The
CAMERAS LIKED ME Dorinda Cinkala Medley ’83 is featured on “The Real Housewives of New York City.”
Last year, Dorinda Cinkala Medley was touring an open market in Dubai when residents began approaching her saying “I can’t believe it’s you.” Medley, who is featured on the reality TV show “The Real Housewives of New York City,” couldn’t believe she was being recognized. “The most amazing thing about the ‘Housewives’ franchise is the incredible reach it has,” Medley says. “I find the whole experience fascinating—reality shows have this powerful message which can be both positive and negative. When I’m filming I forget that this is going to be broadcast all over the world. The bond is that people are people, and we are all going through the same stuff everywhere.” “RHONY,” as it is coined, is in its 12th year on the Bravo TV network and follows the personal and professional lives of a group of women living in New York City. Medley, who is embarking on her
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Berkshire Bulletin
sixth season, has an Instagram following of over 900,000. Her fans have deeply connected with her vivacious, funny, tellit-like-it-is personality; her off-the-cuff one-liners, termed “Dorinda-isms;” and her ’80s-themed aerobics classes, also with their own name: “Dooorobics.” Medley graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in 1986, worked for Liz Claiborne, and then relocated to London with her first husband. In London, she started DCL Cashmere and counted Princess Diana and Joan Collins among her clients. After her divorce, she and her daughter, Hannah, moved back to Manhattan. In 2005, she met and married Dr. Richard Medley, who tragically passed away in 2011. Medley was reeling from the loss when “RHONY” cast member and friend Ramona Singer suggested that she join the show. “Ramona came to me and said, ‘Why don’t you try it for a year? It’s
a great distraction, and I think it’d be good for you,’” Medley recalls. “I went on the show, and the cameras liked me, and I liked the cameras. So off to the races we went.” During her first season in 2015, Medley was honest with the audience about her grief. Medley told the magazine Saratoga Living: “One of the most powerful moments for me after the first season was when I was at a fruit stand in front of my building, and this woman walked up to me and said, ‘Can I just say how powerful it is that you spoke about Richard and his passing, and that you spoke about becoming a widow?’” Each season requires months of intense filming. While cameras don’t follow Medley 24 hours a day, she is required to film scenes several times each day, and she simply allows the camera crew and producers to
Photo courtesy of Dorinda Medley
By Megan Tady
