Jill Zarin

Jill Zarin is an American television personality and businesswoman. She is best known as an original cast member on the Bravo reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City, in which she starred from 2008 to 2011. Over the course of her career, she has engaged in various business ventures, authored a book, launched a jewelry line, and appeared in several subsequent television programs.

Zarin was born in Woodmere, New York, to Saul and Gloria Kamen. She attended Simmons University, graduating in 1985 with a degree in retail management.

Following her graduation, Zarin began her professional career as an assistant buyer at Filene's department store and later served as the vice president of Great American Knitting Mills. In 2008, she entered reality television as one of five women cast for the premiere season of Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City. She agreed to join the show after a producer saw a photo of her, her husband Bobby, and her daughter Ally on the New York Social Diary website, viewing the series as an opportunity to gain exposure for Zarin Fabric Warehouse, a business owned by her and her husband.

While appearing on the show, Zarin published the book Secrets of a Jewish Mother in 2010, which she co-wrote with her mother and sister. In 2011, she was released from her role on The Real Housewives of New York City alongside fellow cast members Kelly Bensimon and Alex McCord. Following her departure from the show, Zarin launched the Jill Zarin Jewelry Collection in late 2012, with pieces sold through major retailers Macy's and Lord & Taylor.

Zarin returned to reality television in June 2022, participating in the Peacock spin-off series The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip. In 2024, she competed on the Amazon Freevee reality series The Goat, where she was exiled in the tenth episode.

In February 2026, it was announced that Zarin would star alongside former castmates Kelly Bensimon, Luann de Lesseps, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer, and Dorinda Medley in an E! series under the working title The Golden Life, focused on their lives in Palm Beach, Florida. However, seven days after the announcement, Zarin was fired from the show following backlash over a deleted Instagram video in which she criticized the Super Bowl LX halftime show and its headliner Bad Bunny, calling it the worst halftime show ever and complaining about its language and demographic composition.

In her personal life, Zarin married Steven Shapiro in 1987, and they divorced in 1998. She has a daughter, Allyson Shapiro, conceived via a sperm donor during her first marriage. She married Bobby Zarin in 2000, and he passed away in 2018 at age 71. Zarin began dating businessman Gary Brody in 2018, and as of June 2022, she lives in Boca Raton, Florida.