Bethenny Frankel, the star of *The Real Housewives of New York*, has finally opened up about the nightmare that was her decade-long divorce from Jason Hoppy, hinting at elements of “fraud” and “abuse” that turned her life into pure “torture.” In a raw and unfiltered conversation on Alex Cooper’s *Call Her Daddy* podcast, Bethenny didn’t hold back, revealing how the ordeal eclipsed every other hardship she’s faced in her tumultuous life.
Bethenny tied the knot with Jason Hoppy in 2010, and together they welcomed their daughter, Bryn. However, their marriage quickly unraveled into a bitter, protracted divorce battle that dragged on for a full 10 years. This wasn’t her first brush with divorce; she had previously been married to Peter Sussman, ending that union in 1997. But nothing prepared her for the hell that followed her split from Hoppy.
During the podcast, Bethenny described the divorce as the most grueling experience of her life, surpassing even the horrors she witnessed growing up. “Literally, I have seen my mother slit her wrists. I have lived a life, my whole life of chasing her into bathrooms, trying to catch her throwing up. I’ve been around guns, the mafia, the racetrack. I’ve been through everything. I’ve seen her beaten with an inch of her life with a phone. I have seen everything,” she shared. Yet, she emphasized, “Nothing compares to what my divorce was for 10 years. That is child’s play compared to the trauma of someone wanting to torture you and telling you that they’re going to do it.”
As the more successful partner in the relationship, Bethenny explained how public perception painted her as the “powerhouse tyrant,” while Hoppy appeared as the innocent victim. “Optics look like this person’s just a victim and someone … with the pawn as a child, like it is so important. It was so traumatic,” she said. The stress was so overwhelming that she lost hair and felt she might never recover. “I thought I would never survive it. I didn’t want to. I had to because of my daughter. I literally thought I’ll never be happy again.”
Treating the divorce like a grueling marathon, Bethenny pushed through one step at a time, checking off every box amid a barrage of alleged wrongs. “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, ‘Ursula the Witch, and you’re ugly.’ And it was torture,” she recounted. The financial toll was immense, costing her millions, and the emotional manipulation extended to their daughter. “It was literally FaceTime to a toilet cause like so I couldn’t talk to my daughter, ‘I know, Bryn, I know you don’t want to go with your mama.’ It was torment from one minute to the last minute of the 10th year.”
Despite the intensity of her revelations, Bethenny made it clear she’s willing to face any consequences for speaking out. “I can, and I don’t even care if I get sued … Every woman needs to know, do not f**k around and find out. It was the worst thing I could ever wish upon a person.”
Throughout it all, Bethenny maintained a strict rule: she never spoke ill of Hoppy in front of Bryn. “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,” she advised. “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.”
Bethenny’s candid expose sheds light on the dark underbelly of high-profile divorces, where success can twist into a weapon against you, and the public eye often casts the wrong villain. Her story serves as a stark warning and a beacon of resilience for anyone navigating similar storms.