L’amour in the City of Light! Real Girlfriends in Paris has already sparked plenty of comparisons to a certain Netflix series about the French capital, but the cast says the two shows couldn’t be more different.
“Emily in Paris is obviously a lot more romanticized than what Paris is really like,” Margaux Lignel exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the Bravo show’s Monday, September 5, premiere. “You’ll see a realer aspect of that. There’ll be comparisons, but I hope that [viewers] will be able to see truly what Paris is through my eyes, through [Victoria Zito‘s] eyes, through [Adja Toure‘s] eyes, whoever. It’s different through all of our eyes.”
While the cast even has its own Emily — Emily Gorelik, who was born and raised in New Jersey — there’s little similarity besides the two women sharing the same name.
“First of all, I do not have a hot neighbor living downstairs,” the luxury design management student joked to Us, referring to Emily’s (Lily Collins) off-and-on love interest Gabriel (Lucas Bravo). “I think the biggest misconception is just the fact that Emily comes here and things just fall into her lap. “It’s very cliché in the sense of romance, or like, business. There are moments like that, but there are so much more in-depth, little micro occurrences that happen here as an American.”
While some of the cast will spend season 1 searching for love in Paris, Victoria is more focused on her professional life after a recent divorce.
“That was probably one of the hardest things that I’ve ever been through in my entire life,” the Texas native told Us of her split. “No matter what your age, a divorce is still a divorce, and it’s still a dream stolen.”
Despite the heartbreak, the Chloe Colette designer is grateful for what the breakup taught her about herself. “You really learn who you are and what you want and what you don’t want out of life and in a relationship,” she explained.
Anya Firestone, for her part, is in the process of planning a wedding to her fiancé, Mathieu Rasset. The tour guide admitted that it was “difficult” for her partner to adjust to life in front of the camera, but she’s happy that fans will get to see the reality of their life together.
“I know many people will say, ‘Oh, this is so fake or staged,’” she told Us. “But actually, I felt very good about showing people the authentic me and the authentic us.”
As with any good reality show, there’s also some occasional tension between the cast — but Emily encouraged viewers to tune in and find out what really goes down. “With any girlfriend group, there’s always drama,” she explained. “There’s always some kind of gossip happening, but you’ll just have to watch and see.”
Real Girlfriends in Paris premieres on Bravo Monday, September 5, at 9:15 PM ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
