New 'RHONY' Cast Member Barbara Is Making An Enemy Out Of Dorinda

Dorinda Medley and Luann de Lesseps still haven't mended fences since their ugly battle at the end of last season, but a new Housewife is here to complicate things even further. Barbara Kavovit, a construction CEO and DIY goddess, has planted her flag firmly in Luann's camp at the top of Season 11 — but are Barbara and Dorinda friends? This threesome actually goes way back together.

As viewers learned in the season premiere, Barbara has been friends with Luann for about 15 years and she knows Dorinda well, too. This makes sense, considering how close Luann and Dorinda were for so long. But Barbara was introduced on the show as a friend of Luann's, not Dorinda's, and it clearly rubbed Dorinda the wrong way.

“She was an independent friend of mine, so I was just so dumbfounded when...it’s almost like she didn’t know me,” Dorinda told Us Weekly. "I was like, 'It’s me! Remember me? Remember the person that saved you when you were at Luann’s wedding and she didn’t want to speak to you? I’m the one that stood by you?'"

While the exact details of why Luann wasn't speaking to Barbara at her wedding aren't confirmed, I think it's safe to assume that it had something to do with comments Barbara made about her engagement in a Season 9 episode.

"I think she has something to prove," Kavovit said in an off-camera chat with former Housewife Carole Radziwill, whose mic picked up their conversation. "She’d rather go through with it and get divorced than call it off." At the time, Barbara was so concerned about the conversation coming to light that she filed an emergency injunction to prevent Bravo from airing it, according to Page Six, but the judge threw out the case. Prior to the Season 11 premiere, sources told People that Barbara and Luann had long-since made up. In fact, Barbara was present at the intervention which encouraged Luann to do a second stint in rehab.

Dorinda identifies this newfound closeness as yet another reason she struggled to patch things up with Luann. "You are going to see throughout the season [that] I’m just trying so hard to communicate with [Luann], and Barbara unfortunately is constantly blocking it," Dorinda continued in her Us interview. "I think it made it go on longer than it should have. We needed to just clear the air."

Barbara introduced herself to the group at the beginning of the season by hosting a Hamptons clambake, but unfortunately, Luann refused to attend unless Dorinda apologized. Naturally, Dorinda refused to apologize until Luann apologized. Their standoff ultimately led Barbara to disinvite Dorinda, which only made things worse. "She always has an excuse for everything and she's her own worst enemy," Barbara said about Dorinda during a confessional interview in the Mar. 13 episode.

Sadly, it seems like none of this will get resolved until Dorinda and Luann hash things out. Although Barbara's impulse to protect Luann is completely understandable, with any luck, she'll figure out how to step aside and let Luann and Dorinda process their own issues.