After a season of tension between the two former besties, things between Carole Radziwill and Bethenny Frankel finally to a boiling point on Wednesday’s episode of The Real Housewives of New York City.
The drama started during the annual holiday cast trip to Dorinda Medley’s Berkshires home, where the Housewives kicked things off in a 1920s themed murder mystery party.
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After the mystery was solved Medley casually asked Radziwill and Frankel, “Do you think you have tension?”
Frankel initially denied there were any problems. “I don’t feel tense, I really don’t feel tense. Our vibe is different, there’s a shift. And in a group, everyone feels the shift,” she said, before telling Radziwill, “I don’t have a problem with you.”
But that was a vast departure from what she had told Medley during last week’s episode.
“We’re totally on different pages,” Frankel said on the May 16 episode of RHONY, adding that Radziwill didn’t take interest in her B Strong hurricane 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.”
Frankel had also insulted Radziwill’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Adam Kenworthy, saying he was “a bit of an operator” because he had asked to be paid to shoot photos of her Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
Radziwell obviously heard back what her former friend had been saying, and brought it up at dinner.
“I heard that you were either upset with me about something to do with Adam not going and working for your charity for free or you are upset with me and my level of financial support for your charity,” she told Frankel.
The accusation shocked Frankel. “I didn’t ask for more financial support,” she quickly responded. “I don’t need any support for your charity. You didn’t ask me about it once. Never. This summer, you didn’t ask me about it all.”
“Truthfully all I said is that I didn’t really hear from Carole really ever about Puerto Rico and she didn’t see really interested in it,” she explained to the camera. “It’s the honest truth.”
Radziwill had a different story, however. “That’s not true, Bethenny,” she said in response. “Don’t lie, don’t lie.”
She then brought up an article about their broken friendship that reporters had wanted to run months earlier. “I killed the story because I said there’s absolutely no way the story is true,” Radziwill recalled. “Now I hear these rumblings that it actually might be true. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t come to me. We had conversations over the summer!”
It’s then that things began to pop off. When Radziwill pointed out that Frankel hadn’t told her she was contacting Kenworthy, Frankel clarified that she “never called him” and “never emailed Adam.”
“Okay so what did you do? Smoke signals? Whatever it was, you did not tell me,” Radziwill said. “You can’t parse out people’s words like that. No, don’t do it. It’s not nice. Friends don’t do that. If this is the vibe, I don’t like it. And I don’t think it’s just a shift.”
“You know who parses people’s words out and tries to trip them up? People who aren’t telling the truth,” Radziwill added, in confession. “Liars.”
But Frankel wasn’t backing down. “You cannot say something, be wrong, and then start whining to get out of it,” she told Radiziwill.
The back and forth continued, with Radziwill telling Frankel, “Every time we’re together you’re kind of aggressive with me and kind of dismissive. … Honey, it is [true]”
Frankel then started telling Radziwill she was “freaking [her] out” and that her “honey” comment was “condescending,” and Radziwill reminding Frankel that “no one whines or screams like you … you talk a lot. Really.”
The episode ended with a “to be continued,” but it’s clear Frankel and Radziwill are still not back to good.
Last week, Radziwill blasted Frankel in a Bravo blog post, calling her “self-righteous” and claiming that her “ego” has gotten the best of her.
The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
Photo credit: Facebook/RHONY
