What Jessel Taank Watches (and Listens to) With Her Twins

When Jessel Taank burst into the collective consciousness as part of the Real Housewives Of New York reboot in 2023, it was as a fashionista, a conversational wildcard, and a twin mom. Her sons, Kai and Rio, were fixtures in the RHONY reboot early on, running around the loft Taank shares with husband Pavit Randhawa and inspiring thought-provoking questions like “Should preschool ever cost $62,000 a year, even if Tom Cruise sent his kids there?” (As Randhawa quipped on the show, “$62,000? For what? Coloring?”)

In the latest season of RHONY, Taank and Randhawa’s differing takes on parenting again come to light in comedic fashion, as they attempt to have a conversation while Randhawa painstakingly prepares the now-5-year-old twins fresh pasta for their school lunch. And while Randhawa’s exacting foodie standards might have seemed like an extreme step for those who know that kindergarteners are perfectly fine with Oreos and a hastily whipped together quesadilla thrown into their lunchbox, Taank says her husband’s culinary pursuits actually go farther than fans saw on screen.

“He actually insists on making and bringing them a hot lunch every day,” Taank says. “At 10:30, Pavit starts cooking. He packages everything up beautifully and then drops it off to them at school so that their lunches are piping hot. I tell him, ‘I don’t know how we have time for this, but if you want to do it, then go for it.’” 

The fresh grub must give the twins a lot of energy, too, because Taank says that when they’re home, they’re a handful. “Boy energy is psychotic,” she says. “They wrestle and they put each other into headlocks and it’s like one leg is over the other one’s head and it’s a nightmare.” 

That kind of rowdy energy is quite different from what Taank was like as a kid, but she’s cool with that.  “I was so shy and quiet,” she says. “I had social anxiety to the point where if we went to people’s houses, I would hide in their closets and not talk to anyone. My kids, on the other hand, are already really curious. They’re inquisitive. They talk to everybody. I made a huge effort to try and teach them all that from a young age. Ask questions, be friendly, and learn people’s names. It’s just one of those life skills that you’ll always keep with you.” 

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Taylor Swift

They love Taylor Swift. It’s Taylor Swift all day. Every road trip we’re on, Taylor Swift is playing. I don’t know what it is about her that kids gravitate towards but they absolutely adore it. 

Their favorite Taylor Swift song is “Welcome to New York,” which is very appropriate. They like “Love Story,” too. There’s a different dance that accompanies each one. “Love Story” is a little ballerina pirouette type vibe, and “Welcome to New York” has them jumping in the air and fist bumping and stuff. 

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K-Pop Demon Hunters

They’re also into the K-Pop Demon Hunters thing right now. Their entire birthday when they turned five was K-Pop Demon Hunters themed. We did it in a karaoke bar and it was absolute chaos and mayhem. The two of them were dressed as people from K-Pop Demon Hunters, too.

Kai was Abby from the Saja Boys. He was so on point. He made me spray paint his hair pink. I bought the exact shirt from Etsy and I got skinny jeans from Zara, and he insisted on keeping his shirt unbuttoned so that everyone could see his six pack the whole time. 

Rio wanted to be Rumi. Her outfit is a cropped T-shirt, though, and I was like, ‘you cannot wear a cropped T-shirt. You’re a boy.” But I embraced it and he was a boy version of Rumi, so I also spray painted his hair purple. He didn’t wear the braid, thank God, but it was really cute for both of them. 

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Nick DiGiovanni

They are also obsessed with Nick DiGiovanni, who was on MasterChef. He’s a young kid and he has a YouTube show. So we’ll cook together and we’ll watch the show. They think it’s hilarious when people try to make food that doesn’t look good and they’re also really into experimenting with food, which is great for me because I think a lot of kids eat mac and cheese and that’s about it. But because of Nick they’re expanding their palates.

I’d like to say that Pavit has probably influenced them, because then at least he’s influenced someone. But they always see him in the kitchen whipping up things so that’s probably also where it stems from.

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Playing Outside

With twins, trying to keep them occupied outside of screen time is a full-time job. I try really hard to do outdoor activities, though. Obviously, living in New York City, that’s not always ideal. But we try to keep them active in sport. They love soccer. They love gymnastics and trampolining. We go to Space, which is this incredible play space in Brooklyn, every weekend. They love the Central Park Zoo. So we try to keep them really busy, but sometimes you just gotta give in because if we’re at a restaurant trying to have a nice dinner, unfortunately the screens do come out because it’s the only way to get through a meal without chaos.

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Uno, Connect Four, and Hide and Seek

They love Uno right now. We’re obsessed. It’s something that we picked up while we were on vacation. They love to play Connect Four, too. And, obviously, Hide and Seek. I had a meltdown the other day because I reorganized my closet in anticipation of fall so I had packed all my summer stuff away and organized and worked with someone to make my closet so beautiful, and then I found out that when they were playing hide and seek they took all my clothes off the racks and hid under them. Now I have to reorganize my closet all over again.

It was a great hiding place, though. I mean, I never would have found them had I not perfectly color coordinated everything in my closet and then went, “What the hell happened in here?” They got a big time out for that one. 

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I have a pretty strict nighttime ritual with them. We’ve been doing it since they were babies, to be honest. At 6:45 they have to go into their room, brush their teeth, go to the restroom, wash their faces, and then we try to do about 45 minutes of book reading, whether that’s a book with pictures or if I just tell them a story. I’m very creative. The other day, I made up a story about how a cow had to fly a plane and they were obsessed with it. So we like to get some creative juices flowing at bedtime and then it’s lights out and in bed by 7:30. 

When we read together, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a fun one, especially since they’re foodies. They’re obsessed with that book. I love the Dr. Seuss books, of course. And when they were younger, we would do the Where’s Spot series. They loved that. They love anything where they have to spot the characters.

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Lizards

They’re obsessed with lizards now, too.  It’s a new fascination but I just bought a lot of books about lizards and how they live and where they come from and the amphibian universe. I think it’s because we went to Mexico, and there were a lot… I don’t know if they were iguanas or lizards, but they became fascinated by them. I know way more than I need to about lizards at this point in my life. 

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Gossip

They’re definitely my kids. They love a gossip session. The other day. I guess one of their friends, his dad is CEO of a big fashion company and they were like, “Mama, Christian’s dad really loves to dress up too, so maybe you guys can go shopping together.” I was like, “Oh?? What company does he work for?” Like, hello, I want a free allowance. I love when they give me information that actually could help my fashion sense. They’re like little elves that go and find information and then bring it to me. 

I obviously am very particular about aesthetics and how they dress, too. Rio is very, very particular about his outfit. He comes and shows me and everything has to match perfectly. I’ve taught Rio how to coordinate clothes, which is a dream for me. The other one, Kai, doesn’t care at all. He would wear zigzags and stripes in the same outfit. He absolutely doesn’t give two shits.