S&A Unscripted: One of the things that The Real World has always been praised for is that they really put forth issues and addressed issues that have been a conversation starter and often overlooked in society. With your season, we saw firsthand the whole don’t ask, don’t tell policy due to one of your housemates having a partner whose face had to be blurred out on television to stay compliant with the U.S. military’s homophobic policies at the time. And now we have shows like Modern Family, where even though it was a sitcom showed a same-sex couple who were parents. And then you have other reality shows like Queer Eye. How impactful have you found The Real World to be as they are the start of changing perceptions and narratives.

MB: I always make sure that I top load any of these conversations with paying respect and homage to it being on Real World and for MTV for opening that door for those kinds of conversations. Because at that time, there were no discussions about racism on TV the way that they were on MTV. There might have been some blind spots in how those stories were presented but I do feel like they were important because to this day, I still get letters from people that say, ‘Melissa, when you talked about this particular topic, I had never thought about it that way. So thank you for that.’ I think it was really important and kind of groundbreaking for MTV and Real World specifically in bringing actual issues to life. Paramount+ just started streaming the old season that I was on and I have seen clips and what really is touching is, ‘Wow, they really had to blur this man’s face because it was a problem to be gay in the military.’ That sounds like such a bizarre 50s – 60s problem, but that happened early on. We are not that far from that time. So I applaud MTV for attempting to open up those conversations, especially for young people, because these conversations are for them.

The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans