Members Only: Palm Beach, which premieres December 29, focuses on a group of women navigating social hierarchies and private clubs in Florida’s wealthiest suburb. Few clubs have more exclusivity and fame than President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, which has become synonymous with the state’s high-end social scene.
Trump—and his club—won’t be part of filming, but the cast does have a connection to him.
Taja Abitbol, a principal cast member on the show, has spent years going to Mar-a-Lago. Although not a member herself, she previously rang in the New Year there, has attended events and weddings, and her husband—former Yankees pitcher David Cone—has played in Trump’s golf tournaments.
Abitbol, whose son attended the same school as Barron Trump, the president’s son, told Newsweek that politics hasn’t hurt Mar-a-Lago’s popularity in Palm Beach. It’s still one of the most exclusive places and she said “everybody wants to be there.”
“I think that ever since he became president, there is such a higher demand for the membership of Mar-a-Lago,” Abitbol said. “[The Trumps] definitely added to the panache of the whole Palm Beach and what I call Fantasy Islands lifestyle.”
Abitbol said the show focuses on luxury, fashion and a lifestyle that most people can’t imagine. With some of the wealthiest ZIP codes in Florida, Palm Beach is known for being a place where status is everything. It was fashioned during the Gilded Age as a place for wealthy Northeasterners to get away to and has such a reputation for being high-status that it even fueled a minor fight on the The Real Housewives of New York.
When RHNY’s Luann de Lesseps keeps saying she’s going to Palm Beach, co-star Tinsley Mortimer points out she’s been going to West Palm, a town just two miles across the bridge from the barrier island that holds Palm Beach. De Lesseps pushes back that it doesn’t matter, and she didn’t need to be corrected on it, to which RHNY’s Bethenny Frankel points out that Palm Beach is a “social nucleus” that West Palm isn’t.
“They’re both beautiful places, but West Palm is no Palm Beach,” Mortimer said. “There’s a huge difference.”
While Bravo reigns supreme with reality television, Netflix has been building up its unscripted series for about five years and has had a few hit reality shows, like Selling Sunset and Love is Blind. And any show that features an ensemble cast of women and focuses on their social scene may draw comparisons to Bravo’s The Real Housewives. But Abitbol, who is friends with Real Housewives’ Teresa Giudice, Dolores Catania and Jenn Aydin, said they can’t really be compared.
“I’m not bashing the Housewives, but I do feel this is like way more elevated,” Abitbol said. “It’s different kind of drama… It is definitely more fun.”
Abitbol noted that being a socialite of sorts probably prepared her for being on camera more than other women and there’s nothing she regrets about filming the upcoming season. But she hasn’t seen it yet, so she said it’s possible she might have to change her approach for future seasons.
Viewers will get to see inside the cast’s homes and the interaction with their families. It is possible viewers will even get to see Abitbol try to get her divorced parents back together. With Palm Beach a social center, Abitbol is convinced viewers won’t be disappointed.
“It’s something that people have been wanting to see for a very long time and what goes on behind the scenes,” Abitbol said.
One thing people won’t see, though, is the inside of Mar-a-Lago.
The show isn’t allowed to film at Trump’s club because of the privacy afforded to guests. Abitbol said they filmed a kickoff party to one of Mar-a-Lago’s events, called The Palm Event, that took place at a different location. And while many people have either cut ties with the Trumps or shied away from publicizing their connections, Abitbol isn’t one of them. She has posted about Mar-a-Lago on social media, praised Trump as a father and called his daughter Ivanka Trump “amazing.”
Other cast members include Hillary Musser and Rosalyn Yellin, both of whom have also posted about attending events at Mar-a-Lago.
With a lot of friends who are members of Trump’s club, Abitbol kept the door open to the possibility she and her husband would join.
“We might be in the future. I would I would like to be,” she said. “I love his club, I love what he does.”
