Secrets and Wives Finds Long Island Ladies at a Crossroads

Ingela Ratledge
Barbara Nitke/Bravo

Secrets & Lies

Long Island is connected to New York City by a series of bridges and tunnels, but from the looks of Secrets and Wives—a new Bravo reality show set on the well-to-do North Shore—it's practically a self-contained universe. "You know how you're supposed to have six degrees of separation from any person?" asks cast member Cori Goldfarb. "Here, it's one. We've all grown up together and dated the same men."

That's no exaggeration. The docuseries focuses on a close-knit sextet: Andi Black, Susan Doneson, Gail Greenberg, Amy Miller, Liza Sandler, and Cori, who's the only member of this circle still married to her first husband. The rest of them, it seems, have been engaging in a decades-long game of musical relationships. "Amy and Liza were engaged to the same guy, but not at the same time—Amy ended up marrying him," explains Cori. "I dated Liza's ex-husband for five minutes. Let's see, what other overlap is there? It's incredibly incestuous."

Of course, their romance roster isn't the only common thread. Each of the designer-clad ladies is at a crossroads of sorts, trying to figure out her next act. "We're middle-aged women at a new chapter in life, reinventing ourselves in some way or another," Cori says. For her, that means confronting her spouse, Sandy—after four children and 20 years together—about fidelity issues upon discovering a suspicious text message on his phone. "It made me question everything," she says. On the other end of the spectrum? Liza, once considered the local bombshell, is now divorced and facing an empty nest as her youngest heads off to college. Says Cori, "We all have our stories, and they go deep."

Through their various ups and downs, the gals will draw strength and support from within the group, a rarity considering the backstabbing and weave-pulling that have become the hallmarks of this genre. "There's not much infighting between us, but there is drama and intensity," promises Cori. "We know each other so well that we don't hold back. If a friend needs to hear something, we're going to tell her!"

Secrets and Wives, Tuesdays, 10/9c, Bravo