What Alex McCord From RHONY Does For A Living Today
Alex McCord gained notoriety back in 2008 when she landed herself a spot as an OG cast member of "The Real Housewives of New York City," appearing alongside the likes of Real Housewives icons Bethenny Frankel, Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, and Jill Zarin. McCord stuck with the Bravo hit for four seasons before it was time to say goodbye, when ABC News reported she was let go from the series alongside Zarin, Cindy Barshop, and Kelly Bensimon.
McCord then dished on being let go from the series during a bombshell interview on "Good Morning America" alongside her husband, Simon van Kempen, in September 2011, hitting back, "You never want it to be someone else's decision that you're not coming back. So, sure, it felt like being laid off. And that didn't feel good." While also calling out her former co-stars, McCord made it pretty clear she didn't regret her outspoken behavior on the show. "One thing that I do, absolutely, is I call people out. And I got louder and louder about that."
But what has McCord been up to since leaving the show? Well, it seems like she's been pretty darn busy.
Alex McCord has her sights on a PhD
After leaving "The Real Housewives of New York City," Alex McCord said goodbye to the catty drama and hello to the books as she proved she has beauty and brains. McCord revealed on Twitter in 2017 that she'd earned her B.A. in Psychology, and she's only gone from strength to strength since then. In May 2020, she took to Instagram to share that she'd gone one step further when she proudly showed off her certificate for achieving an M.A. in Professional Psychology from the University of New England. Impressive!
But the former reality star wasn't done there. In August 2021, she confirmed that she was expanding her horizons even further when she told her Instagram followers she was studying for a PhD. "I'm gonna be a PhD!! Just successfully defended my research proposal and my doctoral candidature is confirmed!!" she wrote on the social media site alongside a selfie. According to her Instagram bio, McCord is expecting to be fully certified by 2025, and she regularly shares updates on her studies on the social media site.
According to her LinkedIn, McCord has had a number of academic jobs since leaving "RHONY," including being a Researcher at the University of Technology Sydney and a Guest Presenter and Research Co-Investigator at Southern Cross University. Since 2021, her occupation has been a professional Psychologist at a private company.
Alex McCord moved to Australia after leaving Real Housewives behind
Alex McCord's hard work on her education is hardly the only big change that's happened for her since she said sayonara to Bravo. Simon van Kempen (who's still married to McCord, by the way!) confirmed in September 2014 they'd put their family home in Brooklyn on the market, revealing via Twitter that they were leaving the Big Apple behind to move to Australia. The clan are clearly still happy down under too, as McCord shared a stunning beach photo from Byron Bay on Instagram on January 6.
While it's looking unlikely after moving to the other side of the world that McCord would ever be able to take on a full-time role on "The Real Housewives of New York City" again, upping sticks and heading Down Under hasn't stopped her from taking part in the franchise all together. January brought the news that McCord would be returning to the franchise to take part in the spin-off "Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip" Season 4, which will see her head to Morocco alongside Brandi Glanville, Vicki Gunvalson, Eva Marcille, Phaedra Parks, Camille Grammer, Gretchen Rossi, and Caroline Manzo. Naturally though, with moving and all of her studies, McCord hasn't exactly had time to keep up with what's going on with the Bravo franchise, so she's been taking to Instagram to ask fans to get her up to speed with her co-stars.