Bethenny Frankel and fiancé Paul Bernon have “been engaged for so long,” but that doesn’t mean the couple are ready to walk down the aisle.
“I don’t want to build a wedding,” Frankel, 52, confessed during the Monday, July 24, episode of E! News.
The former Real Housewives of New York City star, who has been engaged since February 2021, revealed that saying “I do” for a third time is not on her bucket list. (Frankel was previously married to Peter Sussman from 1996 to 1997, and to Jason Hoppy, whom she split from in 2012 after two years. Frankel and Hoppy, 52 — whose tumultuous divorce played out in the public eye — share daughter Bryn, 13.)
“I love my life. I love my fiancé,” Frankel said about her bond with Bernon. “He’s an amazing life partner and I don’t want to sign a contract with someone I love. I don’t want to plan a massive wedding for everybody else and not [do] what we want.”
When asked about possibly eloping with Bernon, Frankel side stepped the question. “I like doing what you want, not what society wants you to do,” she responded.
Frankel added that Bernon knew what he signed up for when he popped the question.
“I ask him, ‘Why are you here?’ and he’ll say to me, ‘I choose to be here,” she shared. “He lives with a clown, and he loves comedy, so that’s the answer. I’m smart and funny and he enjoys comedy and he gets the front-row seat to this clown show.”
The former Bravo star began dating Bernon in 2018 after meeting on a dating app. Following a brief split in October 2020, Frankel and Bernon rekindled their romance, confirming their romance in January 2021 during a coupled-up outing in Miami.
That same month, Frankel’s divorce from Hoppy was finalized after eight years. The Skinnygirl founder and Bernon announced their engagement in March 2021, later revealing that the proposal took place in the Florida Keys one month prior.
Frankel hasn’t spoken much about her and Bernon’s wedding plans over the past two years, but she has fired back at criticism over her choice to flaunt her massive engagement ring publicly. Last month, Frankel received backlash after she posted an Instagram video gushing about her reportedly 10-carat sparkler.
“Kind of scared about what this might mean for me,” Frankel captioned the June video. In the comments section fans slammed the reality star, calling her “showy” and “too braggy.”
After one user commented, “I have a huge diamond too but I’m never showy about it or try to show off what I own,” Frankel replied, “Good for you. You may also not have a sense of humor, so you can’t show that off.”
Frankel doubled down on her comments after a second critic wrote, “Money talks … Wealth whispers. Eeek.” Frankel clapped back, “It does … not on social media. This culture celebrates multi-million dollar weddings in the South of France disguised as quiet. What a scam. Lol maybe you should do some charity work. Thanks for engaging as it is an ENGAGEMENT post!”
Ahead of his relationship with Frankel, Bernon was married to Ashley Bernon for 14 years. They divorced in 2017 and share two children.
