Elizabeth Vargas is the newest housewife on The Real Housewives of Orange County and the topic of how she got her money is a hot one.
During the RHOC premiere, Vargas revealed she was currently working through a divorce.
On the show, she claimed she spent two decades married to Bernt Bodal, although Bodal disputes this with a representative telling Monsters & Critics that they were only married for five years and never lived together.
As of July 2020, they are officially divorced.
Who is Bernt Bodal?
The name Bernt Bodal may not be familiar to The Real Housewives of Orange County fans, but it will be after the premiere.
Elizabeth Vargas and Bodal separated in 2017, with their divorce being finalized a few months ago.
While Elizabeth didn’t say too much on the show about her marriage as a whole, she claimed that they split after he had an affair that produced a child — however, a spokesperson for Bodal told Monsters & Critics that this is also not true and claims it was fabricated by her “to make for a more interesting story”.
A Norwegian businessman, Bernt Bodal has worked to garner an impressive net worth of around $200 million.
He was the CEO of American Seafoods, which is where some of that money comes from. Bernt is no stranger to reality television as he appeared on an episode of Undercover Boss several years ago when American Seafoods was featured.
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#helicopter to Marysville w #berntbodal and @bigdrums Gig in a few see u there
Will the divorce be featured on RHOC?
Based on what viewers learned on the premiere of The Real Housewives of Orange County, it is likely that some of the relationship drama will be shown. As Elizabeth Vargas talked to Braunwyn Windham-Burke and Kelly Dodd, she was still married to Bernt Bodal.
As the season goes on, he may be mentioned more. While it is unclear when filming stopped, she did confirm when her divorce was finalized over the summer. As Elizabeth worked through her collapsed marriage, she began dating again.
Tonight, we learned that she and her boyfriend, Jimmy, don’t have sex and haven’t throughout the years they have been together. Based on the loose timeline Elizabeth threw out there, it looks like she has been seeing Jimmy for roughly three years. She explained that he was uncomfortable sleeping with her because she was still legally married.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesday nights at 9/8c on Bravo.
Correction: This article was updated on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 to make clear that Bernt Bodal disputes some of the statements made by Elizabeth Vargas on the show — specifically, that they were married for nearly 20 years and that he fathered an illegitimate child, which he strongly denies.