Although her estranged husband Lenny Hochstein claims it’s not what viewers think, Lisa Hochstein opens up to PEOPLE about the moment that has Real Housewives of Miami fans talking. Lisa Hochstein was just as shocked by her estranged husband Lenny Hochstein’s hot mic moment as Real Housewives of Miami viewers were.
The reality star recalled hearing the recording in which Lenny said to a friend that “in a couple of months, I might be single” and that he was no longer sleeping with Lisa “because then I would be cheating on people I actually care about” in an interview for this week’s issue of PEOPLE.
Lenny, who has a son named Logan, 7, and a daughter named Elle, 3, with Lisa, was overheard adding, “Nobody knows.” “Nobody.”
The sequence was shown to Peacock viewers at the conclusion of season 5’s fourth episode, which aired on Thursday. The two were hosting a “Good Vibes” party in their Miami mansion for Lisa’s friends and co-stars at the time Lenny’s words were overheard.
The toughest thing to witness, according to Lisa, 40, was that. “I couldn’t believe it. He nearly sounded smirk-like in his speech. He said those things without any regret in his heart. It almost seemed as like he was bragging to his friend about it, as if our entire marriage were a joke.”
Lenny, 56, told Lisa off camera that he was splitting up with her just days after the party. Soon later, he announced his relationship to the world with his 27-year-old new girlfriend Katharina Mazepa.
Lenny has maintained that he never strayed on Lisa and claimed this week to PEOPLE that he was true to her throughout their marriage.
“I won’t pretend that I didn’t have someone in mind for a relationship. However, I went after her later and not before “Lenny utters. “I had a friendship with someone who I considered to be really special. But once I told Lisa I wanted a divorce, nothing turned physical.”
“I wasn’t even sleeping in the same bedroom as Lisa at the time I was speaking to my pal [during the hot mic incident],” Lenny continues. “Lisa and I haven’t been a traditional husband and wife since 2021, in actuality. We realised that our marriage was over since things had grown so awful between us.”
Although Lisa admits that she and her husband had issues, she tells PEOPLE that she was actively trying to fix them and never imagined they wouldn’t be able to.
“Of course, there were issues in our marriage. Although there were ups and downs, we always took pride in being that couple that would persevere “She continues by saying that when he told her he wanted to leave, it threw her off guard. “Up until that day when he dropped the bomb on me, we had been sleeping in the same bed for the previous 15 years. I was taken off guard.”
So what was her reaction when she discovered Lenny was seeing Mazepa?
Lisa, who broke down in tears, explains, “It was like a punch in the face.” “It was really hurtful to me. How could you, for example, tell me we were getting a divorce one day and then, in an instant, be out there gallivanting with this other woman? It lacked compassion.”
Lenny’s relationship with Mazepa, according to the mother of two, was brought up long before they split up. “I once received a message out of the blue from someone saying, ‘I’m so sorry, I just spotted your husband with this woman’ outside of her building,'” Lisa relates. “So I phoned him right afterwards to find out what was going on, but he denied everything and said they were just friends,” she continued.
She says, “Yet, I always suspected that something was wrong with her; it always made me feel very uneasy, the way they interacted. “She was simply always present, flirting on Instagram, private messaging, and sending back-and-forth remarks. But each time I confronted him, he would act as like nothing had happened. I simply kept extending the benefit of the doubt to him.”
When Lenny started working out, she also turned a blind eye. “I had never seen him work so hard or take such good care of himself. I’d been urging him to stay healthier, eat better, and exercise for 15 years, but he never seemed to care. Thus, when he began doing it, the antenna was elevated “says Lisa. “But once more, I turned away after spotting the red flag. I never stopped telling him how pleased I was of him. In the end, it wasn’t for me.”
