Kelly Bensimon has thoughts about former Real Housewives of New York City costar Bethenny Frankel dating a man she allegedly matched with on Raya first.
“Isn’t that hilarious? This guy’s a Housewives fanatic. He’s basically a fame whore,” Bensimon, 56, exclusively claimed to Us Weekly on Friday, December 6, at iHeartRadio 102.7 KIIS FM’s Jingle Ball in Los Angeles. “Only if you’re famous does he want to go out with you. Go forth and prosper, but not on my watch.”
Frankel, 54, announced via Instagram late last month that she is dating Tom Villante. Days later, Kelly claimed to Page Six that she had previously texted Villante on dating app Raya but never met up in person.
“One thing that I’m happy about is that Bethenny is dating him because since I’ve been single, I’ve gone on a lot of dates, and, literally, 99.9 percent of single men in the universe she’s dated,” Bensimon told Us. “So it’s, like, I don’t know what my future holds.”
The reality TV alum added, “She was in my professional life and now she’s in my personal life; I can’t get away from her. She’s, like, Lyme disease. You just can’t get rid of it.”
Bensimon, for her part, is recently single after calling off her engagement to Scott Litner in June. (She previously told Us that her then-fiancé allegedly refused to sign a prenuptial agreement.)
“I couldn’t do it,” she said on Friday. “I’m better for it. He’s better for it. My kids are better for it. It wasn’t the right fit. I’m actually really proud of myself that I was just like, ‘No, we’re not doing this.’”
Bensimon, who stunned in Zara at L.A.’s Jingle Ball, further noted that she is “so happy.”
“I have had a metamorphosis, I swear to God, I am like a butterfly,” Bensimon gushed. “Between therapy and my new podcast, ‘I Do Part Two’ on iHeartRadio, I feel like a totally different person. I am finally feeling like myself again.”
Kelly further explained that her two daughters — Sea, 26, and Teddy, 24, whom she shares with ex-husband Gilles Bensimon — also are rooting for her continued happiness.
“I have amazing kids, and I’m so proud because I put the time, effort and resources into my kids, and they’re unbelievable,” she told Us. “I talk through things with them. I don’t talk at them. We have conversations about things, and I’m so proud to learn from them. I asked them their advice all the time. They want me to be happy, and they don’t want me to be alone. I want them to have their own life. It’s time for me to have mine.”
The iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Tour special airs on ABC Wednesday, December 18, at 8 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Hulu.
