Celebrity News

Pay up for first ‘Wives,’ peanuts for new ones

“Real Housewives of NY” veterans LuAnn de Lesseps and Ramona Singer will rake in major moolah after surviving Bravo’s recent cuts. After Kelly Bensimon, Alex McCord and Jill Zarin were unceremoniously sacked by the network last month, Lesseps and Singer’s salaries jumped from $275,000 per season to a whopping $500,000, sources confirmed — a far cry from the show’s early days when, sources say, “Housewives” like Zarin eked out $7,500 per season. But the replacement stars won’t be rolling in dough: Sources say they’ll make a paltry $5,000 per episode. Returning Sonja Morgan got a pay hike, sources added, but the bump didn’t hit the heights of the more tenured cast. “Would a girl talk about how much she gets paid?” Morgan responded when we asked about a raise. “Would the countess, with her manners, or Ramona, with her business sense, tell you that?” Apparently Bravo reps wouldn’t tell you such things either: They had no comment.