{"id":2155224,"date":"2026-09-21T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2155224"},"modified":"2026-09-21T12:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:00:25","slug":"rachel-zoes-gorgeous-all-or-nothing-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2155224","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Zoe\u2019s Gorgeous, All-Or-Nothing Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rachel Zoe\u2019s Gorgeous, All-Or-Nothing Life<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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The Zoe Report founder, in conversation with editorial director Angela Melero, on her second wind as a Bravo Housewife, which celebs could pull her out of styling retirement, and not letting age define you: \u201cI mean, in my mind, I\u2019m 37 forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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by Angela Melero<\/a><\/div>\n
Photographs by Emman Montalvan<\/span><\/div>\n<\/address>\n
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The Confidence Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
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I have a clear memory of my first day at The Zoe Report. It was a particularly warm LA day in May some 10 years ago, and I was in the midst of an onboarding session at the Rachel Zoe offices on Melrose Avenue with my then-boss Nicky Deam. We were chatting workflow and style guides in the office\u2019s kitchen \u2014 which often served as a makeshift workspace if the conference rooms were taken \u2014 when Rachel Zoe herself strutted in, a flurry of signature faux fur, layered necklaces, bell-bottomed trousers, platform heels, and tumbling blonde waves. She clearly wasn\u2019t going to let a little weather get in the way of the retro-bohemian uniform that fans had come to know and love from her pioneering Bravo reality show, The Rachel Zoe Project<\/em>. In fact, it\u2019s this unapologetic commitment to personal style \u2014 as well as her fast-moving fashion career as a celebrity stylist \u2014 that first drew me in as a 20-something journalist. I knew I wanted to work for someone who didn\u2019t just dress for the moment but owned it. I knew I wanted to work for Rachel Zoe.<\/p>\n

When I mention this core memory to Zoe a decade later, she admits to looking back on the woman she was then with both warmth and disbelief. Some things are very much the same: \u201cI mean, listen, I think my uniform is never going to change, right? It\u2019s how I\u2019m most comfortable,\u201d she tells me. \u201cI\u2019m always going to grab a pair of flared pants, throw on some kind of camisole, and faux fur. I think I literally wore that last night or yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Selim Mouzannar necklace.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

But of course others have very much changed. Work looks different: Zoe largely stepped away from celebrity styling in 2015 and sold The Zoe Report to BDG in 2018 (although she remains involved as founder and editor-at-large, and \u2014 this season \u2014 our cover girl); last year, the investment group Gordon Brothers<\/a> took a majority stake in her namesake lifestyle brand (she now serves on the board and as chief creative officer). Home looks different, too: In 2024, she split from her husband of 26 years and business partner, Rodger Berman, with whom she has two children, Skyler, 15, and Kaius, 12. \u201cI think I\u2019m a little more comfortable in my own skin and my own body right now \u2014 just meaning I care less, if that makes sense,\u201d she says. \u201cI care less about people\u2019s judgment. And that I think comes with age and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoe is embracing her new normal by doing what she\u2019s always done best: work. She\u2019s currently juggling \u201cabout 20 jobs\u201d \u2014 chair of VC firm Rachel Zoe Ventures and chief color director of nail brand Essie among them \u2014 and style director for luxury vintage retailer What Goes Around Comes Around. Last summer, she also rekindled her relationship with Bravo as a new cast member of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Her deadpan honesty about her life post-divorce \u2014 not to mention a fresh slew of Zoe-isms (\u201clike f*cking basta<\/em>!\u201d) \u2014 have won the style expert a new fanbase in the reality TV universe. \u201cSo many people are like, \u2018I feel like you\u2019re just yourself on the show,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Well, it\u2019s literally all I know how to be, and I can\u2019t really fight that.\u2019 I\u2019m not an actor, and I am who I am for better or for worse. Ultimately I think you just get to a point in your life where you don\u2019t dress for other people \u2014 you dress for how you feel when you walk out the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead, I sit down with Zoe for a candid discussion about her reentry into TV stardom, life as the mom of teenage boys, and the state of celebrity styling.<\/p>\n

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You were obviously a pioneer in the reality TV space with The<\/em> Rachel Zoe Project<\/em>. What\u2019s it like to be part of an ensemble?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I actually really like being in an ensemble because it\u2019s not always on me, which is great because I do have another 20 jobs right now, and I\u2019m a single mom to two kids. Doing The Rachel Zoe Project<\/em> right now would be unfathomable in many ways. [My first season on RHOBH<\/em>] was different because it was shot during the summer, my kids were at camp, and in terms of events and work, it was much quieter. And now I\u2019m in the thick of it filming and it is, like, wow<\/em>. It is a lot. Emotionally and physically, being in an ensemble is right at this moment.<\/p>\n

Is there any world in which you would reboot <\/strong>The Rachel Zoe Project<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh my goodness, can you even imagine that right now? I\u2019m going to New York for fashion week, and every time I\u2019m at fashion week, I think about my show \u2014 about surviving those five years of being on camera five days a week during production. It\u2019s wild. I think the greatest lesson I\u2019ve learned in my life is to never say never to pretty much anything. So I think TBD. Let\u2019s see. Should I say anything\u2019s possible?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m secretly hoping for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I am so incredibly grateful for is how many times people are like, \u201cI became a stylist because of your show. I didn\u2019t even know what this job was, but I did because of your show.\u201d The impact astounds me. I don\u2019t think I could go a few days without someone, either on social or when I\u2019m traveling, telling me how much they miss the show and what effect it had on their lives. Just as mothers or as working women who were going through a time in their life \u2014 whether chemotherapy or depression \u2014 and what it did for them. Or even just running into guys that are investment bankers who are like, \u201cI loved your management style.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then I also think about how [the show] highlighted so many of my design heroes \u2014 the moments I had with Oscar de la Renta, Karl Lagerfeld, Donatella Versace. Those were obviously my favorite moments. But what I don\u2019t want to look back on is the drama with old assistants and people that just were so toxic in my life.<\/p>\n

Whether on <\/strong>The Rachel Zoe Project<\/strong><\/em> or <\/strong>RHOBH<\/strong><\/em>, you\u2019ve always been very honest about what\u2019s happening in your life, which I think people respect you for. And with <\/strong>RHOBH<\/strong><\/em>, viewers were particularly moved by how you talked about navigating your divorce and the big, painful life changes that come with that. How did you approach talking about those things on camera?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You probably know me well enough to know I wing almost everything in my life. When I joined RHOBH, <\/em>I went in blind and didn\u2019t know half the women, really, at all. I had never seen the show, so I didn\u2019t really understand how it worked. I signed my contract and started shooting the next day. The truth of it is not one thing you saw was scripted. What I was speaking about was what I was living in the moment \u2014 with a mic on.<\/p>\n

And there were things that I said openly that I don\u2019t regret because, honestly, the overall message that I\u2019ve gotten is that it helped so many women feel less alone and also inspired a lot of women to leave bad situations. It\u2019s the same way I feel about The Rachel Zoe Project. <\/em>The goal is helping as many women as possible \u2014 always has been. That, to be honest, more than even being a stylist, was my actual dream. Now it\u2019s taken on a new iteration, right? You have to do what you want and what makes you happy because time is very precious. Like, \u201cWhat am I holding this back for?\u201d It was never to try and hurt my ex or try and make a scene of his life. My kids were not scripted, I was not scripted, and it was just like, how do we feel about what\u2019s happening?<\/em> It was brutal. There are still days that are brutal. It\u2019s almost like I couldn\u2019t not<\/em> speak because it\u2019s what I was living.<\/p>\n

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Reality TV is a different beast than it was when you got started \u2014 there\u2019s the show itself, and now there\u2019s the whole social media world around it. Do you engage with it? How do you protect your peace and your confidence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I typically [don\u2019t read] headlines about me. I will glance if it comes across my social feed or my team tells me about it, but I don\u2019t typically let it bother me because 99.9% of the time there\u2019s no truth to it. I know everything they\u2019ve said about my divorce so far has been not true. I think 10, 15 years ago, it would\u2019ve taken me down. In the tabloid era, I would hide behind closed doors and just sob. It was hard because you had no control over changing the narrative. Now you can tell your own truth. That\u2019s the positive side of social media \u2014 you can control your own voice. You can\u2019t control the narrative, but you at least have the opportunity to speak your mind.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about your boys. Motherhood has been such a turning point in your life. What have your children taught you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, they say that you kind of relearn life through your kids\u2019 eyes. I have kids with very old souls, especially my little one. He\u2019s just so wise. They both are. Skyler was saying these things at my birthday dinner the other night, and I just sat there frozen. I was like, \u201cWhere are these children coming from?\u201d They\u2019re so perceptive.<\/p>\n

The funny thing about boys \u2014 and I have a tween and a teen \u2014 is they\u2019re not as verbal sometimes about their feelings and their thoughts. They don\u2019t always feel the need to say things so descriptively. But when they do, you\u2019re just like, \u201cWow \u2014 so that\u2019s what you\u2019re thinking. That\u2019s what you\u2019re feeling.\u201d And it\u2019s been such a lesson in strength and resilience because sometimes Sky will just be like, \u201cYeah, mom, but you don\u2019t need to worry about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just so many things they teach me every day. I mean, Kaius just comes out with these profound quotes. Literally, he’ll just come downstairs and be like, \u201cMom, comparison is the thief of joy.\u201d He told me on my birthday that I protect them like a soldier does his comrades. Like, \u201cRight, yes, because I would take a bullet for you guys.\u201d I wouldn\u2019t have done the show, I wouldn\u2019t have done half the things I do without meeting with them. I always call family meetings when we have to make plans or decisions. I just think it\u2019s important with this generation to involve your children in decision-making because the way we grew up, our parents made the decisions and we just did whatever.<\/p>\n

I just approach parenting very differently \u2014 not to say my parents aren\u2019t the best parents on planet Earth, but it\u2019s just a different time. I dance that line: My children are my best friends, but there\u2019s also a definite respect for the authority that I have as their mother. Thankfully, they haven\u2019t abused that, but if they do, then that shifts, right?<\/p>\n

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It seems like you\u2019re their safe space. At the photo shoot, you were talking about how your boys sometimes just want you in the room with them. They\u2019ll call you upstairs and be like, \u201cMom, come up here.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true. A friend of mine with teen boys told me a couple of years ago, \u201cSometimes they just want to know you\u2019re there.\u201d I know exactly what she means. That\u2019s their love language. That\u2019s their way of being like, \u201cI need you.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I was first hired at The Zoe Report, Kaius was a baby, so seeing him on the show with you is wild. He\u2019s having these very intelligent conversations with your castmates, and I\u2019m like, \u201cI remember when you were being potty trained and running up and down the halls.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quite literally running up and down the halls. He\u2019s 12 now. That is <\/em>absolutely wild. I forgot that Sky was on the last season of my first show. He reminded me because his friends are watching The Rachel Zoe Project <\/em>now, which is also bizarre. I\u2019m like, \u201cOh God, don\u2019t let them do that.\u201d He\u2019s like, \u201cMom, they love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s very strange to me now that this teen generation is binge-watching The Rachel Zoe Project. <\/em>Recently at a vintage show, this girl who was 17 came up to me and was like, \u201cYou have a very young audience.\u201d I was like, \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d She\u2019s like, \u201cYeah, we all watch the show over and over and talk about it. We look at outfits and go to fashion week.\u201d I was like, \u201cOh my God, I can\u2019t even believe you relate to this at this age. It’s wild.\u201d Everything is a bit surreal right now.<\/p>\n

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What did confidence look like when you were first starting your career, and how has that changed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s so funny because people, even my closest friends, describe me as confident. And what is always fascinating to me is the perception you have of yourself versus how others perceive you, right? I would never describe myself as confident. But I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever once walked onto a job with an \u201cI got this\u201d attitude. I\u2019m over-pulled and over-prepped, and I still approach [every job] like it\u2019s my first. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s the same for everybody. I still always walk onto a job like this could be my last. If I f*ck this up, I don\u2019t work again. You know what I mean? That was my approach to styling: giving this 2,000%. If they ask for five white T-shirt options, I\u2019m probably going to have 50. It created so much more work, but feeling prepared to me is what brings confidence, and that applies to all aspects [of life].<\/p>\n

But there are also things where I walk in [knowing] I\u2019m better off winging \u2014 so maybe there is confidence in that? Like, knowing how to answer things because it\u2019s the life I\u2019ve lived. Even the photo shoot we did the other day: I know what I\u2019m getting when I walk in. I can read that room. If I know that I\u2019m going to be my authentic self in any situation, then I know I don\u2019t have to prepare that much because it\u2019s like, \u201cOK, I\u2019m me \u2014 so that\u2019s going to be my answer. You may not like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Do you think of yourself as a risk-taker?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it goes back to having so much experience in so many different areas in this industry. I have a lot of knowledge of a lot of things, and I have been burned so many times by toxic people on all sides. Some that have worked for me, some that have represented me, some that I\u2019ve done partnerships with, some that I\u2019ve done huge business deals with. But that\u2019s life. And I think going through so much adversity toughens you and prepares you to walk in any room.<\/p>\n

I definitely did not have that much confidence in the beginning, and now I walk in with this armor, like an emotional defense mechanism. You watch what you say around certain people. You know that if there\u2019s a new person you’re dealing with in your inner circle to be mindful of that. Do not assume the best of everyone because that\u2019s how I entered my career \u2014 very naive. I\u2019m definitely less naive.<\/p>\n

And as Gwyneth Paltrow says<\/a>, you give less of a f*ck. Sorry to say that, but you just do. You\u2019re just like, I know who loves me. I know who I love. I know who has my back. I know whose backs I have<\/em>. And I think on top of that, becoming a mother, you\u2019re just like, what matters more than my children?<\/em> And that approach has gotten me through so many hard times.<\/p>\n

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In that vein, I know and love your stance on age \u2014 not speaking to it or letting a number define you \u2014 but do you feel a <\/strong>responsibility<\/strong><\/em> to talk about aging?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel that age can be controlling if you let it be. And I think if you start to obsess over your age, then you start to make excuses for things in your life and how you choose to live it. I feel like the minute you start to go, \u201cOh, I\u2019m so hormonal\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m this or that,\u201d then your body starts to react to that, and so does your mind.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another way to look at it where you say, \u201cOK, this is my age, but I\u2019ve never felt stronger. I\u2019ve never felt better. I\u2019ve never felt happier. I\u2019ve never had more energy. I\u2019ve never been more confident in my own body and in my own mind.\u201d Because I have more energy and passion and drive and fire now than I did 10, 12 years ago. The first 20 years of my career, I was moving like a speed train. People would be like, \u201cOh my God, you did this with Britney Spears or you did this with Cameron Diaz. That moment was so iconic.\u201d And I\u2019ll be like, \u201cWait, what?\u201d And then I go back, like, \u201cOh my God, I totally remember that.\u201d But it all happened fast, and a lot of sacrifice went with that.<\/p>\n

Society assigns very specific definitions and expectations to each decade, especially for women. I just don\u2019t want to subscribe to any of that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Same. And that\u2019s my thing. I think we all have to talk as girlfriends and be here for one another. But I don\u2019t want to define my life, what I talk about, what I think about because of my age. And I mean, in my mind, I\u2019m 37 forever. So that\u2019s where I\u2019m staying.<\/p>\n

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