Q&A: Real Housewife Ann Kaplan Mulholland on facelifts, fashion and the season finale

Q&A: Real Housewife Ann Kaplan Mulholland on facelifts, fashion and the season finale

Photograph courtesy of Slice

You’re a self-made businesswoman. Currently, you’re the CEO of iFinance Canada, a company that finances medical, dental and veterinary procedures. How did you get started?
After I finished my degree in interior design, I opened up an interior design storefront on Granville Street in Vancouver. I was in my 20s.

Where did you get the entrepreneurial spirit?
I was born with it. I always knew that I didn’t want to work hourly. I wanted to create something I could build on.

In this Tuesday’s finale, you and your husband, Dr. Stephen Mulholland, renew your vows. It’s not much of a spoiler to say that it was an over-the-top, fabulous party. How much work went into planning that extravaganza?
I’m able to juggle a lot. I can go through my contact list and know who to put in place to manage each part of such big event like that. We had 60 performers at that wedding. It was a circus theme. Even the waiters and waitresses wore costumes.

Tell us about the ring you re-proposed to your husband with.
I went to a jeweller and melted down the engagement ring I received from my first husband, and had it made into this ring. Stephen couldn’t care less [where it came from]. I got a big kick out of that. He was taken aback, mostly by the ring. He’s a guy’s guy and was only used to wearing a gold band. This one looks like a ring you would get if you won the Stanley Cup. But he loves it now.

Your husband held two different plastic surgery demos this season: a “procedure party” with a quickie facelift and the fat-sculpting demo in Barcelona. They were super-foreign to me. How common are these types of events in your world?
Stephen and I both speak at medical conferences where it is common to see procedure demos, but this was the first time I went to a party where a facelift took place. I have hosted three plastic surgery TV shows, so I have seen it happen many, many times, but it still bothers me. Watching the crowd at the procedure party was like watching the audience of a horror film. It was an unforgettable experience. I think it was the most epic first episode of any Housewives franchise. Who does a facelift when you’re meeting other wives?

You have a funky fashion sence. You wore a hat with a piece of broccoli in it! How do you add humour to personal style?
I think outside the box. I don’t look at what other people are wearing. I will go overboard to make a statement—but my own statement. There were broccoli and chili peppers in my wedding bouquet as well. I love to take a couture gown and change buttons and add things to it. I bought the gown, so why can’t I change it? I wouldn’t think twice about spray-painting an Hermès Birkin bag if I felt like it.

During most of the season, you managed to stay friends with both Kara and the rest of the Housewives. What was that like for you?
I really did and do like Kara. I was not aware of some of the disparaging things she was saying about people, so I made up my opinion about her. If somebody didn’t like me for liking Kara, that would be their problem. In a normal situation, you wouldn’t have six women trying to really work out our issues. The interesting thing about the show is that we were forced to deal with it. In real life, if I had found out Kara purposely tried to dump the other women off of a water weenie and was only inviting them to the AMBI Gala to get their money, I probably just wouldn’t have talked to her again. But because of the show, I was forced to deal with it. It’s like making your kids get along with their siblings.

The season finale of The Real Housewives of Toronto airs on Slice at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, May 9.

Correction

May 10, 2017

An earlier version of this article included an incorrect name for the company iFinance Canada.