement with the site and claimed that he didn’t even know what it was. Yet days later, he admitted that he had signed up for the site. He claimed that he signed up for it as a joke with some of his male friends. He did not address the leaked records that show that he spent thousands on the site to send messages to other users.

Two weeks ago, Kristen Taekman pretty much confirmed that she and Josh Taekman have worked through the scandal. She declared that “love conquers all.”

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[Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images]