Luann De Lesseps Makes Drastic Move Prior To ‘RHONY’ Premiere

The Real Housewives of New York star Luann De Lesseps may have been married to the Count when she was filming the first couple of seasons of the show, but even when they divorced, Luann continued to use her Countess status. That seemed to confuse many people who were watching, but the De Lesseps last name is also quite the tongue twister.

On one of the first seasons of the show, Luann De Lesseps was caught making a phone call to have some pizza delivered for her children. When the pizza man couldn’t get her last name, she simply used “The Countess” as a delivery name. Maybe Luann knows that her name can be quite the challenge.

According to a new Bravo report, The Real Housewives of New York star Luann De Lesseps is now revealing that she has done something drastic prior to the premiere of the show tomorrow night. Luann has officially changed her name. She will no longer be going with LuAnn, but simply just Luann. No more capital letters for this mother of two.

“I’ve always thought the capital A was a bit jarring, to tell you the truth,” Luann reveals, adding, “Like my name was so much more than it was or than it needed to be. I’d toyed with the idea of using all lower-case years ago, but I just stuck with it.”

The change, however, had nothing to do with The Real Housewives of New York. Even though De Lesseps has had plenty of chances to change her name, it was actually a recent business decision that resulted in her officially changing her name.

“When I decided to launch my Countess Collection, I knew ‘Countess LuAnn’ would be a lot of branding,” Luann de Lesseps reveals, adding, “It just looked (and felt) so much better to have it simpler and…dare I say…much more ‘chic.’ So ‘Countess Luann’ it was and voila! C’est bon!”

This morning, Luann De Lesseps and the other housewives went on the TODAY Show to talk about the upcoming season, which premieres tomorrow on Bravo. It sounds like De Lesseps can bond a little more with Ramona Singer, as she is now going through a divorce herself. That means Singer, Luann and Bethenny Frankel have all divorced their husbands while being involved with The Real Housewives of New York. According to the Inquisitr, De Lesseps was a bit unsure of Frankel’s return, but they seem to get along all right.

What do you think about Luann De Lesseps’ decision to suddenly change her name? Do you think it will help her branding?

[Image via Bravo]