Amanda Cronin on launching her own business and life in the spotlight

If you had to pick a breakout star of Hayu’s The Real Housewives of London, it would undoubtedly be Amanda Cronin. She was the woman behind all of season one’s most memorable moments, famed for her devastating one-liners. Now she’s back with a bang in season two of the hit reality show, which premiered on September 7.

Chronicling the privileged lives of six women in London’s most glamorous postcodes, the new season is packed full of shifting alliances, mounting tensions and unmissable moments – with Amanda at the heart of most of them. “Obviously, I’m the breakout star of season two as well,” she says, with a twinkle in her ice-blue eyes.

I’m meeting Amanda for our cover shoot at her Belgravia home and I’ll admit, I’m a little apprehensive about what she’ll be like in the flesh. But I soon realise I needn’t have been. While she’s just as self-assured as she appears on the show, she’s also disarmingly warm and candid, bustling about her pristine marble kitchen making pots of coffee for the crew. “I love to mother people,” she says.

As for what we can expect from her in season two? She says she’s set to reveal a totally different side to her personality. “I’m more relaxed, more fun and more vulnerable. Vulnerability is my new superpower.”

Photo credit: Sarel Jansen

Amanda says she had no hesitation joining the show when the producers came knocking. “When Real Housewives comes to you, you pay attention. It’s one of the biggest franchises in the world. Then there’s the opportunity these shows give women over 50. I got to shoot season one when I was 56 – I was living my best life at 56, and I still am at 58. That’s such a powerful message to be able to send.”

Amanda is no stranger to being in front of the camera, having started her career as a model when she was 16 – she’s now known for having “the longest legs in Belgravia”. After an idyllic childhood in the Hampshire countryside, it was modelling that first brought her to London. She modelled until she was 33 – even during pregnancy with her daughter, Sofia, 30, after whose birth she only took six weeks off – before discovering a melanoma on her leg. “I had to have surgery, which left me with an 8cm scar,” she says. “After that, I realised I’d had enough of modelling.”

A stint in property came next, brokering deals for high-net-worth individuals, followed by work as a brand strategist and muse for the British jeweller Stephen Webster and London-based label Safiyaa. “I love parties, I love events, I love people,” says Amanda. “I’m good at creating an environment where people want to spend money. That’s kind of my shtick.”

In 2013 she married the multi-millionaire business tycoon Mark Daeche, co-founder of energy firm First Utility, though the couple divorced in 2019. More recently she dated former Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley for about a year, but called it quits in May 2023 because she wanted a monogamous relationship. “For me, dating has been very difficult, because I just set the bar very high,” she said on season one of Real Housewives. “So it’s no wonder that it’s taken me a little bit longer to start meeting people that I feel are the type of person that I want to move forward with. I feel like I’m doing a PhD in billionaires.”

Photo credit: Sarel Jansen

It wasn’t until after her divorce from Daeche that Amanda found her true professional calling. “I really wanted to start my own company but I hadn’t come up with the right idea yet,” she says. “I was married to one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the UK. I’d been by his side through the growth of his company – I’d seen the highs and the lows – so I’d learnt a lot about growing a business. I knew I needed to be in the right sector and after doing some research, I realised I wanted to launch a skincare line. I’m a survivor of skin cancer, I’m very interested in epigenetics and ageing well and I was also struggling with my skin and what to put on it. So I decided to launch my own range.”

Amanda spent two years during the pandemic building Amanda Caroline Skincare, which launched in January 2022 with two products, the Haute Lift cream and serum. “We reinvented the wheel on rich cream, creating a lightweight yet super-hydrating formula that’s absorbed immediately,” she says. “When it launched it went straight into Saks and Fenwick.” The range now also includes a cleanser, with more products in the pipeline.

Her skincare line led to the launch of Amanda Caroline Secret Door, a doctor-led beauty, aesthetic wellness and longevity clinic located on the ground floor of Amanda’s Belgravia home. “I like to refer to the clinic as your skin’s time machine,” she says. “I’m obsessed with reversing the signs of ageing on the skin and Secret Door is the most exclusive place in London to do just that.” The clinic offers bespoke treatments ranging from lymphatic drainage massages and microneedling to botox and collagen boosters.

Housing her cutting-edge clinic and brand HQ under the same roof at her Belgravia home was a savvy move. “I like to make everything convenient to myself – that’s how I work so dynamically.” That home is certainly something to behold, a stunning mews property that she demolished to rebuild to her precise specifications. “I ended up with this multimillion-pound hole in the ground, which is quite daunting when you’re on your own. At one point it was just two party walls.”

Photo credit: Sarel Jansen

Built during the pandemic, the inspiration for the house came from Amanda’s favourite hotels and locations around the world. There’s a red wall and black balustrade on the terrace in a nod to Hôtel Costes in Paris, a bar inspired by billionaire art collector Eugenio López’s home in Mexico City and a blue-and-white striped guest loo modelled on a Mexican beach hut. “At a time when no one was travelling, I didn’t know if I would ever travel again,” she says. “So I wanted to lean into all the beautiful homes and hotels I’ve stayed in.”

The furniture is a mix of treasured antique pieces, ranging from gilded mirrors to a French desk, and custom sofas made in Milan. Standout pieces include a Gucci dining table and a pair of wicker chairs by Nicky Haslam. But the real talking point is the art. Amanda is an avid collector, working with the Gagosian gallery in New York on a collection that ranges from Magrittes and Picassos to works by Tracey Emin and a giant graffiti piece by Pauline Amos by the dining table. “That one always provokes a reaction,” says Amanda. She also has an array of Richard Young photographs – “he’s a close personal friend” – including a sultry Dita Von Teese in her bedroom and an iconic image of Kate Moss and Johnny Depp in the entrance hall.

Amanda says her favourite room is her bedroom, a tranquil space in duck-egg blues and soft greys. Inspired by Marie Antoinette, it features a walk-in wardrobe and a canopied bed “fit for a queen”. As for why it’s her favourite, Amanda doesn’t hesitate. “I like to be reclined as much as possible,” she says, that cheeky twinkle back in her eye. “It just suits me.”

The Real Housewives of London is streaming now on Hayu; bravotv.com