On March 18, 2026, stars from Real Housewives took Washington, D.C. by storm to push for important funding for HIV prevention. This was because federal budgets were not moving, which could have made it harder for people to get lifesaving drugs. The well-known event “Housewives on the Hill” brought attention to the urgent need for more PrEP coverage to stop the rise in HIV cases.
NeNe Leakes, Phaedra Parks, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Erika Jayne, Luann de Lesseps, Melissa Gorga, and Marysol Patton, all Bravo stars, met with lawmakers to ask for programs to stop the spread of HIV. The initiative was put together by sexual health telehealth provider MISTR and its CEO Tristan Schukraft. It uses the stars’ huge popularity to draw attention to policy gaps. PrEP lowers the risk of getting HIV by up to 99% when taken regularly, but it is hard to get because of a lack of state and insurance funding.
Federal HIV programs like Ryan White are having a hard time because 23 states are cutting back on medications as their budgets level off. Thousands of people are at risk of losing access to care, especially in vulnerable communities, which would undo decades of progress. The meetings of the Housewives’ Capitol Hill group asked Congress to protect and increase funding for prevention tools even though budgets are being cut.
