Bethenny Frankel’s outspoken nature may have finally gone too far when it comes to her friend and Real Housewives of New York City co-star Carole Radziwell.
On Wednesday’s episode, the 47-year-old Skinnygirl founder admitted to co-star Dorinda Medley that she might have crossed the line with Radziwill when she came for her on-again, off-again boyfriend Adam Kenworthy.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The drama started when Frankel and her nonprofit organization B Strong were starting their relief efforts in Houston, Texas, for residents affected by Hurricane Harvey. The Category 3 storm left 336,000 residents without without electricity in August and led to the deaths of 103 people. The 2017 hurricane season would produce two more devastating storms, Irma and Maria, which left more than enough work for Frankel’s organization. Frankel has been especially focused on Puerto Rico hurricane relief, raising money, gathering resources and making multiple trips to offer help and support to the devastated people.
But back when Houston was the main focus, Frankel had asked that 32-year-old Kenworthy — a skilled photographer — come along and help document the relief effort.
“I asked Adam to be part of this whole journey as a photographer,” Frankel told the cameras. “I emailed him when we were going to Houston and I said, ‘Are you available to come on a mission.’ He said, ‘What’s the [compensation]?’ “
The question was something that shocked Frankel. “In the entire process of this charity, not one person has said, ‘What’s the comp?’” she told Medley. “All the people you met at the warehouse, they’re all nurses, teachers — they have nothing. They’re not as rich as Adam.”
When Frankel told Kenworthy, there was no compensation, he declined — allegedly telling her, “‘I can’t really afford to not work next week.’”
The whole interaction left Frankel feeling upset: “It just rubbed me the wrong way,” she told Medley.
When Frankel first told Radziwell, the 54-year-old Housewife didn’t seem to mind. But then Frankel said she got real.
“There’s been other things I’ve personally felt and I said, ‘I think he’s a bit of an operator,’” Frankel recalled. “And she goes, ‘Everyone’s an operator. Everyone who is successful in business is an operator. It’s good that he’s an operator. I’m glad that he’s a hustler.’”
“I aborted. I was like, ‘I shouldn’t have said anything,’ ” Frankel said. “I was trying to jam it back in. It’s honest but you don’t have to say everything you feel. It’s like if your mom likes your boyfriend, she doesn’t need to tell you everything she thinks.”
It’s unclear if this comment was what pushed the former besties apart, but there’s no ignoring the fact that there’s been some serious ice between the two this season.
“We’re totally on different pages,” Frankel said, adding that Radziwill didn’t take any interest in her B Strong relief efforts. “It occurred to me that we don’t have that much in common. She does have more in common with Tinsley [Mortimer] in the fact that Carole isn’t married, doesn’t have kids, and doesn’t have a career. … She knows [we’re] a little off.”
On Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen last month, Radziwill shut down much of what Frankel hypothesized had pushed them apart, especially her friendship with Mortimer.
“Everything she was saying [in interviews] that I wasn’t excited to see her, that I’m thick as thieves with Tinsley — I wasn’t then and I’m not now, we’re not thick as thieves,” she said. “I’m friends with her, of course — I’m not thick as thieves, although that sounds fun.”
“None of that was true, and that wasn’t the friendship I was having with her at the time, so I was just as surprised as the audience was to hear all of that,” she continued. “In fact, I was being a really good friend. I remember at the same time I was trying to figure out dates that we could go to Golden Door together, I had sent her flowers when [her dog] Cookie died, wrote a lot of checks for her charity. I was just being a really good friend.”
The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Photo credit: Bravo
