‘Members Only: Palm Beach’ Star Rosalyn Yellin Says A “Beautiful Older Socialite” Once Told Her Not To Show Boobs And Knees In The Same Outfit: “So I Said It To Ro-Mina”

While Rosalyn Yellin might have been crowned the new “Queen of Palm Beach” in Netflix’s Members Only: Palm Beach, even she had a hard time learning the ropes of the island when she first moved there six years ago.

As seen in the show, Yellin takes it upon herself to mentor the new girl in town, Ro-Mina Ustayev, giving her all of the tips and tricks to successfully navigate Palm Beach’s finicky social scene. Two of the most important rules, however, pertained to fashion: one, don’t show your boobs and knees together, and two, never wear the same outfit to more than one event. If we’re getting into the nitty gritty, she also advised Ustayev to do away with the pleather. According to Yellin, these were tips she was given when she first moved to town.

“When I moved to Palm Beach six years ago, a beautiful older socialite came over to me and she said, ‘Darling, you never show your boobs and your knees,’” Yellin recalled when she stopped by DECIDER’s studio. “I understood what she was saying. There are no rules. But somebody did say it to me, so I said it to Ro-Mina, almost as a joke.”

Yellin, for her part, has received mixed reviews from fans. Some viewers have felt that she was too judgmental of Ustayev, and that she didn’t stand up to her own mentor, Gale Brophy, enough when she was launching an attack on the Uzbekistan-born cast member. The philanthropist, however, wants fans to know that, while she is close friends with Brophy, she doesn’t co-sign some of the hurtful remarks she made in the show.

“I am a person and I don’t think I’m perfect. I’ve had a hard time. I had a hard start to my life, and I feel that I belong there just like anybody else does, just like Ro-Mina does, just like my castmates do,” Yellin said. “I would never tell somebody they don’t belong.”

When we caught up with Yellin, she revealed her thoughts on the show being dubbed “MAGA Housewives,” why she decided to sign on for reality TV, and whether she thinks Bethenny Frankel would be a good addition to the cast. Check out the full interview below.

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DECIDER: I’m so excited to have you here to talk all things Members Only: Palm Beach. Before we get into everything, what made you want to do a reality show?

ROSALYN YELLIN: Well, being a housewife and raising five children, I always did like some of the Housewives shows, so I just wanted to do it also. It was something I always wanted to do secretly. When the opportunity presented itself, I thought, “Why not?”

Gale Brophy crowned you the new queen of Palm Beach. I know you are very involved with several charities and businesses. How have you been living up to the new title?

I do a lot of philanthropy work, and that’s just something that I love to do and that I’m very passionate about. I hope that I’m proving myself in that way. But to tell you the truth, I never was comfortable calling myself the word “queen.” I feel like we’re all queens. There are so many queens, and I was not comfortable calling myself that. 

There are rumors floating that Mar-a-Lago members are trying to get you ousted from the club. What can you say about that? Is there any truth to that?

No. I am a member in good standing at the club since I joined, and I do a lot of hosting charity events, and I raise a lot of money for causes that are very important to me and people in Palm Beach County. And there’s just no truth to that. 

I know you and your castmates have been in cahoots with the POTUS. Does he have any thoughts on the show that you’re aware of?

I have not heard if he’s watched the show. So, no, probably not with what’s going on in the world today. I would think it’s the last thing.

I don’t want to get too in the weeds on politics here. But a lot of people have been referring to this show as MAGA Housewives. What are your thoughts on that?

I don’t think so, because we don’t talk politics on the show. It’s just a very beautiful social club in Palm Beach County. It’s a beautiful place to be, to eat, to go to events, to have charity events. So I don’t think that’s fair. We never speak about politics on the show at all.

I really want to talk about that etiquette lesson between you, Gale, and Ro-Mina. Now that you’ve watched it back, what do you think of that scene and the way Gale treated Ro-Mina? Do you wish you spoke up more?

Yes. Watching the show back, I do wish I spoke up in that moment, but there was a lot going on. First of all, we did film for about 10 weeks and it boils down to six hours, so you don’t see so many scenes where the two of them just go at it and I cannot get a word in. I just stopped interjecting by that point. I could not get a word in. You see that in the scene at the clothing store as well when Romina says, “Uzbekistan,” and Gale says, “Pakistan,” and I said, “Uzbekistan.” That is all I could get out. With the two of them, I couldn’t get a word in, and it was really difficult for me to film with three people because I just was kind of shut out. The truth is, I didn’t really find my voice until the eighth episode, which is the truth. I’m not used to speaking up or speaking out, so it was hard for me to publicly correct somebody who is older than me because manners and respect thy elders and all that was always so ingrained in me that it just was very hard for me to say anything. But watching it, yeah, I want to say to myself, “Oh, my God, say something!”

I could see my face. In some of the pictures that they’re using, my face is not happy. I’m always smiling. I’m just always smiling. That’s my personality. Some people are like, “Oh, why is she always smiling?”  Well, because I’m, for the most part, really happy now, so I do smile a lot. In that scene, I was not smiling, I was not happy. And then I did have a nervous smile when I touched Gale’s hand and I said, “Gale, let’s listen.” That’s exactly what I did. I was hoping that the etiquette coach would diffuse that. But she didn’t and she said, “Well, I’ll let you girls be.” I was kind of upset about that because I was really hoping that she would make the correction for me. I know exactly where Ro-Mina comes from. I know exactly her culture, so it was hard. 

How has Gale felt about her portrayal? And the reception from viewers?

I’m close with Gale, not that close that I could ask her how she felt about her portrayal. So that’s something you would have to ask Gale. 

Hilary makes mention of Gale’s apartment several times in the show. Have you ever been to her place?

I’ve never been to where she lives, and then I was so surprised to watch the show and then they have Gale sitting in my house, in my chair, in my house, in her confessional. I thought that was kind of funny, but I was surprised. 

When the show starts, you and Hilary are on opposite sides of the battlefield. Where do you stand with her now? Are you at all worried about her putting you on the Palm Beach blacklist, like she sort of threatened to do at the end?

No, because there are so many different groups in Palm Beach, and if there’s a group that doesn’t like me or doesn’t want me around, I’m totally fine with that. I don’t condone bullying, and I do feel bullied, to tell you the truth, as an adult woman, where I put my roots down. If people want to put all the focus on me and talk about me constantly or exclude me, I feel like that’s on them and I just have to take the high road. But there are many, many, many people in Palm Beach. Yes, it’s a small, beautiful island, but there are a lot of people who live there, and there are a lot of people who love me and I love them, and there’s nothing I can do about that. 

We need to talk about the boobs or knees but never both fashion rule. Where did that come from? How do you know when to follow it and when not to? Because it doesn’t seem like a rule that’s always followed!

When I moved to Palm Beach six years ago, a beautiful older socialite came over to me and she said, “Darling, you never show your boobs and your knees.” So she said it to me! Then I looked at myself like, “Oh, OK.” And I looked around. Maybe I was dressed a little too sexy for the occasion, but I immediately got it. I understood what she was saying. There are no rules. But somebody did say it to me, so I said it to Ro-Mina, almost as a joke. But the truth is, if you’re going to a charity event in Palm Beach at a private club, maybe you don’t want to dress like you’re going to Liv Nightclub. Or maybe you don’t want to dress like you’re going to Nikki Beach, you know? You just have to know how to dress for the occasion. I think that Palm Beach is very different from any other place, and it does lean a little more modest and a little more conservative with the dressing. But there are no rules. That’s all just silly and funny. You’re going to Miami? Wear whatever you want. You’re going right over the bridge. Or even in Palm Beach just out to dinner? Wear whatever you want. But when you’re in a private club on the island at a charity event – especially if you’re a guest, if you’re somebody’s guest, you don’t want to offend your host. That’s all it really is. But it’s a reality show, so they leaned into it. It’s heightened reality. It’s made to elicit strong feelings. They wanted people to have a very strong reaction. But it was never about putting anyone down or changing anyone, ever. 

Right. There’s a time and a place.

There’s a time and a place to be sexy and hot. But she’s always gorgeous. I love her. I love, love, love Ro-Mina. We’re good friends. I brought her on the show. We’re both from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and the whole thing was supposed to be in good fun. Maybe it did look a little, you know, like I said, heightened reality, which it’s a shame, but it is what it is. And it was really just supposed to be funny. 

You said you moved to Palm Beach about six years ago. What was the hardest thing for you to get used to?

I think it was the people. I met people there that were very different from the people in Bucks County. I think on a whole, I think the people in Bucks County were just much more welcoming and really nice and down to earth. I think that the people in Palm Beach – not all of them because there are wonderful, wonderful people there – but I think some of them can be a little mean or exclusionary. They did it to me and they still are. I was a little disappointed that maybe people didn’t see that in the show, that I’m still being excluded, I’m still trying to prove myself, I’m still showing myself. I don’t know if they really showed that. Me helping Ro-Mina is because I love her. I also said, but they didn’t show it, she’s always going to have a place with me. She’s always going to have a seat at my table. She’s always going to be with me. But they didn’t show that. 

Things got really emotional at the end of the season, with you reminding the women that you are a human being. Do you feel like they’ve started to understand you better?

Yes, I really do hope so and I think so. I do hope that in that last scene that people can find the context – that for 10 weeks, I was dealing with the mean jabs, the not nice remarks, the exclusion, people talking about me, always bringing up other outsiders who aren’t on the show. I just kept it to people on the show and just wanted to try to keep it whatever’s on the show is on the show. I just kind of exploded at the end because I am a person and I don’t think I’m perfect. I’ve had a hard time. I had a hard start to my life, and I feel that I belong there just like anybody else does, just like Ro-Mina does, just like anybody else does, just like my cast mates do. I would never tell somebody they don’t belong. I never said that. I also don’t want people to attribute something that maybe Gale said to me, because I never said that, not once. I was just trying to fight my own battle, really. 

You were dealing with other things.

I’m dealing with something else completely. I just think that it is the American dream to go wherever you want to go, and it doesn’t matter how you start out. If I want to look a certain way, or if I want to wear beautiful flouncy dresses with flowers, I want to wear that. Like, don’t begrudge me that. It doesn’t hurt anybody else. If I want to feel like a princess, I think I deserve that now. People are like, “Ro-Mina can dress like this.” Yes, she can dress like that. But I could dress how I want, also. I think that was lost. 

Florida is a big state but I imagine that when you get into this world of reality TV, it’s a small world. Are you friendly with any of the Miami housewives? What do you think of them? 

I love, love, love that show. I’m not friends with them, but it’s like my favorite Housewives to watch. I think they’re all fabulous. Of course, I have my favorites. I love that Stephanie Shojaee came on. I just love watching her and everything she’s accomplished in her life. I think she looks amazing. I like her style. I like her bags. She’s very aspirational also. I like all of the women on that show.

I have to say, RHONY alum Bethenny Frankel is now a Florida resident. Would you welcome her to Palm Beach? Would she make a good addition to the group?

Oh, absolutely. I think she’s fabulous and I love what she said. I understood exactly what she said when she said the Walmart Birkin. I totally got it. Her point is that she thinks the people who are on the island saying, “These girls don’t even live in Palm Beach. These girls don’t represent us,” she said those girls are more ridiculous than the girls on the show. Like, who cares? Like, get over yourself. This is for entertainment purposes. It’s a reality show. It’s fun. And we wanted to do it. It’s not this serious. We don’t talk about anybody else. We don’t bring anyone in who’s not on the show. We’re not hurting anybody. Just let us live. We let you live. Let us be.

I imagine this will get picked up for Season 2. What are your hopes for future seasons? Would you want a reunion?

Yes. First of all, I hope that we get a Season 2. We still don’t know, but I would love that. Even with everything, I would do it because filming was so much fun. It was exactly how I envisioned it and more. It’s just wonderful and a great experience actually doing the filming. And I would love to have a reunion. It would be great. It would be a lot of fun. 

Who would you want to host?

I would love it if Jeff Lewis hosted. He’s terrific and he loves the show, so I think he would be great. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Members Only: Palm Beach is currently streaming on Netflix.