YouTube/Bravo Bethenny Frankel.
Bethenny Frankel is mentioning it all! Frankel starred on “The Real Housewives of New York City” from the very beginning in 2008, and she temporarily left after the third season in 2010. She then decided to rejoin the cast for season 7 in 2015 but left for good in 2019.
The Skinnygirl founder has spoken up about her time on RHONY before, but she won’t be tuning into the new season anytime soon. “I don’t watch the shows,” Frankel told Variety, published June 8.
Frankel added that just because she doesn’t watch it doesn’t mean she isn’t thankful for her time there. “And I know that will be taken as I think I’m better than, I don’t love where I came from,” she said. “I do love where I came from.”
Frankel Revealed What She Misses About RHONY
RHONY is constantly filled with drama, boozy dinners, and arguments, but Frankel did confess that there are certain aspects of the show that she misses.
“There’s a lot of laughing on the ‘Housewives,'” she told Variety. “There’s a lot of satire, and it was fun to react off people. The comedy is funny. The craziness is funny.”
With that being said, the mom of one added that with the fun always came the stress. “It’s a zero-sum game,” she said. “Someone’s always winning and someone’s always losing — and there’s always a gotcha moment.”
Frankel Confessed Why She Left RHONY
Frankel left RHONY just days before the cast was set to begin filming for season 12 in fall 2020. At the time, she kept her reasons for leaving pretty private, but earlier this year, she opened up about her decision to stop filming.
“I left because it became not who I really was anymore,” Frankel said on an episode of Paris Hilton’s podcast “This is Paris” on April 12, 2021. “It’s just not what I wanted to be doing anymore.”
Frankel also shared that she thinks RHONY has changed a lot since her time on the show. “I didn’t want to be having those conversations… arguing about things that didn’t really matter anymore,” Frankel explained while on the podcast. “It’s changed. People have a preconceived notion about it. How many charity events can we go to? How many friends can we not support on vacations? And how much drama do we want to avoid, and then go right into the drama on the vacation?”
“I am so grateful to you for sticking with me through everything,” Frankel wrote on Instagram as she announced her departure in 2019. “You started this journey with me in my tiny apartment in my late 30s, wondering what would happen to me. I was broke, single, had no family and no idea what the future held.”
Frankel has since found career success, love, and family. The former RHONY star got engaged to longtime boyfriend Paul Bernon earlier this year in March. “I am engaged and I’m very happy,” she told Variety on June 8. “When you turn 50, when you get engaged, you have a tween daughter, time’s going more quickly, you start to evaluate all of these things.”
Frankel also shares 10-year-old daughter Bryn Hoppy with her ex-husband Jason Hoppy. She discussed her daughter’s relationship with Bernon on a 2019 appearance on “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.” “Bryn knows him and loves him,” she said. “They’re very, very similar people.”
“He’s a good person who I love,” she told People in late 2019. “I don’t know if it’s a yin to my yang, but he’s really relaxed, he’s mellow and he’s very, very funny.”
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