Author: Jodi Guglielmi / Source: PEOPLE.com
“This weekend, Luann was surrounded by her girlfriends and decided — with their support — that in light of recent circumstances, it is the healthiest choice for her not to attend Tuesday’s reunion taping so that she can continue in her healing process,” Bethenny Frankel, whom de Lesseps authorized to speak on her behalf, told PEOPLE on Monday. “Luann is now surrounded by a core group of people who truly have her best interests at heart and who are working to make sure she gets the help she needs.”
Last year, de Lesseps attended an alcohol treatment program after her December arrest.
Here’s a look back at the highs and lows of the reality star’s life in the spotlight.
Becoming a Countess
De Lesseps married her first husband, European aristocrat Count Alexandre de Lesseps, in 1993 after only two weeks of dating.
But after two children and 17 years of marriage, the two called it quits in 2009.
Having been privately separated for three months, de Lesseps said she learned the divorce was moving forward when her ex-husband sent her a shocking email: “It said that he had met someone,” she recalled to PEOPLE in 2009, “and they were serious.”
“I was devastated,” she said. “I knew that we were kind of separating, but I was hoping that things were going to work out.”
The reality star said the divorce took a hit on her confidence.
“You can try all you want,” she said. “But if you’re not getting reciprocation from the other person, it’s not your fault.”
The Car Crash
While seeking treatment the first time, the Real Housewives of New York City star realized that a 1999 car accident factored into her drinking problem.
“I came down a mountainside in Switzerland,” she previously told PEOPLE. “I thought I killed myself and my children.
At the time, her kids Victoria and Noel were just 4 and 2, respectively.
“I never really faced that horrific accident, and through that and everything else, my emotions just crept up on me and drove me to the point of self-medicating with alcohol,” she said.
She said she later learned she was suffering from PTSD.
“I had PTSD, and I didn’t even know it because all those years ago PTSD was not a real thing, especially in Europe,” said the reality star, who attended high school in Berlin and worked in Milan. “Nobody had ever heard of PTSD when I had my car accident. I never really treated that horrific accident that happened to me.
”Making Music
RHONY premiered in 2008, and de Lesseps used the reality show as a platform to launch her music career, releasing dance bops “Money Can’t Buy You Class”…
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