RHOM Producer Reveals Which Housewife Has Changed the Most Since Season 1

The Real Housewives of Miami is back in our lives after an eight-year hiatus. The series returned to our screens in December 2021 when Season 4 began streaming on Peacock, and it is currently airing an encore run on Bravo on Tuesdays at 9/8c.

But RHOM didn't just pick up exactly where it left off in 2013. Season 4 has been full of new energy, not only due to new cast members Guerdy Abraira, Julia Lemigova, and Dr. Nicole Martin, but also because familiar faces like Alexia Echevarria, Lisa Hochstein, Larsa Pippen, Adriana de Moura, and Marysol Patton are not the same as when we first met them when the show premiered in 2011. No, this dynamic group of women has let us in to what their lives are like now and how they've all evolved over the last several years.

While reflecting on the series' past and present in an exclusive interview with Bravo Insider earlier this year, Pamela Gimenez, VP of Current Production on RHOM, who previously worked as a producer on the show in Seasons 2 and 3, revealed which of the women she believes has changed the most since the beginning. "I think, you know, Alexia, for sure. Because I think that after [Alexia's ex-husband, Herman Echevarria] passed, she was able to open up her life a little bit more," Gimenez said, before adding of how Alexia was in prior seasons, "She was very reserved."

Gimenez also noted Larsa's evolution since we last saw her on RHOM in Season 1. "I think that Larsa as well, you know, coming from the divorce [from Scottie Pippen], and going through the divorce, she’s able to talk about certain issues that she was going through in her marriage. And what [was] the demise of that. And, you know, sometimes you just fall away from each other. She was in this marriage since she was in her 20s. Half her life was in a marriage. So I think that she was finding her own identity," Gimenez explained. "And that’s really what it is, is like these women, we’re trying to play all these roles. And it’s a real struggle being, you know, making money, being a mom, trying to also carry yourself in a certain way. And it’s a lot of pressure."

However, what has always made RHOM what it is from the beginning is that "all these women are very strong in their own way," according to Gimenez. "And I think they all bring something special to the table," she said. "And I think it’s a really great ensemble."

As Gimenez mentioned, when we first met Alexia back in Season 1 of RHOM, she was married to Herman, from whom she later separated in 2015, one year before his passing. Season 4 saw Alexia embarking on a new chapter as she prepared to marry Todd Nepola.

Unfortunately, Alexia didn't get to have the fairytale wedding she was planning in Miami. Her mother, Nancy, passed away on what was supposed to be her wedding day. The somber moments were documented in the RHOM Season 4 finale, including Guerdy, who was planning the wedding, hearing the news of Alexia's mom's passing, a memorial with the women held at Nicole's house, and the day of Nancy's funeral. All of this was "very, very difficult" to chronicle at the time, according to Gimenez.

Gimenez went on to share what production's plans for filming Alexia's wedding had been before her sudden loss. "We don’t know what’s happening with her mom. And we’re trying to do a wedding. I mean, the wedding was gonna be shot as any other quote unquote Bravo, Peacock, network wedding, right? We were gonna do it in a venue. We were thinking of doing it on a yacht. We were gonna try to showcase Miami. So a lot of time and energy was put in. And to see that unfold and to see her try to be strong through her mom’s illness was very tough on everyone," Gimenez said. "Ultimately, she wasn’t able to, on the show, go down the [aisle] and get married. You want to kind of put a nice bow around things, and unfortunately it didn’t happen that way. And it was very sad."

Alexia and Todd were eventually able to tie the knot several months later in a small ceremony in St. Barths in December 2021, and Gimenez said that she was happy to see the couple finally get their happy ending. "I think that that was the most intimate way that they could say, 'We’ve gone through so much in our lives, through the struggles and the obstacles, but what remains is just love and pure happiness,'" Gimenez shared. "And I think that them, you know, doing that, just them two, really showed that it was about them as a couple and what their relationship meant to each other."

The newlyweds later commemorated the occasion with their loved ones with a party on a yacht in Miami in April. Bravo Insider caught up with Alexia a few weeks after that at the NBCUniversal Upfront on May 16, where she dished on the celebration. "Well, the party was a lot of fun. Todd and I were finally able to celebrate with our friends and family," she shared. "It was just really about him and I, even though we were celebrating with our friends and family, we were super aligned that night. When my feet hurt, his feet hurt. When I wanted to dance, he wanted to dance. So it was a beautiful celebration. All of my friends and family got to be there."

That synchronicity has continued in Alexia and Todd's new life as spouses, thanks to nightly dinners out. "We don't worry about cooking because Todd doesn't like me to cook. So I cook really well. I actually cook really good Cuban food, and he loves that. I'll do that once in a while as a treat, but he likes to go out every night. So I'm one of those lucky wives that doesn't have to cook. The love didn't come in through the kitchen, so he doesn't expect me to cook," the RHOM cast member said. "But no, we go out to dinner like every night. And it's kind of just a moment for him and I to be together, have a glass of wine, and kind of reconnect after a hard day at work."

In case you couldn't tell, married life has been good to Alexia and Todd. "Now that we're married, things are even better. We have a joke saying, like, [if] we would have known we were gonna be so much better after being married, we would have done this a long time ago. It's kind of like I had to seal the deal," Alexia said. "So everything's been really great. Nothing's really changed at home between Todd and I because we were already living together. So it's kind of like the same thing — just better."

Watch new episodes of RHOM Tuesdays at 9/8c and streaming on Peacock.

— Additional reporting by Alexandra Darwick