The Real Housewives of New York cast believes that Bethenny Frankel intentionally announced her engagement the same day that the RHONY Season 13 trailer dropped.
A source close to the show tells Page Six that they noticed the coincidence and implied that they were bothered by it.
“They’re all confused why she’s still obsessed with RHONY and would orchestrate her engagement news to come out the same time as the trailer for the show,” the source shares.
However, the source says they’re trying to not let Bethenny’s potentially strategic move bring them down all while shading the Skinnygirl founder.
“Bethenny is just being her petty self, but she can’t take away the cast’s happiness or how hard they worked this season during the coronavirus pandemic,” the source expresses.
The source even went as far as to say that none of the cast missed her while filming this season.
“The cast collectively feels like the show is so much better without her and that she wouldn’t have been able to navigate the serious topics of this season,” the source adds.
Bethenny’s shocking relationship revelations
Fans were caught off guard with Bethenny’s sudden relationship news, which dropped Tuesday, March 23– the same day as the RHONY Season 13 trailer.
Page Six broke the news that Bethenny and her ex-husband, Jason Hoppy, had their divorce finalized. While the news just broke on March 23, the divorce was reportedly finalized on January 20.
Their divorce comes eight years after the couple first split.
Shortly after, People confirmed that Bethenny got enaged to her boyfriend Paul Bernon.
The main reason Bethenny would’ve had to wait to announce the engagement would be because she was waiting for the divorce to be finalized.
Since the divorce was finalized two months ago, this leads the cast to believe that she withheld the news to release it at a strategic time– like the day the RHONY trailer was released.
The following day, Bethenny was spotted flaunting her new engagement ring.
Bethenny left RHONY ahead of Season 12
Bethenny shocked fans when she suddenly announced that she would be leaving the franchise.
She left a heartfelt message for fans following her second departure from the show.
“I am so grateful to you for sticking with me through everything. 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,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
Bethenny was one of the original cast members of RHONY. She then left the show after Season 3. She surprised fans once again when she returned for Season 7 and stayed until Season 12.
With this supposedly shady move, Bethenny could be looking to secure a spot for her third run on the show.
The Real Housewives of New York City premieres on Tuesday, May 4 at 9/8c on Bravo.