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Real Housewives of New York Recap: Ladies Take Sides in Kristen vs. Bethenny Fight

Sonja Morgan, Luann De Lesseps, Bethenny Frankel, Carole Radziwill
The Real Housewives of New York cast

If there's one thing we've learned about the Real Housewives of New York City, it's that they don't let things go without a discussion, and another discussion, and another discussion. This week, the topics that kept rising to the surface were Bethenny Frankel's recurring schedule conflicts (and how personally the other women should take them) and her general dislike of Kristen Taekman.

Things started smoothly enough when Bethenny, Ramona Singer, Sonja Morgan, and Dorinda Medley met up at a cupcake shop to decorate mini baked goods that almost certainly none of them will ever eat. During the outing, Sonja announced that in honor of paying off her (large and looming) debts, she wanted to take all the girls on vacation to Turks and Caicos. Everyone, especially Ramona, thought it sounded like a grand plan, and so the wheels were set in motion toward what is certain to be a dramatic time later in the season. 

Kristen and Bethenny Sound Off — But Not to Each Other

Kristen and LuAnn De Lesseps met up to do some shoe shopping. The aspiring nail polish purveyor wasted no time giving LuAnn a play-by-play of her battle with Bethenny at Ramona's party. "I just feel like we're a great, tight group of friends and it's really hard for me," Kristen lamented. "You can't just cherry pick who you want out of the group because we're all so close and we all talk." For her part, however, LuAnn didn't seem the least bit surprised.

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"No matter how hard Kristen tries, Bethenny's just not interested," LuAnn said to the camera with a shrug. "I can see it written all over her face."

Meanwhile Bethenny and Carole Radziwill headed to dinner, where Carole cut right to the chase. "I had a sex dream about you," she proudly announced to the Skinnygirl mogul. She then analyzed her dream to mean that she thinks Bethenny needs to loosen up. "You have two speeds: intense and crying," she quipped. But she wasn't done yet! The author then confessed that she was the one who told Kristen what Bethenny said about her.

Contrary to all logic, Bethenny wasn't mad. "I connect with her," Bethenny said to the camera. "It may be that she wants to f— me and I'm flattered, but whatever it is, I like her." As for her remarks about Kristen, Bethenny didn't seem too concerned. "I don't think I ever said Kristen was dumb. I might have said that something she did or didn't do wasn't the smartest choice in my opinion."

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Later on, Bethenny joined Ramona at a nail salon and reiterated her interaction with and feelings toward Kristen — just in case they weren't already crystal clear. "I don't know if she's bright or if she's not bright," she said recalling their encounter at the party. "But you could kind of see the wheels moving and I watched her just waiting to pounce. So I thought, 'What issue could you have with me?' She was coming in and she came in hot." Bethenny ended the topic by announcing that Kristen has a "sourpuss" face. So there.

Bethenny Cries. Again.

In an attempt to mix work and pleasure, LuAnn invited Kristen, Ramona, Heather, and Bethenny along to a photo shoot for her clothing line. Naturally, none of the women paid any real attention to LuAnn or Kristen (who was also modeling the collection), instead opting to discuss the fact that Bethenny said she would have to leave their Turks and Caicos adventure early because of something to do with her daughter's schedule. The moment Bethenny walked in, Kristen confronted her about her plans to not stay the whole time and Bethenny instantly burst into tears.

"This is so bad that I don't want to be away from my daughter at all," she cried in the corner while Heather (on the other side of the room) lamented, "It's so funny when someone's upset, it's impossible for me to not go to them and hug them." It did seem that Heather had learned from her experience at Dorinda's birthday dinner, though, because she gave Bethenny her space.

Ultimately Bethenny pulled it together enough to observe, "LuAnn kind of looks like she's doing a Stayfree maxi pad commercial." To Bethenny's credit, the description was pretty on-point. 

An Intervention for Sonja Is Discussed, Then Dismissed

LuAnn, Bethenny, Ramona, and Dorinda embrace their adventurous sides by heading to Queens (gasp!) for dinner at some old-school Italian restaurant. After riding there in a limo (presumably so they could all drink), they arrived at the faraway haunt and promptly began discussing Sonja's drinking. None of the ladies seemed to be buying Sonja's excuse for why she bailed and all of them seemed pretty certain she was just too hungover from the night before. (Apparently a group of them had gone to Beautique where Sonja had made out with several men and had many, many drinks.)

"At one point I looked over and Sonja was like a blanket on John," Dorinda quipped. (Hey, at least he was there with Dorinda this time!)

Ramona then revealed that Heather had given her some materials about Al-Anon, which Bethenny said wasn't remotely surprising. The discussion then veered toward a possible intervention for Sonja— maybe in Turks and Caicos (because a vacation on a tropical island with liquor and a TV team tagging along is the perfect time and place to confront a friend with something like that). In a moment of clarity, LuAnn put the kibosh on the island intervention, but we'll see if that sticks.

(Wo)Man Down

Dorinda, Kristen, Heather, Ramona, and LuAnn reconvened in a fancy hotel suite for the launch of LuAnn's previously photographed clothing line. Upon walking in, Ramona went for the jugular with Kristen.

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"I just want you to know that I don't think it was very nice with Bethenny, with everything she's going through, and she came in, she's had a very frazzled life," Ramona began. "And you kind of came out with a shotgun. You kind of attacked her."

Kristen gasped and replied, "Why are you picking on me? It has nothing to do with me.” She jabbed back, saying that neither Ramona nor Bethenny tell her anything.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she's going through a nasty divorce and I'm going through something. I don't have to talk to you about it for you to know about it," Ramona snapped. "I mean, are you that dumb?"

Kristen then got up and looked Ramona right in the eye. "I'm going to walk away and I'm going to walk away holding my glass," she announced. And she did. Bravo.

Later, to the camera, Ramona reflected on the exchange saying, "I think Kristen is frustrated because in all sincerity, as nice as she is, she's not really meshing with all of us the way she wants to and she sees how we have these friendships within each other and she's not a part of it." Whether that's accurate or not remains to be seen.

Tell Us: Whose side are you on?

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