Luann de Lesseps Insists She 'Didn't Sleep with the Pirate' on RHONY — 'but I Wish I Would've!' (Exclusive)

Luann de Lesseps tells PEOPLE she regrets not getting some booty with the "pirate" in St. Barths — especially because everyone thinks she did!

The cabaret star famously flirted with a Johnny Depp-lookalike back in season 5 of the The Real Housewives of New York City, leading her costars (and fans at home) to believe for years that the two had hooked up.

That speculation only got worse when de Lesseps, now 58, was caught in a hot mic moment speaking French to friends on the phone, begging them to cover for her and confirm her story that she hadn't brought the pirate back to the cast villa after hours (even though she had).

Since then, de Lesseps hasn't been able to shake the rumors, despite she and the pirate — whose real name is Tomas Ribiero — both denying anything sexual happened between the two. And de Lesseps knows a return to St. Barths (and a teased reunion with Ribiero) for Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy is about to stir it up all over again.

"Oh, this rumor never goes away," she tells PEOPLE, ahead of the Peacock series' premiere next week. "I didn't have sex with the pirate! I've said it for years now. I say it on the show. And in the end, the girls are still in interviews like, 'Well ... I think she kind of slept with the pirate....' It blows my mind!"

"These women, they know everything about me. I'm an open book," the Countess adds. "I'm telling you, if I did the pirate, I would wear it like a badge of honor!"

So why did she lie? It had to do with her relationship with Jacques Azoulay, whom she was dating then.

"My goal at the time was really to protect Jacques, because Jacques and I were very much together — living together — and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s going to see this on television. He's going to see I brought a pirate back with me and think something happened, when all I was doing was showing him around the villa.' So it was really about covering that up. I was trying to make sure my relationship didn't fall apart."

De Lesseps and Azoulay eventually did go their separate ways, though not because of anything scandalous. They dated for four years before splitting in 2013, the mother of two explaining in RHONY's sixth season that "we don’t want the same things anymore." They've remained friends since.

As for the pirate, Ribiero — who was the maître d' and artistic director at Le Ti St. Barts — now resides in Miami, where he continues to work in hospitality. According to his LinkedIn page, he's had roles in management and operations at eateries such as El Tucan, Sea Grill, Riverside Miami and Babylon Miami Beach. Since 2022, he's worked as a manager at Carbone Miami.

Ribiero has also kept in touch with de Lesseps, even surprising her on an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2020.

Asked now if she would do things differently then, de Lesseps laughs.

"At this point, I wish that I had done the pirate," she tells PEOPLE. "I do. They've worn me down, so I'll just say it — I wish I had done the pirate."

Her costar Kelly Killoren Bensimon is quick to chime in: "You still can!"

Moments like that happen frequently in RHUGT: RHONY Legacy, which sees de Lesseps and Bensimon reunite with Dorinda Medley, Sonja Morgan, Ramona Singer and Kristen Taekman

"To go back to that house in St. Barths was just surreal," she tells PEOPLE. "There’s so many things that happened in that house, and to be back with the ladies there — and then throw some new ones in the mix — I was nervous. I didn’t know how it was going to play out. But I think we were all in such a great place that we just let loose and had fun."

"Of course, we do pull down that fourth wall and get into all that stuff. But the show is really about true friends just enjoying one another," she says. "And that's the beauty of it. It's good, clean fun. It's not dark, like a lot of these shows can tend to me. It's just what we need for the moment."

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The first three episodes of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy will be available to stream on Dec. 14, with new episodes available every Thursday.