Lisa Hochstein is back for 'The Real Housewives of Miami' season 4 and spilling on the reality of sharing her life on reality TV.
Lisa Hochstein knew The Real Housewives of Miami wasn't done for good when Bravo pulled the plug on the show after just three seasons back in 2013.
"I had a psychic I spoke to right after the last reunion aired, or after we were told we were 'canceled,' and the psychic told me a lot of things, including my son being born," Lisa shares with ET over video chat. "Nobody knew about us secretly doing that behind the scenes and she did say that the show was going to come back. Not right now, but maybe, like, six or seven years later and she was right. I always had it in the back of my mind that we would probably come back."
"A lot of people ask for her number," she quips of the medium, before admitting she didn't fully believe the show was coming back until she signed her contract.
"They threatened us with a comeback over the past eight years about two or three times and it never happened," she admits. "I was a little skeptical. Each time we were asked back, I definitely was a little skeptical and I said, 'I'll believe it when I see the contract and I sign my life away.' That's when it became real. Well, today it's real."
The RHOM revival/reboot debuted last week on Peacock, picking up with Lisa and some of her fellow mojito-holding alumnae -- Alexia Echevarria, Marysol Patton, Adriana de Moura and Larsa Pippen (though, in her first/previously only season, the 'Wives held champagne flutes) -- as if no time had passed... sort of.
"It was almost new again," Lisa says. "I had to get comfortable -- look, I've been off air and not having cameras in my life following me around for so long. Having it happen again was definitely like learning how to ride the bike again."
A lot of life went down in the in-between, so the ladies and viewers are playing a bit of super-speed catch-up in these first few episodes. After two seasons of documenting her struggle to become a mom, Lisa and her plastic surgeon husband, Dr. Lenny Hochstein, welcomed two children: son Logan in 2015 and daughter Elle in 2019, both via surrogate. She and Lenny also launched a new business venture, Hochstein Med Spa, and finished construction on their Star Island "dream home."
"I'm almost a little relieved that I had that hiatus to kind of do all of it, because -- it would've been great TV -- but really hard on my soul and my emotional everything," Lisa reflects. "I'm happy that I got all of it done and get to show it to you and it's all complete. The kids, the house, the job, the med spa, all of it."
There's also the not-so-pretty parts of life that unfolded while RHOM cameras were down. Lisa and Lenny hit a rough patch just after season 3 wrapped, a blip on the radar of their nearly 15-year-old relationship that Lisa had to revisit in episodes 1 and 2.
"It was absolutely a closed wound, something I didn't think I would ever have to rehash or speak about," Lisa says, speaking of the "emotional affair" Lenny had during a brief time apart. The pressure to get pregnant proved too much for the couple to bare, but they ultimately found their way back to one another and realized their dream of starting a family.
"Honestly, it really wasn't much of anything," she says, hinting that the show made Lenny's flirtation with another woman out to be bigger than it was. Lisa described the unidentified person as a "$2 ho" on the premiere episode.
"I should have explained myself better," Lisa continues. "It was more about Lenny and I, and not so much about any other person. We were going through our own difficulties. We separated and then whatever happened, happened. We decided that we love each other so much, we want to be together, we couldn't be apart from each other. The separation lasted all of about one and a half months -- it wasn't a long thing at all. It was just, we couldn't be apart. We can't be apart, and when we were apart -- and when I was ready to just say, 'Bye, let me sign the papers. I'm not going to be a part of this...' -- is when he realized that this is not what we wanted. We wanted to try to have the family we've always dreamed of and thank God we did, because if we didn't, we would not have Logan and Elle. So thank God for us not giving up."
When the trailer for season 4 dropped earlier this month, it hinted heavily at marital trouble for the Hochsteins. Lisa says that took her by surprise.
"You know, I was shocked just like everyone else to see that we had [issues]," she offers with a laugh. "I don't feel like we have problems right now. ... I have an amazing relationship with Lenny right now. We hit bumps and all of that, just like everybody else. We go through our ups and downs, and there's days where I want to, say, dislike him and there's days where I'm obsessed with him. I would like to say that we are in a very good place right now. That's just life, that's relationships. We've been together for 14 years and you can't expect that amount of time to be perfect. There's going to be some issues along the way."
While Lisa says she and Lenny are great, she will be watching back the show and using it as a mirror of sorts to learn things about herself and her relationships she may have missed in the moment.
"I don't like to watch the episodes with anyone," she confesses. "I like to watch them by myself because I need to digest what's happening and what I'm seeing. We [the cast], of course, get the episodes a little bit before everyone else just so we can kind of talk ourselves off the ledge a little bit, but all in all I'm OK with what I'm seeing so far and I'm not horrified yet."
"Yes" is the operative word there. Lisa is quick to add "there's going to be some questionable moments with me that I'm not looking forward to."
"There was a low point for me," she teases. "I don't want to give too much away, but I feel like I had a tiny bit of a little mental breakdown that wasn't, that I couldn't control. That was hard for me because I really like to be in control of my emotions and this whole journey got the better of me at that point, so that's not going to be-- or maybe it will be-- fun for me to watch, I don't know."
Lisa's at a totally different life place this time around. When she first joined the show in 2012, she was in her late 20s, making her one of the youngest Real Housewives cast members of all time.
"I couldn't believe they casted me," she divulges. "I thought you had to be in your thirties -- at least! -- to maybe have a little more life experience and so the age gap wouldn't be so off or different. I realized that it doesn't matter how old you are, it just matters how you vibe with somebody. Age is nothing but a number as they say and it's definitely true."
Still, Lisa says, "I feel like [the show is] just better for me this time around," noting how more life experiences have made her a better wife, mother and friend. On the season 3 finale, Lisa described herself as the "connector" of the group. Time has only made that title more true for her.
"I am probably the one that was always remained friends with everyone, except for a couple people that are not even included on the show right now," she says. Former stars Lea Black, Joanna Krupa, Karent Sierra and Ana Quincoces did not return for the revival, so viewers can read between the lines there.
"I have always remained in contact with most of the women," she reiterates. "They come to all of my parties. I have dinners with them together and separately and maybe not all of them were in contact, so I guess I am still a connector in a way."
Lisa says the only former cast member she was surprised to see not come back was Lea, the quirky socialite who held court as a central figure of the group during its original run.
"She's still a good friend of mine, I love Lea," Lisa gushes. "I think that she would've been a good re-addition to the show, but the other ones didn't surprise me."
Lisa was pleasantly surprised to see Larsa come back, even though they never overlapped as castmates. Larsa left the show after just one season, while Lisa joined in its second year.
"I've known Larsa for 14 years," Lisa explains. "She was more of an acquaintance. We ran in the same social circles, I would see her out at an event. 'Hi and bye,' that was the extent of it. Then a year leading up to the show, we became friends and very good friends at that. We have the same social circles. We like doing the same things. We like to go out, we like to have a good time, we like to dress sexy. We're very similar in a lot of ways."
But with closeness can come friction. The trailer features a tense moment between the two, with Larsa snapping at Lisa to "stay out of it like you always do." Fans will have to wait and see what leads up to that, but it seems to be Larsa's reaction to a seasons-long pile-on of her by some of the women. The first two episodes alone featured a number of criticisms from the ladies about Larsa's looks, career choices and dating life.
"I think Larsa would probably say that-- I think she said it-- that I'm not speaking up enough for her," Lisa says of the exchange. "But you know, not every battle is mine to fight. Some people have to hash it up on their own. I got in a lot of trouble for getting too involved in the second and third season. I'll say my piece when I have it, and if I have a real opinion about what's happening and if there's a fight that I feel like I need to intercept, I will."
"I just feel like that conversation was... I had to get out my point and she just was trying to control what I was saying," Larsa told ET. "I was like, 'No, no. You always stay safe, so you stay safe. Let me just get out my feelings and tell [the women] how I feel.'"
There's a lot of season left to watch, which means plenty more drama to unfold. Lisa says the audience should keep an eye on the women whose names start with "A" and "M," as they stir the pot the most. It's more than likely she's referencing the "friends of" the season, Adriana and Marysol.
"I think that we're all pot-stirrers at the end of the day," she then adds as a qualifier. "I think that we know we're on a show. We all have a little-- we all want a little pot to stir. A bunch of witches with a pot to stir. I think that that's the nature of the beast and that's why we're here."
"Instead of mojitos ... we should all be holding a broom!" she cracks.
The Real Housewives of Miami is now streaming on Peacock, with new episodes debuting every Thursday.
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