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Bethenny Frankel Said That Her 10-Year Divorce Was More Traumatic Than Her Violent Childhood
On Wednesday’s episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast with Alex Cooper, Bethenny Frankel emotional and visibly upset, talked about her ex-husband Jason Hoppy divorce that lasted a decade and referred the time as torment.”
“I have seen my mother slit her wrists. I have lived my whole life chasing her into bathrooms, trying to catch her throwing up. I’ve been around guns, the mafia, the race track. I’ve been through everything. I’ve seen her beaten within an inch of her life. I have seen everything. Nothing compares to what my divorce was for 10 years. Nothing,” the 55-year-old former Real Housewives of New York City cast member exclaimed.
The Skinnygirl founder went on to say that her mom’s bulimia and alcoholism that lasted for her entire life were “child’s play” when compared to “the trauma of someone wanting to torture you and telling you that they are going to do it.”
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Bethenny Frankel describes her divorce from Jason Hoppy as a “traumatic” experience that lasted a decade
Bethenny Frankel said that since she was “more successful,” the “optics” showed her as “the powerhouse tyrant,”” while Jason Hoppy, 56, was considered “the victim.”
“It was so terrible. It was 10 years of my life. My hair fell out. I couldn’t imagine surviving it. I didn’t want to,” she recalled with a tear to her eye while speaking to Alex Cooper. “I had to do it because of my daughter. I literally thought, ‘I’ll never be happy again.’”
Frankel and the pharmaceutical executive tied the knot in March 2010 and two months later they had daughter Bryn, now 15. The couple separated in December 2012, and she filed for divorce the following month. The divorce was not finalized until January 2021.
Bethenny Frankel describes alleged mistreatment during her 10-year divorce battle
Former Bravolebrity recounted the divorce process as “a marathon” and said, “I went one mile at a time, and I checked every box.” Along with that she alleged, “It was fraud, it was stealing, it was hacking, it was harassment, it was abuse, it was Googling me 60 times a day, it was staying in bed and staring into my face, it was calling me every bad character in the books.”
In a series of abusive emails, Hoppy allegedly sent them to Frankel. After that, he showed up at Bryn’s school to threaten his then-estranged wife, saying, “I will destroy you.” As a result, in January 2017, Hoppy was arrested and charged with aggravated harassment in the first degree, harassment in the second degree, and stalking in the fourth degree. (Hoppy denied the charges.)
Frankel told Cooper that her divorce was “the worst thing [she] could ever wish upon a person.” She claimed to have spent “millions of dollars” and also said, “every single lawyer said they’ve never seen anything like it, ever. Like, it was insane.”
Bethenny Frankel on what kept her going during her “insane” divorce
When Bethenny Frankel was asked what helped her during the divorce from Jason Hoppy, she replied that it was only the thought that she could one day “help people” who would be going through the same kind of “insane” divorce.
She emphasized the significance of a prenup and of “going with your gut,” cautioning that “cracks become craters.”
Frankel admitted to having experienced moments of despair and feeling of being defeated during the separation, yet she said that she intentionally decided to “never talk bad” about Hoppy in front of their daughter Bryn, although she thinks that her child “energetically felt” what was going on. “Just because you’re not saying it in front of the child, it doesn’t mean they don’t feel,” she explained. “It’s a long road. Your kids will become cognizant, and they will understand. You don’t have to say it to them. You don’t have to prove it to them.”
Bethenny Frankel on concealing her upheaval from her daughter during a tough divorce
Bethenny Frankel expressed the belief that parents should never demean each other in front of their children.
“You should never, ever say a bad thing about the other parent, ever because it is the worst thing you could do to a child. It is the worst thing you could do,” she stressed again.
Frankel shared that she “went through” the scary situation by her own way and it was by her constant assurance to her daughter Bryn that she is loved and by opening up her own rough childhood to prove that “everyone has something” and that, in the end, it “makes them stronger.”
She furthered this point by saying, “therapy is something very big in [our] house,” hence, it has been quite a significant mental health support for them.
