Karen Huger is the richest cast member of The Real Housewives of Potomac (RHOP), with an estimated net worth of $10 million.
Huger, the self-proclaimed “Grande Dame” of RHOP, is one of the original cast members and has been with the show for nine seasons. During this time, her fame has grown significantly, transforming her into one of the most recognizable stars of The Real Housewives franchise.
Like her fame, her wealth and status have also grown considerably. Below, we examine how Huger became the wealthiest star of RHOP.
A successful reality TV career
One of Karen Huger’s primary sources of wealth is her TV career. The Grande Dame was cast as one of the primary cast members of The Real Housewives of Potomac during the show’s inaugural season.
She has been with the show for nine seasons (only failing to appear in its 10th season due to legal issues). Therefore, as one of the longest-serving cast members of RHOP, Huger’s salary is likely substantial.
Unfortunately, the salaries of the RHOP are a mystery. However, top stars of other Real Housewives franchises earn between $500,000 and $2.85 million per season.
Besides RHOP, Huger has also appeared in other TV shows. In 2022, she featured in Karen’s Grande Dame Reunion, RHOP’s first spin-off, which featured her, her husband, and daughter travelling to her (Huger’s) hometown for a family reunion.
Huger was also part of Project Runway season 19 and has appeared in other shows like Beyond Gates, Watch What Happens Live!, The Wendy Williams Show and The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
A successful entrepreneur
Besides acting, the Grande Dame of RHOP has also ventured into business. In 2019, she launched a perfume line, La’ Dame, featuring two versions of perfumes that are sold on her website.
La’ Dame perfumes are also carried by various specialty and high-end stores, including Bloomingdale’s and HSN. Huger is very active in marketing the fragrances and has even appeared on HSN TV to promote them.
In an interview with US Weekly, Karen Huger revealed that she had a passion for the beauty industry from a young age. She also credited both her mother and grandmother for providing her with inspiration for her fragrances:
“I have such a wonderful, fond memory of my mother always wearing her signature scent and telling me that all things were possible.”
“She [Huger’s grandmother] wore this fragrance — and she lived in a relatively large home — but no matter whether or not she had left that room that she had been in, I could find her because her scent left a trail! I could trail her through the house!”
In 2021, Huger expanded the La’ Dame brand by launching aromatic candles.
Karen Huger’s husband’s wealth
The Grande Dame of RHOP may be a successful reality TV star and a self-made entrepreneur, but some of her wealth and status are also derived from her husband.
Huger’s husband, Raymond A. Huger (whom she refers to as the “Black Bill Gates”), is a business executive and entrepreneur with an estimated net worth of $40 million.
Raymond Huger is the president and CEO of Paradigm Solutions International, a business consulting company he reportedly founded in the early 1990s. Before that, he worked as a senior executive for IBM.
In an interview with Bravo TV, the RHOP star credited herself with some of her husband’s success, revealing that she did not marry him when he was a millionaire.
“You have to build a millionaire, help him become a millionaire, help yourself become a millionaire.”
She also hinted at having nudged her husband towards success:
“I think if you go out there with the agenda of ‘looking for a millionaire,’ you may not find him, but you may find the qualities and the necessary tools in place. You just have to nudge him along in the right direction.”
The Huger family’s financial troubles
Karen Huger and her husband are wealthy, but they have also experienced financial troubles in the past.
In 2017, The Washington Post reported that Raymond Huger owed the IRS nearly $1.5 million in back taxes, while his company owed the IRS $3 million. ‘
The family’s financial issues were covered during seasons 2 and 3 of The Real Housewives of Potomac.
There was some drama on the show surrounding the issue, with some of the co-stars inquiring whether the financial troubles were the reason the couple had sold their home below market value.
However, in a late episode of RHOP, the Grande Dame revealed that her husband had settled the matter with the IRS, and they no longer owed any debt.
“Miss Karen owes nobody. Please do a public record search on me. Karen is debt-free and loaded.”