Sonja Morgan launches lifestyle brand, dishes on 'RHONY' season 6 (Exclusive)
Sonja Morgan is on the cusp of a major year. In just one week, the sixth season of The Real Housewives of New York City will premiere on Bravo, and during the show, fans will get to watch as the divorced mother of one launches her lifestyle brand and introduces her new boyfriend.
In a new interview with Celebeat, Morgan dished on RHONY season six and her new boyfriend 23-year-old Benjamin Bellaloul ahead of the March 11 premiere.
Morgan couldn't say much about her man, but she did confirm that fans will be seeing him "a lot" this season. However, that doesn't mean that they are an official item. Although Morgan enjoys the company of her young beau, he's never going to be her first priority. That honor belongs to her 13-year-old daughter.
"It's hard for me to commit. My daughter comes first," Morgan explained. "I went through a crazy divorce and I'm very independent, so it's hard to commit, but Ben is great because he understands how important my daughter is."
During the trailer for the upcoming sixth season of The Real Housewives of New York City, Heather Thomson joked that Morgan had as many men as she had interns, but Morgan claims that's simply the result of her being active in the dating world.
"When you are single and you are dating, there's more than one guy," she said. "Dating is dating."
On the sixth season of the show, fans will also be meeting new housewife Kristen Taekman, and so far, Morgan appears to be a fan. "[Kristen] is great. She's a lot of fun, a great breath of fresh air," she explained, then adding that she may be a little more quirky than the rest of the women. "She's a weirdo -- and she loves Elvis. She wears an Elvis necklace everyday."
Morgan also dished on her thoughts about Jill Zarin. Since leaving the show after season four, Zarin has spoken about a possiblility of returning, and Morgan, for one, isn't opposed to it.
"I've always been friendly with Jill," she explained. "I'd like to see whatever Bravo thinks works. They are the experts. They know their stuff! If they think she should be back, I'm happy to have whoever on the show they think would do well."
After all, if the show does well, so does Morgan, and with her luxury brand coming to life after years of hard work, having a successful series is ideal.
"I went to the Fashion Institute and was a luxury consultant for many decades," Morgan revealed. "[The brand] is something I've been working on for quite some time. I've had so many offers to put my name on particular products, like hats, or diet aids, or yoga wear, but I've been waiting."
While Morgan had always worked in fashion, from the garment district to retail stores, she began to recongnize her dream after she inked a deal with Bravo.
"After beginning to work on my biological screenplay, I got in front of the cameras [on RHONY] and that's when people began wanting to know more about the toaster oven and recipes," Morgan explained.
At that point, Morgan was in high demand, but when it came to pursuing her opportunities, she knew she wouldn't be able to do so by traveling.
"My daughter was young, so a book tour was not an option just then," she explained.
So instead of traveling, Morgan took to the web where she began to promote her own toaster prototype, as well as recipes and accesories to go along with them.
After creating her toaster and toaster-related products, Morgan visited several distribution centers and department stores, where she was informed that her brand was much bigger than just toasters, oven mits, and aprons. So, Morgan has decided to expand her audience.
"I'm looking for investors to take my brand global with shoes, lingerie, jewelry, and more," she said.
In addition to her website, Morgan also began tweeting, Facebooking, and YouTubing, as well as making appearances, to promote her brand, give fashion tips, and share photos of her luxurious lifestyle, while telling fans how to get it for less.
On Morgan's official website, fans can browse her photo gallery, get tips from Sonja Style, subscribe to her newsletter, watch YouTube videos on how to cook, make floral arrangements, wear a scarf and tons more.
Morgan has also been busy filming a few other projects.
"I just did the NBC Upfronts. It was myself, Nene Leakes, Lisa Vanderpump, Melissa Gorga, and Vicki Gunvalson," Morgan revealed. "They pick people from all the nbc channels and shows and take video and still photos to promote. They did slow motion video where they slowed it way down."
The promos will be used on all of the different NBC-owned networks, including Bravo, Oxygen, and Sci-Fi, and also starred Padma Lakshmi, Frederik Eklund, Naomi Campbell, Lisa Edelstein, and Prince Borghese.
Morgan will also soon star on the upcoming third season of Million Dollar Listing: NY. On the series, which premieres on Bravo on April 2, Morgan will be seen hooking up Luis Ortiz with a $17 million listing.
And as if that weren't all enough to keep Morgan on her toes, she has booked two more upcoming gigs with Bravo, one being their Summer Games commercial, which she will film with Ramona Singer in Los Angeles later this week, and the second being a March 11 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen during his visit to Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) 2014.
Now that the long-awaited premiere of RHONY has finally arrived, Morgan is excited to see how her scenes come together.
"I never know what to expect. I don't film with all of my costars all the time, I just put it out there and I'm looking forward to seeing how things are put together," she said. "I've been working with my brand. It's ready to go. So I'm excited."
The Real Housewives of New York City returns to Bravo on March 11 at 9 p.m.