The drama doesn’t stop when you cross the pond, that’s for sure.
On Slice’s reality show Ladies of London (brought over from Bravo in the U.S.), two Americans (Marissa Hermer, Juliet Angus) and multiple British socialites navigate the choppy waters of friendship. The “ladies” deal with divorce, reconciliation, babies, pregnancies and every other issue pertinent to the modern woman, except they have bucketfuls of money to help along the way.
Hermer, 35, has had a relatively rough year; she endured a risky pregnancy that nearly caused her — and her unborn baby — serious health problems. Already a mother to two boys, she battled through the pregnancy and gave birth to her first daughter, Sadie, in April of 2016.
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Global News caught up with Hermer at the winter session of the Television Critics Association to find out what the future holds for the Ladies of London, and how she and her husband are coping with their third child. (The Season 3 finale of Ladies of London airs Tuesday night on Slice at 10 p.m. ET/PT.)
Marissa Hermer: It’s 100 per cent real, but it’s not a documentary about our lives. That would be really boring. [Laughs] You need a little pizzazz and drama, which does happen naturally. It might be chopped and changed in a different way, but yeah. That’s reality television and that’s why you keep tuning in, episode after episode.
So you’re now a mother to a baby girl…
It was the hardest, most challenging time of my life … and of course it had to happen while we were filming.
I don’t understand the word “balance.” [Laughs] The word exists, sure, but I gave up on it long ago. It’s more about … it’s like a triage unit. When there’s blood gushing out, that’s where you need to pay attention to most. I run our house like a triage unit. Whoever is bleeding the most at the time — and hopefully that’s just a metaphor, but sometimes it’s actually the case — gets the most attention. That’s how family life works, and so far it’s chaos, but there’s a lot of love and laughter.
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A lot of “reality” relationships and marriages seem filled with animosity. Yours does not. That’s most certainly an anomaly when it comes to reality television.
I feel very, very lucky. We live together, we work together, we co-parent together, and he’s my lover and best friend. I knew with him, right away … I fell in love with Matt immediately.
[Laughs] No! I’m not immaculate and perfect. I get worried, I get stressed out. I’m going back and forth between LA and London, and that is very stressful, especially with three young children. I’m not cool, calm and collected, I can assure you.
Nothing is the end of the world. I don’t get caught up in the minutia or the detail. I’m generally a pretty optimistic and happy person, so maybe that’s it.
I didn’t know what I was dealing with post-natally until it was too late, and by that point I had severe post-natal depression. We’ve all had very dramatic personal stories this season, and we’re all going through some rough times. My dear friend Sophie is going through a divorce; my dear friend Adela King is dealing with sobriety and trying to get her children back; Julie Montagu is under a lot of pressure … they’re all these life moments we’re going through. We are better at supporting each other than other [reality show stars].
Finally, at the end of the season, we all come together to support each other.
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Is this the last season then, since you’re all separated geographically now?
Caroline will also go back and forth, since you can’t live in Dubai in the summer. You just can’t. She still has family in England, so I imagine she’ll go back and forth. It’s the same with us. We usually shoot in the summer, so that’s what we’ll plan. You never know, though, but I think another season is going to happen.
The Season 3 finale of ‘Ladies of London’ airs Tuesday night on Slice at 10 p.m. ET/PT.