Bethenny Frankel made a surprising revelation during a court date earlier this week.
Amid her custody battle over nine-year-old Bryn, Bethenny claimed her ex-husband, Jason Hoppy, has had his bills paid for by viewers who tune into The Real Housewives of New York City before accusing her former partner of continuously abusing her.
It all began after Jason’s attorney, Robert Wallack, brought up Bethenny’s social media use, which included the sharing of videos online about her dog Cookie’s death in an effort to get attention after the animal’s tragic passing in 2017. While Bethenny said she was simply asking for advice from followers who’ve gone through a similar situation, Robert suggested Bethenny was attempting to “exploit [the] tragic situation.”
“Isn’t a fact that you would rather take advice from 2 million followers then Jason?” he asked, according to a report from Radar Online.
“No,” she answered.
“You were doing it for attention, correct?” he further questioned.
“No, I don’t need attention,” she replied.
Robert then wondered if Bethenny’s social media posts around Bryn were “appropriate.”
“Why do you feel the need to share your personal life each time with your 2 million followers?” he asked.
“I know a lot of my fans. I do a lot of book signings. They help support me, and they help me pay Jason’s rent, and they are the people that are allowing me to stand on my own two feet,” she said. “That’s how I made money to pay Jason millions of dollars. That’s how he is paying your legal bills. That’s why you have this job right now. That’s how Jason can afford his rent, and that’s how I can afford my rent and support my daughter.”
Over the past several months of custody hearings, Bethenny has accused her ex-husband of “torture” and emotional abuse and during her latest hearing, Bethenny said she was not comfortable attending her daughter’s doctor appointments with Jason due to his concerning behavior.
As she explained, Jason yells at all of her daughter’s appointments and uses them to attack her.
“An appointment with Jason is abusing me, making fun of me,” Bethenny told Robert, according to a second report from Radar Online. “An appointment with Jason is a torture chamber…It is a vacuum of abuse. Going to an appointment with Jason is not a good idea, because he uses every way to abuse me when no one is looking.”
“I will not be in a room with Jason Hoppy,” she continued.
According to Bethenny, she never attends her daughter’s events with Jason but has occasionally run into him. Moving forward, Bethenny told the court she hopes his abuse will stop.
“My greatest hope is that [the abuse] would stop,” she said. “That we can achieve some level of normalcy, and that I wouldn’t live in fear and that I wouldn’t just feel uncomfortable. That Bryn would be in a happier environment and that she would be able to thrive.”
As fans may recall, Jason was accused of stalking and harassing Bethenny in 2017, but the charges against him were later dismissed.
The Real Housewives of New York City season 11 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.
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