Fredrik Eklund Teases The New Season of ‘Million Dollar Listing New York’ — Including An “Explosive” Episode with 50 Cent

Fredrik Eklund, like most new parents, has a new outlook on life. The Million Dollar Listing New York star and power real estate broker is putting his twin babies, Milla and Freddy first. Ahead of tonight’s seventh season premiere, Decider spoke with him about celebrity clients, including Rebel Wilson and 50 Cent, and why having babies has made him reevaluate projects and clients — and why looking at opportunities from the babies’ perspective has actually made him more successful.

Here, Fredrik opens up about showing footage from the delivery room on the show, the real estate lessons he had to “unlearn” as a new father, and more of what we can expect on this season of the Bravo show — including which of his co-stars his daughter really took a liking to (and we’re totally with her on that!).

Congratulations on the beautiful babies. They look great and it’s wonderful how happy you seem with them.

Thank you, it’s really life changing, they are true angels.

I was surprised to see that moment in the delivery room where you are actually handed the baby at their birth. Did you want to document every step of the way? Was there any hesitation about having cameras there from the literal second that they were born?

I think the network and the producers were very respectful of us. I actually gave footage from my iPhone that one of the nurses took. At the time, we were so into the birth and the babies we [weren’t even thinking]. But the nurse got a lot of stuff because that’s what they do, the nurses will just grab someone’s phone because they realize that later you will be happy to have it. It wasn’t until months later that I decided to send those clips to the producers that they put in the show, but there weren’t actually cameras.

It’s a very intimate, vulnerable, beautiful, special moment, the happiest moment of my life. But I feel like I’ve shared so much on this show: I got married on this show, I shared the miscarriages, the ups and downs, so I think it was the right thing to do, to share this.

It did feel very satisfying as a viewer who has watched your journey to actually see that moment. I was also surprised to learn that you took two months away from work: what that was like, did you completely shut your phone off and really separate? 

I was lucky in the sense that the kids came a few days after Thanksgiving, on the 28th, so it was the slowest time of the year. It went into the Christmas/New Year’s holiday and everything shut down anyway, so it was a good time to take time off. But it was also one of the most special times in my life. I didn’t know if it could happen again and I really wanted to take the time with the babies in that big beautiful country house of ours and spend time with family. I have a team and I have a business partner and we knew when it was going to happen, so we put systems in place for me to be able to take off.

You joke about it a little bit on the show, but have there been any real similarities and lessons from your work in real estate that you’ve applied to being a father now?

No, I think it’s pretty different, which is exciting. If anything, all the lessons that I did learn in real estate, in my career and my professional life, now I want to unlearn: my cell phone, always being on my calendar, always being in and out of meetings, always rushing to things. I think it’s very important that I remind myself to be completely there and present with them and give them quality time. They don’t really care, maybe one day, but now they couldn’t care less about what I do. They just want time with me, on their level and reading books and bathing them and walking them in the stroller and cuddling and kissing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi7zQNhg_-e/?hl=en&taken-by=fredrikeklundny

How has your relationship with your husband Derek changed since the babies have arrived?

It’s definitely different. I think it’s one of the most romantic things you can do, to have kids together, and also one of the most stressful because, especially with twins, two guys, going through all of this together, it’s all very overwhelming. But I have such love and respect for him, I think even more so than before. And now we have turned a corner after the first six months, it’s a lot easier, and I just start seeing how incredible it’s all going to be. I mean it was always incredible from the very beginning, it was incredible and totally overwhelming, but now it’s just incredible. We did our first trip abroad together, the four of us, and that was really amazing too.

He and I used to have this wonderful life, we could travel, we were by ourselves, we had the luxury of doing whatever we wanted to do. So there was a moment there when the kids came, I was like “Yikes” but it actually isn’t over, it’s just different. We can travel with them, we can do things with them, we don’t have to be locked down just because they’re kids. There are so many amazing families and parents that show their kids the world and keep on living the life they had before and that’s a different and actually better, deeper, way of living.

The first episode starts off with a fun client as you’re showing Rebel Wilson some properties, but is she someone you would classify as a typical client? We see her being somewhat indecisive with what she wants and how much she wants to spend, is that to be expected?

I just love her so much. We are friends now through the process and I just saw her in LA and had dinner with her and Derek. She has a little bit of an empire going, she has so many houses and apartments in LA and Australia, she is really good with real estate. When it came to buying something in New York, because she had a big budget, but she wasn’t really going to use the apartment that much, she was a little like, “I’m not really sure what I want.” So she is unusual in that sense. Usually most buyers come like, “I have to have 4 bedrooms” or “I have to be in that school district” or “I have to get this square footage” or something. Most people are much more direct and it’s almost my job to take them out of their comfort zone, whereas she was like, okay let’s look at the fun buildings, the fun apartments.

And I also saw in the trailer that you take on 50 Cent’s house in Connecticut this season. How did this come together?

[You’ll see it] very early in the season. He had a local broker in Connecticut that needed help marketing the house to Manhattanites and obviously international ones, so I was brought on to help with all of that and sort of co-listed with this lady, which is also very interesting. I know 50 and I know the house, but for TV purposes, it’s going to be amazing.

Did you try out the alleged stripper pole that I hear is in this house?

You have to watch and see what happens.

I know that one had been on the market for a while, was this a case where you had to get really creative to sell this house?

Yeah for sure! I threw a very large party there. I threw a big open house with hundreds of brokers, which is unusual for that Connecticut market. I bring bus loads of brokers up. It is a big, explosive episode.

This entire season, I took a lot of risks. Real estate-wise, I feel like we were able to capture some really amazing, unusual, beautiful properties, which I think is exciting. We have a lot of celebrities this season.

Are you still working with Bethenny at all?

Hmm…we are in touch but we aren’t working on anything currently.

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Bedtime stories after bathing 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦

A post shared by Fredrik Eklund (@fredrikeklundny) on Feb 22, 2018 at 5:16pm PST

You talked about a lot of risks this season, is there a surprising reason that you’ve either passed on working with a client or a property recently, that maybe before you would’ve taken on, but this time you’re like, “Nah, not worth it”?

Yeah, it’s just different. When I get offered to do things, I just have to evaluate things out of my children’s perspective: what’s the best thing for Milla and Freddy? I don’t work for selfish reasons anymore. Yes, money is involved because I work for a commission, but I need to make decisions for my children, so that changes everything. I don’t take on vanity things anymore. I just have to be careful because a project I take on, if it’s a building it could be like three or four years, which is fine, but I have to think it through or talk it through with Derek and I can look at the thing from their perspective, I pretend I’m Milla and Freddy. I think it’s a very healthy way of looking at things and it’s made me more effective because I can take on better things.

In the end of the first episode, we see that you guys participate in a real estate panel and Steve makes a comment that affects Ryan. Are you at the point now where something like that, you could just brush it off or would you have reacted the same way Ryan did and be a little defensive? How has your mentality around that sort of drama shifted, if at all?

At the time, I was very busy that day; it was right after the kids were born, and it was one of the first things we filmed this season. At the time I remember thinking, boys, if you know what I am going through at home, with the kids and the nannies and my husband and the changing the diapers. I can’t wait to watch it and I’ve been trying to advise them both separately about this dialogue we’ve been having around the subject.

Have either of those guys met the babies?

Steve has and Ryan will meet them [soon].

Oh wonderful! I’m sure you can call either of them when you need a babysitter

Steve was so good with Milla. I think she took a liking to him, I mean how could she not? He had his shirt off, he was holding her, [she was] touching him, the two of them were looking deep into each other’s eyes. Yeah, he was really, really good with the kids. I can tell he is going to be a good father.

Million Dollar Listing New York premieres tonight at 10pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

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