Meet the Real Housewives of Auckland

Scout introduces you to the Real Housewives of Auckland. / Supplied

After months of staying schtum, Scout can now reveal the most exciting news to hit local television in years: Bravo New Zealand has commissioned Real Housewives of Auckland, the first local version of the global smash-hit franchise.Pre-production is underway with Matchbox Pictures, who are responsible for Real Housewives of Melbourne, and the show featuring six pampered and privileged ladies of Auckland will premiere in August exclusively on the new Bravo channel, formerly Four.

Scout can reveal the identities of the six glamorous Real Housewives of Auckland.

ANGELA STONE

 

Divorced, three children, lives in NewmarketAngela is a fun, focused and creative fashion designer, stylist, author, lifestyle guru and mother. Along with her own wine label and her work as an international speaker on fashion and styling, Angela runs her own successful stylist service company which is based in both Auckland and her home town of Christchurch.

GILDA KIRKPATRICK

 

Divorced, two children, lives in Paritai Drive

Known for being queen of Auckland’s social scene, Iranian-born Gilda lives in the famous “wedding cake” house on Paritai Drive with her partner, their two young sons, Lucan and Kyan, and two dogs. She owns and runs Rascals, an inner-city advertising and PR agency. Once dubbed the “Princess of Paritai”, she was formerly married to self-made property tycoon James Kirkpatrick. She is a gourmet cook, a prolific dinner party host, a talented artist and a designer with a Bachelor of Architecture degree. Last year, she debuted her new venture as a children’s book author, with her first book of a long-running series: The Astarons: Cosmic Guardians which she produced in conjunction with astrophysicists from Auckland University. She has been invited to attend book fairs around the globe.

JULIA SLOANE

 

Married, two children, lives in Parnell

Author, businesswoman, athlete and former model, Julia is a familiar face in upmarket Parnell. Julia has recently remarried and is a mother of two teenagers, Dunbar, 15, and Ella, 13, as well as a successful children’s author - she has penned six. Julia is further developing a successful online database for jobseekers with her brother. Her former husband, auctioneer Dunbar Sloane, remains a good friend and visits Julia and her investment banker husband at his award-winning vineyard in Matakana.

LOUISE WALLACE

Married, two children, lives in Paritai Drive

A 30-year veteran television broadcaster and trained actor, Louise is best-known to local television viewers as the presenter of flagship current affairs shows, 60 Minutes and 20/20. Louise has also worked as a journalist in radio, print and as a field director for reality television. She has been married to advertising man Scott for 33 years. The couple share a palatial Paritai Drive home and have two adult children, Ashley, 24, and Guy, 21. A trained actor, Louise founded Tadpole Theatre Productions on the North Shore. She played the lead role in two of Tadpole’s plays as well as appearing in a number of local primetime TV drama series.

MICHELLE BLANCHARD

 

Married, two children, lives in Coatesville

A former fashion model who hails from England who has been turning heads on the Auckland social scene for years. It was while holidaying in New Zealand that she first met her husband of 16 years, David Blanchard, former director of the family company Good Health Products. The couple have two children, Curtis, 14, and Christelle, 12. She sports a love of fast cars (she drives a Maserati Ghilbi) and high fashion.

ANNE BATLEY BURTON

Married, lives in Parnell with her husband Richard

The self-declared “Champagne Lady”, Anne is an importer of champagne and French wine. In 2007, the former ballroom dancing champ was made a Dame of Champagne. She is an animal advocate and the recipient of the SPCA Assisi Award. She founded the New Zealand Cat Foundation to de-sex and care for stray and community cats. She owns an olive oil estate in Huapai with her husband, and a home in France.

  

Real Housewives of Auckland will provide an exclusive look into the glamorous galas, scandals and enormous egos of this group of luxury-loving ladies as they navigate the social scene of the city’s elite, while juggling husbands, boyfriends, careers and families.Pedigree and status may grant an automatic invite to the most glitzy gatherings in town but one stiletto out of place could shift anyone on to the blacklist and trigger social suicide.
Pecking orders and relationships are at stake when old-money meets new-money meets no-money.

Real Housewives of Auckland, which goes to air in August, is the first local version of the global franchise and the first local production featuring on Bravo New Zealand, which is a groundbreaking joint venture between MediaWorks and NBC Universal International Networks.