Bethenny Frankel is reportedly engaged to Paul Bernon following the conclusion of her contentious, years-long divorce battle with ex-husband Jason Hoppy. The former Real Housewives of New York City star finalized her divorce on Jan. 20, Page Six reported Tuesday, after splitting from Hoppy in December 2012 after less than two years of marriage. The two reached a financial settlement in their divorce in July 2016 but have been going back and forth in a legal battle for years over 10-year-old daughter Bryn’s custody.
In September 2020, Frankel said in an appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that she and Bernon, whom she began dating in 2018, couldn’t think about taking the next step in their relationship because she still was technically married to Hoppy. “I’m still married,” Frankel told a shocked Cohen. “Crickets again. And scene! And we’re back!”
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Bernon, a film producer and real estate developer has dated the BStrong founder on and off since 2018, following her periodic partner Dennis Shields’s death. Bernon and Frankel split in the fall of 2020 but reunited soon after, sparking engagement rumors over the weekend when Frankel was spotted wearing a large diamond ring on her left hand in Florida.
Frankel has raved over the “wonderful” Bernon in the past, telling PEOPLE in 2019 that he helped balance her strong personality out. “He’s a good person who I love,” she said as the two celebrated their first anniversary. “I don’t know if it’s a yin to my yang, but he’s really relaxed, he’s mellow and he’s very, very funny.” During a 2019 appearance on WWHL, she told Cohen that Bernon had developed a very special relationship with her daughter. “Bryn knows him and loves him,” she said at the time. “They’re very, very similar people.”
In July 2019, Frankel gushed over her “brilliant, sweet, beautiful, kind, hilarious” boyfriend while celebrating his birthday. “You have enriched my life immeasurably. You make me laugh to the point of tears… You embrace my life, my spirit, my daughter, my career, my goals, and my choices. The very few people who truly know you are the luckiest people in the world,” she wrote at the time. The Bravo star thanked Bernon for having “literally and figuratively saved [her] life” and said she wished for many more years of happiness for her partner.
