Jeff Lewis returns to GDLA+

Hey, he's television's undisputed king of high-end design, razor-sharp wit, and unfiltered honesty. Eight years after his legendary series wrapped, Jeff Lewis made his return to Bravo to show us how he manages his growing empire and his chumps without completely losing his cool. Ty travels a lot. You're keeping this man hostage. I just didn't want all these... People going after him, you know what I mean? That's nice. And talking him out of it. I love it. We like him, though, so we don't want him to leave. Yeah. He's nice. And you're nicer when you're with him. It's so true. I can tell when he's here. He's coming in Thursday. Babe, ask for your raise on Friday. Alrighty. You gotta move him here. Oh, it's so exhausting. Like, when can I be the real me? When can I be the real me? Please welcome... From Bravo's Still Flipping Out and Sirius Radio, Jeff Lewis. Good morning. Welcome back. Thank you for being here. We all are on our best behavior when we first start dating somebody, though. I agree. I'm fake. I mean. Yeah. Yeah, but it's work. I mean, it's work, but I was, you know, I commented it was, uh, it's long distance. So, yeah, you know, it's just like one long weekend and then go back to being me. So when does the real you come out? Um, how long does it take? Sometimes pretty quickly. Yeah. I think it depends on the person. It depends on the person. Yeah. It's always an accident. It is, right? I think, yeah, I would say a couple of months. Okay. A couple of months. That's fair. You can only fake it for so long. Yeah. And then when the real them comes out. Oh, that's when it gets interesting, right? What's up? What's a big turn on and a turn off for you? With people? Yeah. Give us whatever you want! I was like, are you hitting on me? What's happening here? Look, I like direct, honest, upfront people. I tend to be drawn to people that aren't so concerned about being liked and adored, because I do believe, you know, we've heard this saying many, many times, when you try to please someone, you please No one, and I just really, I'm unapologetically me, and you can take it or leave it, but as a result, I've become a polarizing character on reality TV, but I am who I am, really, we joke about it, but I am who I am on camera, off camera, and I can't say the same about that with all Bravo talent. Right. You're wild, for sure. But do people not like, because I just think, everybody thinks it's funny. Oh, no, no, no, you should read the comments. Oh, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, yeah. You read the comments. But I've gotten used to it. I mean, I've been doing this for a very long time. I was on, you know, the original run of Flipping Out was 11 seasons. And then I did a show on Hollywood House Lift, which I came here, by the way, to promote. Right, I remember. We were also talking, when I pulled in that parking structure, I do have PTSD. Yes! Because when I was promoting Flipping Out, I don't remember what season it was, I had a G-Wagon that nobody warned me about, totally your parking structure, you were here, your parking structure. I remember. Wait, let's watch this. Yeah, we actually have it, I think. By the way, I just want to mention, I hadn't been here for a long time. And the last time I was here, my car, the roof of my car, hit the roof of your parking structure. And it did a lot of damage. And somebody really should have paid for that. But it was like a really nice G-Wagon. It scraped the whole roof of my car. Way up in the attic. Oh, jeez. Oh, my goodness. Jeff, I bet you didn't expect that would be part of the interview. My car had more damage from your parking structure than that car did. Back to that. We're never going to live that down. It's so true. And honestly, the reason I'm still carrying it with me is because no one was accountable. Nobody. No one offered to pay. No one warned me. Nothing. But you came back. You came back. You're a make-up artist. I must be some sort of masochist because I keep coming back. Thank you. But I have an SUV, but I brought the low car. Okay. Because I don't trust your structure. You can park outside of the garage. You don't have to pull in. I mean, you should have seen what I did to the garage. Like a commoner, you're pulling into our garage. Just park alongside. Oh, you don't have to pull. I was hoping to go to P2, back where it all started. I'm retarded. We do have PTSD. The fact that you remember P2. I will never, ever, ever forget it. Now, when you pull into a parking garage, like any parking garage now, do you have PTSD? Or did we do this to you? You did it to me. You were here. You were here. And you witnessed my breakdown. I remember. It's really funny that you called us out. Well, not us. You know, we're not cutting you any checks. No, I know. I just told them we have no money. Okay, we don't. Nobody has money. I feel like you're really good at... Talking the most noise about your bosses and keeping your job. Okay. Well, first of all, I had, I just had a contract renegotiation very recently, so I know I behaved myself. I behaved myself for five, six months before negotiation. But yes, I have, I've been written up. I think it's five times now. Not so much my bosses, but talking about other employees that don't do their job. And I find when I put them on blast publicly, all of a sudden they show up on time. But I guess legally you can't do that. According to HR, but HR is not effective. What is effective is when you put someone on blast, that's effective to a million plus people. Andy Cohen, did you read his text messages? So I've known Andy Cohen. We have been friends, good friends, for 19 years. We didn't talk. This is the first time. I don't think we spoke maybe four months. And that was because I read one of his texts that he sent to me on the radio. Oh, no, no. Truly upset. Yeah, legitimately upset. But you knew it was going to bother him, right? Well, I was angry with him. And so I read it, and then he was angry. And then sometimes he can be a little bit of a baby. Like, I get over stuff quickly. He takes a little longer, a little longer. So then how did you guys make up? What did you do? I mean, you know, I apologize. You're a good apologizer. I'm actually a good apologizer because I do it so often. I'm a very, very good apologizer. Falling on swords. Yeah, I mean, once in a while, there's, you know, I'll draw a hard line and be like, I did nothing wrong here. Uh-huh. Usually in an argument or some sort of tiff, we have some sort of responsibility. Right, for sure. I can kind of look at something, but if you and I get in an argument, it might take me a few days, weeks, months, but I can come back to you and say, I was wrong when I did this or when I said that. Sometimes it's the reaction, like I was wrong for my reaction. The emotionality of it all. That's the problem with me. People focus on my reaction and not really what it is about. Because usually I'm right, it's just that I haven't communicated it properly. Right. So you told them, I'm sorry I read it. Text on blast, but you are at fault for whatever you did. I don't like when people do that, when I say, I'm sorry, but. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings. That's not an apology. Yeah, that's what I'm doing. What's a good apology? That's not an apology. I'm sorry I did this. Yes. That's it, I'm sorry. Leave it at that. Yeah. Another another bad apologies. I'm sorry. You feel that way. I got one of those. No way. Yep. And in fact, we we're on a three day pause. You're currently not talking to Shannon for three days. What's the biggest like you've gotten yourself in trouble with the housewife? Oh, Kyle Richards probably is. I've made mistakes. Over that whole Morgan thing, I might have made some insensitive comments. I've sent her probably a total of three or four, she'll have to confirm, apology orchids. And she accepts They literally, the florist will be like, oh, Kyle Richards, apology orchid. I go, yeah, do the double, maybe the triple this time with the moss. Oh my God. Yeah. I love when I see that you're going to be on Watch What Happens Live with the housewife because I think you get them together in a way that I appreciate because it's like, okay, you're acting crazy and Jeff is not scared of you. It'll be an actress that comes on and they're kind of like, oh, whoever's next to me is my favorite one. And the person has been acting crazy and you would say stuff. I think I'm one of the original Bravo celebrities, like, you know, original 2007. So I get away with a lot, a lot more than other Bravo celebrities would get away with. Is there a housewife that like you can't hang with? Like she's quicker than you. Oh, I don't, um, I used to love, I haven't seen her in a long time, but I loved hanging out with Bethany. I mean, she's that, you're exhausted after that. Yeah. I mean, she is fast and smart. Keep up with her though. But I thought you were going to ask me which, um, which housewives I don't like. Oh, I can't stand Dorit from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I can't stand Gina from Real Housewives of Orange County. You know what? Keep going. Yeah, so I'm good friends with Katie Janela. I like, I actually like Katie. I like Katie. I was going to say, Katie would probably say the same thing that you just said. Nope, I have no issues with Katie Janela whatsoever. Who else? You just gave us two. This is good. I have to go. I have to go. Okay, we're all good. You know, there's people that you're just not friendly with and there's people that you just absolutely can't stand. I named the two people I cannot stand. Okay, fair. But there's people that are just, they're a little chilly. Do you like NeNe? I'm a NeNe fan. I love NeNe. I love me some NeNe. We've hung out a lot. She's a little quicker on her feet than most, though. I wouldn't start it with NeNe. Yeah, but you know, look, I see the OC girls a lot. I see Real Housewives of Beverly Hills a lot. I do like a couple of the New York girls. I like Si. I like Erin. I like Si. Yeah, I like Si when people didn't like Si. Me? Hello. You and me, okay? Because we saw it. We saw it. We were like... I think you have to get, you know, for the valley. I really love Janet on The Valley. I was holding it down for Janet, too. We see through the people. Anytime somebody is fearless, has an opinion, and doesn't really care about the... The damage in the wake. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's kind of a lot like me. And then you go back and you clean it up later. What's the funniest thing your daughter has done recently? Because I imagine somebody being raised by you is hilarious. She's pretty, she's pretty sneaky, I will say. She's a little sneaky and I'm worried about that because I was a little sneaky. But my dad, my parents were not as helicopter as I am. How old is she? She just turned 10. So I'm very much on her. She doesn't have a phone. I'm monitoring what she's doing with the iPad. It's a different world now. It is a different world. And you're a public figure. But I don't see myself ever giving her the kind of independence that my dad gave me. Like what kind of independence did your dad give you? I mean, I would load my BMW with six kids and drive to Tijuana on a Saturday night. What? Oh, no, I was reckless. Reckless. And there's no way, like... I'm going to track her. Yep. Mm-hmm. And I've talked jokingly, talked that I will probably either, Um, I'm... I'll probably buy a piece of real estate wherever she decides to go to college. Okay. Yeah. I would love for her to go to school in L.A. though. You're being a good dad. You have a lot of time to talk her into it. Would it be UCLA or USC? I don't think she's going to get UCLA or USC. She's pinched. I think we're looking at Santa Monica, J.C. First. That's fine. She's smart but she's not the best student and they just did testing by the way because I was like is she dumb? We tested her and it turns out she's smart and I go I said I go here's the good news I go you're you're bright I go here's the bad news you're not applying yourself we got a problem here yeah that's what the dad comes in yeah but I always thought she's pretty It doesn't matter, but now I realize, you know, it's important. Yeah school is important. Yeah. We just gotta apply ourselves. Yeah. Okay, wait. Christian, do we have time for our fun questions? Okay. We have a food game for you. Food? Okay. Yes. It's like rapid fire either or. Okay. Yeah. Oh, I love both. I'm going to say Carl's Jr. Okay. Are you ready? You are? Really? I'm an old-school Carl's Jr. fan. Okay. Carl's Jr. or Chick-fil-A? Okay. Islands or Chilis? Ooh, that's tough. I love them both. Islands. Okay. Spinach artichoke dip. Prime pizza or Numero Uno? Oh, God, you're getting all my favorites. Yeah. I love them both, but I'm going to choose prime. Okay. But I'm happy with both. Okay. Yumi sushi or Katsuya? Yumi, for sure. Have you been to Yumi? I haven't been. Oh, my God. You haven't been to Yumi? I've been to Katsuya, though. It's ten times better. I like Katsuya, but Yumi's better. Okay. Okay. Okay, steak 48, Larson's, or is it Boa or BOA? Because it's an acronym. Boa. Boa. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to start with steak 48. Okay. Larson's makes a good steak, too. I'll start with steak 48, but it's expensive. I mean, if you're going with four people, you're not getting out of there for under a thousand bucks. Are you a drinker? Are you a drinker? Yes. Okay, forget it. Yeah, it's going to be over a thousand. Wow. Javier's or Da Barbara? Oh, I love... Well, it's two different kinds of food. Okay. I love them both. Da Barbara is an incredible experience here in LA. If you haven't been... I've never been. Go. Go. You will... Trust me. Okay. Go. Okay. I like a good night. I do. I'm in the streets. I know. You are in these streets. Yeah. It's a great date night, Da Barbara. Love it. Okay. Instead of parking that garage, I'm going to Uber. All right. This is fun. We're sorry. I know, flipping out. They still haven't fixed it. Hair's Monday on Bravo and streams on Peacock. We can't even get coffee around here. We're not going to act. You're so funny. Don't you guys, because even our publicist was like, when I was driving, I was ducking. No, I get nervous going down to P2. I won't go down there. And you guys get your cars washed down. Yeah. I can't do that.