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Credit: Instagram, Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
Lizzy Savetsky is finally revealing the real reason for her exit from The Real Housewives of New York City as she discusses how a charged fight with Brynn Whitfield led to her leaving the show. Plus, Lizzy is also speaking out in support of Ubah Hassan following Tuesday night’s airing of the RHONY season 15 finale, which featured a heated spat between the model and her co-star.
Two years after suddenly exiting the show amid production on its 14th season, Lizzy, 39, admitted she was heartbroken for Ubah, 41, after seeing that Brynn, 38, had accused her of using her past sexual assault against her by suggesting she slept with men to get work — only to later admit Ubah may not have “clocked it.”
“You can only hide who you are for so long,” Lizzy told Page Six of Brynn on January 23. “I was not at all surprised to hear about it. I stand behind Ubah and I’m so glad that her life wasn’t ruined over this. Ubah is Muslim and I’m Jewish and we had nothing but an incredibly loving conversation. She’s such a special person and to see something like this happen to her really breaks my heart.”
According to Lizzy, she and Ubah have bonded over their shared experiences with Brynn and recently had a “very emotional” chat.
“[Ubah] wanted to reach out but didn’t want to reopen old wounds,” Lizzy explained. “She said to me ‘Lizzy, you’ve been vindicated’ and I wasn’t looking for it but it’s interesting to hear that.”
Back in 2022, as fans may have heard, Lizzy was involved in her own dispute with Brynn after revealing she was a matchmaker only for the Jewish community.
“I like to set up Jews with other Jews because I have a lot of anxiety about the continuity of my people,” Lizzy shared. “According to Orthodox Judaism, Judaism goes by the mother. If you’re not [a Jewish woman], your kids won’t be Jewish.”
After detailing her decision, Brynn allegedly reacted badly and was accused of making a racist comparison between Lizzy and Nazis — although she never used that specific term.
“She said I sounded like those people who did those horrible things to my people,” Lizzy alleged. “I felt extremely upset by the fact that production just kept rolling when that happened because they all knew about the antisemitism that I had been experiencing. I was so concerned that this scene was going to create more antisemitism.”
Refuting Lizzy’s statements, a source told Page Six that Brynn was set off by Lizzy mentioning a “pure” bloodline since she’s biracial — but Lizzy denied doing so.
“This is a despicable accusation. I explained [that] the rules according to Orthodox Judaism are that Judaism is inherited from the mother. The Jewish men I was setting up at the time wanted to be set up with Jewish women, not with women who are shopping for a Jewish husband,” Lizzy continued. “I told her she was free to date whoever she wants but my hobby of matchmaking was directly tied to my anxiety about the continuity of the Jewish people. I actually explained on camera that we currently have less Jews in the world than we did before the Holocaust.”
Another source, however, said Brynn “invented a new narrative to justify” her supposed implication of the word Nazi.
After the encounter, it was suggested that Lizzy and Brynn hash things out on camera. But during the call, Brynn allegedly told Lizzy, “The next time you say something unkind about a black person, I’m going to say you called them the N-word,’” but she “said the full word.”
In response, Lizzy’s husband, Dr. Ira Savetsky, who overheard the conversation, yelled, “You come into our f*cking house. You weaponize our religion against us. I can’t believe this.”
As an executive producer on the phone attempted to downplay the situation, suggesting Brynn’s comment was nothing more than an analogy, Brynn “went into victim mode.”
“She’s the one who compared me to a Nazi, introduced the actual N-word [into the conversation] and then started crying,” Lizzy revealed, adding that she “was not protected” by Bravo.
“As angry as I was with this cast member, I was much angrier with production. It wasn’t a secret that I was getting all this antisemitic hate, so to hear this cast member do this to me and not do anything about it, it was awful,” she admitted.
Adding to the drama was the fact that Ira repeated the actual N-word when recounting the story.
“It’s a mistake that he completely owns up to and it’s the only time I’ve ever heard him say it,” Lizzy explained. “He only said it in quoting her and knows that it was wrong. It was just the heat of the moment, trying to process what just happened.”
According to the report, Ira’s use of the word left others feeling “uncomfortable,” and she was “essentially fired” from RHONY.
“He should not be using the N-word freely like that especially when there are people of color [on set],” an insider stated, adding that Lizzy blaming her exit on something else was “doing exactly what she’s accusing Brynn of doing” by “twisting the truth.”
Despite the drama, Lizzy said she was “so happy” her dispute with Brynn took place.
“I don’t know if I would have had the strength to walk away on my own and I’m living my life’s purpose right now,” she said. “When I see all this, I’m just incredibly grateful that I’m no longer a part of this show.”
The Real Housewives of New York City season 15 reunion begins next Tuesday, January 28, at 9/8c on Bravo.
