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Jenna Lyons joined The Real Housewives of New York in 2022 on the heels of careers in fashion, acting, and reality TV— notably the host of Stylish with Jenna Lyons. Jenna was single at the time, having divorced her husband, Vincent Mazeau, in 2011.
During her divorce, Jenna was outed by the media as a lesbian. Since then, Jenna has been open about her relationships, including the one with her former girlfriend, Courtney Crangi. Jenna and Courtney broke up in 2017 and, in 2023, Jenna announced she was in a relationship with photographer Cass Bird.
Jenna revealed that she and Cass were engaged in 2024, leading to widespread interest in the latter. In addition to being a photographer, Cass has also pursued film and writing, making her career and life as multifaceted as her partner’s. Here’s more about Cass, her work, and her life as the newest unofficial wife of RHONY‘s Jenna Lyons.
Cass Bird Has Displayed Her Art Around The World
In the words of Cass Bird,
“My job is not to just take a pretty picture. I do want it to be beautiful, but my priority is that it feels engaged and like an experience.”
The photographer, a native Californian, moved to New York in 1997. Her photos have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, and The New Yorker, among other publications, with additional works displayed in galleries across the globe.
Cass has also photographed some high-profile individuals over the years including Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, and Viggo Mortensen. Model Daria Werbowy, however, left a major impression on Cass, as she described in 2012:
“Daria was the first head-to-toe nude I ever shot… I was at her house, and she just started taking her clothes off, and I had this moment where I was standing over her in her bathtub where I was just like, ‘Holy f***. I am shooting you f***ing naked!’ I felt really vulnerable and was probably shaking… but I saw in her this real control, her energy, her strength. We’re all a lot stronger than we think, but we’re all a lot more fragile than we think. Honoring both parts of that’s important.”
In 2016, Cass offered several tips to aspiring artists based on her own experiences, the last of which was to trust themselves. For Cass, this was the most important thing because art “is always going to be about finding the woman, finding the human, finding the community or the experience.”
As recently as 2023, Cass’s work appeared in the January issue of the International Apparel Journal. Cass offered comments and insights, highlighting how she showcases individual freedom, truth, and reality instead of any socially constructed notions of beauty and perfection.
Cass also directed a film for a fashion brand called Sophomore and has directed small films with celebrities like Jay-Z. In addition to these ventures, Cass released a book called Rewilding in 2012. Rewilding contained images of men and women in what she described as a “convergence of alternative lifestyles with accepted conceptions of motherhood, nurturing, and family” in Tennessee.
Cass Bird Has Two Children With Her Former Partner
Between 2003 and 2022, Cass Bird was in a relationship with Ali Bird, an agent and director of The Wall Group. Their mutual interest in photography drew them together and, as their connection intensified, they grew their lives together and soon started a family. Their first child, Leo, was born in 2008 and their second, Mae, was born the following year.
According to Ali, she and Cass never married. She explained,
“We wanted to start a family and buy a house… We saved money. We did it. When gay marriage became legal, we had already made the biggest commitment…. It is important that we have the same dreams. What does it mean to be a good partner, a good citizen . . . two big, big things.”
In 2017, Cass and Ali talked about parenting and how their children shaped their lives with Coeveteur. With work schedules that kept them incredibly busy, they devoted themselves to establishing stability for their two children.
The demise of the relationship between Cass and Ali isn’t entirely clear, but Cass and Jenna clarified some of the details about how they met in The Cut in 2023. The pair met while season 14 of The Real Housewives of New York was filming. According to Cass,
“It was laugh-y and silly…. We hung out and were like, ‘Yep.’ She is an actual mutant. Which I know you know already.”
Jenna’s presence on RHONY won’t include appearances by Cass, however. She made it clear “never” plans to be seen on the show.
Jenna Lyons And Cass Bird Had An “Unofficial” Wedding In January 2025
When Jenna Lyons appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in October 2023, she explained why she was wearing what looked to be an engagement ring:
“So basically, here’s the story. My girlfriend, who I adore, kept telling me that I had to button my shirt, and I said ‘If you want me to button my shirt, you have to put a ring on it.”
In 2024, Lyons got equally coy about questions regarding her relationship status with Cass Bird. She teased that she may not “need to get married… [or] maybe I already did.” In January 2025, it was revealed a wedding of sorts between Cass and Jenna at some point, although it is one that remains “unofficial.”
With the end of Season 15 of RHONY in early February 2025, it remains unclear if Jenna will return for any additional seasons. Jenna has made it clear that Cass doesn’t know the cast well.
“She doesn’t know all of them that well. She’s met Sai, and she’s met Brynn, but she hasn’t met the other girls, like hung out with them.”
The only RHONY exit that’s been confirmed after Season 15’s conclusion is that of Rebecca Minkoff, a friend of the show.
