Renee Graziano

Not many can say they grew up surrounded by mobsters—but Renee Graziano can. She turned her unusual upbringing into a career, sharing her experiences as a reality TV star, author, and life coach.

Hailing from New York, Graziano stepped in the spotlight back in 2011 when she starred on the VH1 hit series, Mob Wives. As the daughter of former mobster, Anthony Graziano, and the ex-wife of Hector Pagan Jr. (who later became a DEA informant against Graziano’s father), her life became a focal point of the show. She stayed on all six seasons, and even appeared in the Mob Wives spinoff, Big Ang.

With this heightened fame, she earned a spot on another popular reality program: Celebrity Big Brother UK. There, she made it all the way to the finals as the only woman and the only American, achieving a third place finish by an impressive voting margin. Following her time on Celebrity Big Brother, she guest-starred on Marriage Boot Camp with her boyfriend. Now, she has over twenty reality credits to date, with several appearances on shows like Bethenny and The Wendy Williams Show. Other notable programs include Fox and Friends, Watch What Happens: Live, and the cooking show, Chopped.

Speaking of cooking, Graziano also co-wrote a cookbook with her sisters, Lana and Jenn—the latter was the executive producer for Mob Wives. With the success of their book, How to Use a Meat Cleaver: Secrets and Recipes from a Mob Family’s Kitchen, Graziano extended her writing talents to different genres. Not only did she write a semi-autobiographical novel, Playing With Fire, but she also wrote a children’s book called Grandma And Me On The Run.