The gift that keeps on giving — flying legs! Aviva Drescher certainly takes the cake for most outlandish catfight in the history of the Bravo Real Housewives franchise. The former Real Housewives of New York City star sent the Internet into a frenzy when she infamously tossed her prosthetic leg across the room at ultra-posh N.Y. restaurant Le Cirque during the show’s July 2014 season six finale. Drescher insists the ridiculous move was a strategic play for the cameras, however, telling HuffPost Live on Jan. 6 that the incident was an attempt to “earn [her] keep.”
Drescher, 44, who was unceremoniously fired after a two-season run on RHONY, famously slammed her leg on the restaurant table, exclaiming, as her costars called her a phony, “The only thing fake about me is this!”
“I look at being a Housewife as a job to entertain people, and, you know, it was a piece of the entertainment,” Drescher told HuffPost Live. “The highest ratings of the entire season was that episode.”
The mother of four said that while she didn’t get any sort of “bonus” for the dramatic moment, the move was part of her strategy to earn a spot on the show’s seventh season.
“You start the season, you get one salary, and that’s that, and you know, I just feel an obligation to earn my keep,” she revealed. “You know, I got a certain salary, and I was there, and I was asked to be dramatic. We know they love that, and I tried my best.”
Drescher, who will be gracing reality television again alongside her husband Reid Drescher on WE tv’s Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars starting Jan. 9, insisted the behavior wasn’t indicative of her actions off-camera.
“In my real life, have I ever thrown anything? Never,” the leggy blonde author insisted. “Would I ever do that in real life? No. But there were several cameras around me, and was I thinking about making a show and be entertaining? Yes, absolutely.”
Drescher said she was “surprised” that her contract wasn’t renewed for RHONY, but felt the decision was “very political.” The amputee said receiving the news of her firing wasn’t “dramatic” — in fact, it was just a phone call. Drescher said she knew when she first joined the show she wasn’t guaranteed beyond that season.
“I don’t feel like I got let go by the Obama cabinet or anything,” she laughed. “I can live with not being a good reality star, I’m okay with that.”
While she refused to say which of her costars she thinks pushed for her removal, the Vassar grad harbors no ill will toward showrunner Andy Cohen.
“It was a business decision, and I’m sure [Cohen] made the right decision,” she said, “and it didn’t really change my life one way or another.”
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