A picture’s worth a thousand words! The Real Housewives of New York City‘s Bethenny Frankel has two — or maybe even three! ICYMI, Bethenny’s pics appeared to show Luann de Lesseps‘ fiancé, Tom, making out with a mystery woman in a posh New York City hotel a few days after Lu had left for Miami. In the Wednesday, August 17, episode, the Skinnygirl founder was clearly torn about what to do with the evidence sitting on her phone. She ultimately decided that “of course” she had to tell Luann, though she wasn’t sure when and how to do it.
Instead, Bethenny told Ramona Singer and Carole Radziwill first. For some reason, Bethenny refused to show Ramona the photos, but obliged when Carole asked … and Carole confirmed the shots clearly showed Luann’s future husband playing tonsil hockey with someone else. Bethenny added that the person who’d sent her the evidence also reported that Tom and the woman were going at it for “over an hour.” Yikes.
“This is an atomic bomb,” Ramona said to the camera. Then she went back to her room and told her bestie, Sonja Morgan, everything, of course.
Better Late Than Never
That night, Bethenny, Ramona, Sonja, Carole, Luann, Jules Wainstein and Dorinda Medley all met up for dinner. Bethenny, Sonja and Ramona arrived on time, while the rest of the gang was about 90 minutes late owing to Carole’s having some type of unspecified “wardrobe malfunction.” During that hour-and-a-half waiting period, Bethenny realized Ramona had told Sonja about Tom, and was none too pleased — but she soon shifted gears to reprimand Carole for being so late instead.
Once the food finally arrived, Luann pointed out that she didn’t constantly ask Tom what he was doing or who he was with because she’s “not jealous.” Bethenny, Sonja, Ramona and Carole all paused at that, but no one said anything, and they moved on to arguing about whether it would be fun to go to the sandbar tomorrow, as Dorinda had planned. (Ramona in particular seemed unimpressed with the concept of having a picnic lunch on a speedboat.)
A Game of Telephone
After dinner, Bethenny and Sonja went back to the hotel, got into their pajamas and snuggled into bed with cups of tea. Meanwhile, the rest of the girls went to a nightclub, where Jules showed off her skills on the trombone. (Disclaimer: She does not play the trombone.)
Bethenny admitted to the camera about Luann’s seemingly doomed marriage: “There’s part of me that’s gloating inside.” But she added, “There’s part of me that feels badly for Luann because she’s in love.” No matter how Bethenny was really feeling, Sonja talked her into calling Tom directly (Sonja had his number because they used to be “lovers”) to hash it out. At that same moment, Luann was calling Tom from the club to say hi.
For better or worse, Tom didn’t answer either call. “I’m not exactly sure what I’m doing,” Bethenny admitted. No kidding.
Place Your Bets
The morning after, Carole reported that Luann had told her that Sonja and Tom had not been lovers for a decade as Sonja had claimed, but simply had a one-night stand. “Frankly, I feel bad about the way he’s treating our relationship,” Sonja said with a sigh. She wasn’t the only one unsure of Tom and Lu’s future, however. Before leaving for the day, Dorinda, Bethenny and Carole placed bets on whether the couple would actually make it down the aisle. Dorinda was the most optimistic, but even she clearly wasn’t sure.
Dorinda then got into it with Ramona because Ramona was obviously skipping out on the sandbar activity to go have brunch at hot spot Bagatelle. Oh, and Sonja and Bethenny decided to go with her. During their meal, Bethenny said she was going to tell Luann right before she left Miami.
Meanwhile, Luann was at the sandbar complaining to Carole, Dorinda and Jules about Bethenny’s claim that Luann and her ex-husband, Alex, had cheated on each other the whole time they were married. Luann also added that she wasn’t happy about Bethenny asking her if she now had an open relationship with Tom. Carole tried to smooth things over by telling Lu that Bethenny didn’t mean any malice and was only asking “out of concern,” but Luann wasn’t hearing it.
“These women are trying hard to screw up what’s going on with Tom and me,” she reasoned. Hmm.
Luann Will Kill for Tom
Everyone regrouped for dinner, where Dorinda told Ramona that skipping the sandbar and lying about where she was going (Ramona had claimed she was just staying home instead) was “stupid” and “ill-mannered.” True to form, Ramona apologized in a sort of half-hearted way, and the conversation moved on to other things.
Specifically, it moved on to Carole telling Luann that Tom lied about Sonja being a one-night stand. “I will kill for him, so don’t talk about him!” Luann blasted back.
Bethenny Tells Luann Tom Cheated (Well, Sort Of)
Luann came to Bethenny’s room the following morning to clear the air. Bethenny began by apologizing for “tarnishing” the good times Luann had enjoyed with Alex. Then she got to the nitty-gritty of what she had to say.
“I have to show you something, and I have to tell you something, and I don’t want to be the one to tell you this,” Bethenny began. “It’s true, and I just need you to know that before I tell you. … This is a fact, and I’m going to show you some pictures, and it was Wednesday night.” Luann’s face dropped as Bethenny’s eyes welled with tears, and Bethenny said, “I promise you there is nothing about this that I want to be doing right now.”
It seemed Luann knew what was coming before Bethenny got any further. “Don’t do this to me,” Luann cried.
“This is not me doing this to you,” Bethenny mumbled, suddenly feeling the weight of what she was about to reveal. Before she could show Luann the photos, however, Luann was out the door and trying to get into her room. (Unfortunately, her key didn’t seem to be working, so she was stranded in the hallway).
“Stop filming me right now, OK? Just get away from me right now!” Luann shouted at the camera crew. “Tom, don’t tell me you’re that stupid. Please don’t tell me you’re that stupid,” she said over and over to herself as she clasped her face in her hands.
Tell Us: Do you think Bethenny was right to tell Luann about Tom?
The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
