‘RHONY’: Bethenny Frankel ‘Really Happy’ With Beau Paul Bernon After Dennis Shields’ Death

Bethenny Frankel is feeling “lucky” with boyfriend Paul Bernon as The Real Housewives of New York City star moves forward following the death of late beau Dennis Shields.

In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Frankel revealed how things have been going between her and the real estate businessman/film producer. The two have been dating since last fall, going public with their relationship on Instagram in December, sharing a photo of themselves on vacation in the Dominican Republic.

“I’m a lucky gal,” Frankel said. “It’s been good. Things between us are really nice.”

Despite Bernon living in Boston and Frankel obviously spending most of her time in New York City, the two aren’t letting distance get them down.

“We’re together a lot,” Frankel said. “I have a really good balance in work, life, love. I’m really happy.”

The Skinnygirl mogul revealed earlier this month on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that Bernon has also been spending time with 8-year-old daughter Bryn, whom she shares with ex Jason Hoppy.

“Bryn knows him and loves him. They’re very, very similar people,” she said. “He’s incredible. He’s a beautiful human being inside and out.”

It wasn’t easy getting involved in a new relationship after longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend Dennis Shields passed away of a suspected overdose in August 2018 shortly after he had proposed to her. In Wednesday’s episode of RHONY, she admitted to struggling to moving on romantically with Shields in the back of her mind.

“I’m seeing someone in Boston and it’s evolving, it’s definitely moving forward,” she confessed. “But of all the people that you could lose, Dennis is one of the hardest because he’s so ever-present.There are just certain people who you quote all the time and that you remember all the time, and I can’t get him out of my head.”

Adding that she thought she was “sort of almost ready,” to get back out there in the dating world, she never imagined how difficult it would be.

“I’m really tired of this,” she sobbed to the camera. “This is not the life that I want. But it’s really hard to break away from him. It’s harder than you think.”

We’re happy to hear she’s healing.

The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Photo credit: Instagram/Bethenny Frankel