Trying to keep the peace once and for all! Four years after they costarred together on Real Housewives of New York, Kelly Bensimon is pleading for Bethenny Frankel to stop attacking her in the media. The reality star exclusively tells Us Weekly that her former castmate continues to throw her name under the bus, and she wants it to stop. The final straw came when the new daytime talk show host bad-mouthed Bensimon during an appearance on Andy Cohen's Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
"Apparently she went on Watch What Happens Live the other night to promote her show and Andy's like, 'Would you ever have Kelly on the show?' and she made some snide remark. And at this point, four years later, it's time for her to move on. We had a brief working relationship," Bensimon tells Us. During the appearance, Frankel was asked by a caller which Real Housewives star she would never invite to her FOX talk show. After saying former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle Staub for no specific reason, she quipped, "[Staub] can come over to my house and meet Kelly and Jason [Hoppy], and live with us." She also said she wouldn't mind having Bensimon on her show.
The TV appearance apparently happened right after Bensimon bumped into and briefly chatted with Frankel's ex-husband, Hoppy, 41, and daughter Bryn, 3, in a New York City park. "Sea, my oldest daughter, and I were walking down the street on our way to Barry's Bootcamp and we ran into Jason Hoppy, who I only met once while we were filming Real Housewives. I said hello to him and his daughter and there was nothing more than that. Paparazzi follow him everywhere," Bensimon said.
"We've done so much underneath this incredible cloud. She has literally tried to destroy every single thing I've done and I've never done anything to her," she added. "I don't even know her. I am tired of her attacking my reputation and defaming me whenever she can."
She continued: "It's time to move on. I'm going to have to take action. I can't be hired to work and then have people four years later attacking me for no reason. This is NOT a joke anymore."
Bensimon, 45, and the Skinnygirl mogul, 42, both appeared on Bravo's RHONY for three seasons, overlapping in Season 2 and 3 from 2009 to 2010. The two women rarely got along during the series, and bickered often. Bensimon would continue to stay on for one more year after Frankel exclusively told Us in Aug. 2010 she would be exiting the show. But since then, the rivals have been unable to bury the hatchet. Bensimon reveals that even after calling Frankel to wish her well after the birth of her daughter Bryn in May 2010, she wanted nothing to do with her. "She sent me a text back saying, 'I've moved on from this,'" Bensimon recalled.
"I just want the record clear: Bravo hired me for a job, I did the job, I promoted it and I moved on," the jewelry designer added. "I don't want my reputation defamed for one more second. She's never even made an effort to have a conversation. She just saw me and went after me for no reason. This is real life now, this isn't a storyline."
