With the recent premiere of The Real Housewives of New York City Season 14, viewers met a whole new cast.
One early standout from the Housewives is Jenna Lyons. She’s a boss, she’s a designer, and she’s really into her job.
Jenna also has a condition called incontinentia pigmenti.
In a recent interview, she spoke about how both her teeth and hair are fake as a result of this, and how it has changed the direction of her life.
Following her debut on the Season 14 premiere of The Real Housewives of New York City, Jenna Lyons is introducing herself to the world.
She is no stranger to public appearances. But reality TV stardom is different.
In the video that you can watch below, she appeared as a guest star on The View.
There, Jenna spoke about what it’s been like to live with incontinentia pigmenti.
This condition is also known as Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome. And it impacts the skin and other organs over time.
As a result, Jenna has put a lot of money into addressing some of the visible symptoms of her condition.
“All my teeth are fake. I paid a lot of money for them,” Jenna told the talk show hosts.
“My hair is also fake. I can take it off,” she revealed. “It’s like a hat. It’s not a wig.”
Jenna went on to add: “My eyelashes are fake. I have no eyebrows, and I also have scars all over my skin.”
“I was really conscious,” Jenna continued, referring to the ways in which her condition alters her appearance.
“It’s one of the reasons I went into fashion,” she explained. “I wanted to look better.”
Jenna added: “I was constantly trying to find ways to fit in.”
“When I was doing a lot of red carpets, I kept trying to find eyelashes that looked good,” Jenna said about creating her own eyelash brand.
“And they were just huge on me,” she expressed. “I couldn’t wear them.” Typical fashion false eyelashes did not match her needs.
“I remember talking to my makeup artist Troi Ollivierre and I was going on Oprah show actually and Oprah walked into the green room,” Jenna continued.
“He looked at me and he looked at her and he’s like, ‘Get back in that chair. We’re gonna put some lashes on you and get some extensions,’” Jenna recalled.
“Because she’s got a presence and I look like a wet rat,” she playfully explained.
Jenna then summarized: “I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I created a line of lashes that aren’t as over-the-top.”
Jenna also spoke about RHONY 14’s LGBTQ+ representation, which has thus far lagged in the Housewives franchise.
As the hosts brought up, Jenna did not come out voluntarily — a tabloid outed her back in 2011.
She did choose to “confirm” the story at the time, but it was a shock. She has come a long, long way since then.