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If you’re a Bravoholic, you may have wondered about Andy Cohen’s net worth and how much he makes as the host of The Real Housewives, Watch What Happens Live and other shows.
Cohen, whose full name is Andrew Joseph Cohen, was born on June 2, 1968, in St. Louis, Missouri. His television career started more than three decades ago when he interned at CBS News with Julie Chen. He worked at CBS News for 10 years, serving as a producer for programs like The Early Show, 48 Hours and CBS This Morning, before joining the television network, Trio, in 2000. After Trio was bought by Bravo in 2004, Cohen became the Vice President of Original Programming. He later became the Executive Vice President of Development and Talent at Bravo, which he continued to work as until 2013 when he stepped down to focus his efforts on Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise.
The Real Housewives franchise started in 2006 with the premiere of The Real Housewives of Orange County. The original series—which starred five affluent women from Orange County, California—led to the creation of Housewives shows in nine other cities across the United States and the world: New York City, Atlanta, New Jersey, D.C., Beverly Hills, Miami, Potomac, Dallas, Salt Lake City and Dubai. RHODC and RHOD have since been cancelled. In 2009, Cohen also premiered his late-night talk show, Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. He’s also gone on to host his own SiriusXM radio show, Andy Cohen Live, as well as a New Year’s Eve special, CNN’s New Year’s Eve, with his co-host and friend Anderson Cooper.
“There’s never been a point in my career where I haven’t felt like I made it, because I just felt like getting in the door meant that I made it,” Cohen told Variety in 2022. He continued, “I just feel like it’s a fantasy. I came from St. Louis. My family was in the food business. We had no ties to television, no real connections. And so that made it all the cooler for me to kind of figure it out on my own and work my way up.”
So what is Andy Cohen’s net worth and how much does he make from The Real Housewives? Read on for what we know about Andy Cohen’s net worth and how much he makes from The Real Housewives, Watch What Happens Live and other shows.
How much does Andy Cohen make from The Real Housewives?
Image: Nicole Weingart/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images.
How much does Andy Cohen make from The Real Housewives? Cohen is the executive producer and host for all eleven shows in Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise: The Real Housewives of Orange County; The Real Housewives of New York City; The Real Housewives of Atlanta; The Real Housewives of New Jersey; The Real Housewives of D.C.; The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills; The Real Housewives of Miami; The Real Housewives of Potomac; The Real Housewives of Dallas; The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City; and The Real Housewives of Dubai. (D.C. was cancelled in 2010, while Dallas was cancelled in 2021.)
Along with the Real Housewives franchise, Cohen is also the executive producer and host of Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, as well as hosts the reunions of other Bravo shows such as Below Deck, Below Deck Mediterranean, Below Deck Sailing Yacht, Married to Medicine, Southern Charm, Vanderpump Rules, Shahs of Sunset and Summer House. Before he became the executive producer of The Real Housewives franchise, Cohen was the Executive Vice President of Development and Talent at Bravo and executive producer for Top Chef. So…how much does Andy Cohen make from The Real Housewives? While what Cohen makes from The Real Housewives franchise hasn’t been confirmed, Celebrity Net Worth reports that his annual salary is $10 million, which includes his salary as the executive producer and host of The Real Housewives franchise, his salary as the host of Watch What Happens Live, his salary as the host of other Bravo shows’ reunions, and what he makes from other business opportunities.
“Andy is a creative multihyphenate dynamo, who through his cheeky charm, fascination and fandom, makes you want to hang out with him — either on the seat next to him or on the screen in front of you,” NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Lifestyle Networks president Frances Berwick said in a statement in 2017 after news Cohen extended his contract with NBC Universal. “He’s an integral part of the Bravo family and brand, and we can’t wait to see where he takes Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen next.” The Hollywood Reporter reported in 2012 that Bravo made between $35.6 million to $162 million in ad revenue in from The Real Housewives franchise, a massive increase from before the franchise premiered. The magazine also reported that the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City made $250,000 each for season 5. According to Radar Online, the highest-paid Housewife is Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss, who makes $2.3 million per season.
In an interview with Forbes in 2022, Cohen opened up about how The Real Housewives franchise has had to “constantly” evolve over the years. “We’re thrown curve balls left and right with our talent, sometimes. Things happen very quickly and fans are very quick to react to things. You have to pivot in those ways. You have to pivot when a show is not working and figure out how to fix it,” he said. He also explained why Bravo went international with the franchise for the first time with The Real Housewives of Dubai in 2022. “It has been pretty good, actually. People seem to be really enjoying the show. Certainly the way it’s produced, I think it’s emblematic of what the next wave of the Housewives will look like and what it can look like and it feels modern and refresh and interesting and exciting,” he said.
Cohen also credited The Real Housewives for his success in an interview with Variety in 2022. “‘The Housewives,’ which will be the thing that I wouldn’t be here without and I wouldn’t be getting this star without, it really is a bull’s eye of everything I love: it’s soap operas, it’s dramatic women and it’s reality,” he said. “You just can’t write it. You can never write it, and that’s why I’m still the No. 1 fan, and I’m still totally engaged. I want to see what happens next and it’s why everyone else does. And it’s all in the casting and it’s all in the women. It’s great storytelling, it’s great editing, but overall these women are the stars and we are just all on the ride with them.”
He also told the magazine about his shift from behind the scenes to in front of the camera with Watch What Happens Live in 2009. “I was really excited to be given the opportunity,” he said. “One of the smartest things that I’ve done in my career was that I didn’t go all in on it too quickly. I did not think that I was valuable to Bravo as a host until I was valuable to Bravo as a host, and that took a while. I was still in charge of programming, and then I dialed back my responsibilities to just being in charge of development. I’ve seen so many people misplay their hands that I just wanted to be very careful. And what I knew was that the reason that I was hired was to be a TV producer and to run programming for them, and I wanted to respect that.” He continued, “I am the voice of the viewer and the face of the viewer, so that if I’m not buying something, I’m going to give a look and the viewer will relate to it or respond to it.”
What is Andy Cohen’s net worth?
Image: Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images.
What is Andy Cohen’s net worth? Andy Cohen’s net worth is $50 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Along with what he makes from The Real Housewives franchise and Bravo, Andy Cohen’s net worth also includes what he makes from other hosting jobs, such as his SiriusXM radio show Andy Cohen Live; his New Year’s Eve special, CNN’s New Year’s Eve, which he co-hosts with friend Anderson Cooper; and FOX’s Love Connection, which ran from 2017 to 2018. Andy Cohen’s net worth also includes his publishing career and what he made from books Most Talkative: Stories from the Front Lines of Pop Culture
, The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year
, Superficial: More Adventures from the Andy Cohen Diaries
, and The Daddy Diaries; as well as his Henry Holt and Company imprint, Andy Cohen books.
In an interview with Forbes in 2022, Cohen explained how he balances his multiple jobs. “I prioritize. I just look at what I have to do. I look at what my deadlines are. This morning, I got up, I took my daughter to the doctor, I came home, I screened an episode of Dubai. I took a shower, I taped an episode of Watch What Happens Live, I just took a 10-minute nap. So, on and on and on – I pivot every day,” he said. He also revealed what keeps him motivated in his two-decade-plus-long career in television. “There are just different things that energize me and as [The Real Housewives] shows find their groove, I think Ultimate Girls Trip and Beverly Hills are so hot right now and Atlanta and Dubai, so that gives me the energy to go in there and do Watch What Happens Live and create moments,” he said. “We’ve got BravoCon coming up later this year and we just make teeny little tweaks to our format all the time that excite me. We just added a ‘shotski’ siren to Watch What Happens Live to Wednesday nights and it’s fun. We’re just adding to the cocktail that is our show.”
He also revealed the advice he would give to others looking to pursue a similar career. “I would say always follow your passion and just don’t give up,” he said. “If you think it’s a great idea, don’t give up. I also think you really need to be critical on yourself and figure out Is it a good idea? Is it something totally original? I think there are a lot of people who think you should do a reality show on X, Y, or Z, and a lot of times, it’s either something that has been thought of or it’s just not a good idea. So, I think that people need to be self-critical, but if they really believe in it, then they should go for it.” He continued of what he thinks makes a successful business person, “Someone who can build a team, communicate well, figure out what their goals are and how to manifest them. Know what their brand is and someone who can adapt – moving quickly as things happen.”
The Real Housewives is available to stream on Peacock. Here’s how to watch it for free.
Image: Andy Cohen Books.
For more about Andy Cohen and the Real Housewives, read Dave Quinn’s 2021 book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of The Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It. The book, which was published by Andy Cohen Books, is described as a “definitive oral history” of the Real Housewives franchise, from its “unlikely start in the gated communities of Orange County” to how it became a “pop culture behemoth” spanning nine cities, hundreds of cast members and millions of fans. Featuring more than 185 interviews with former and current Housewives, producers, Bravo executives and Real Housewives creator Andy Cohen himself, Not All Diamonds and Rosé is an unfiltered and unvarnished look at how the Real Housewives was made and all the behind-the-scenes drama that didn’t make it on screen. “I like to think of Not All Diamonds and Rosé as the ultimate reunion. I know readers will be surprised, entertained, and even shocked at what’s in store,” says Andy Cohen.
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