Kelly Bensimon is back on the dating scene less than two months after she called off her wedding.
The former Real Housewives of New York City star, 56, had been due to marry wealth management advisor Scott Litner on June 29.
But she axed the nuptials with just four days notice after Scott refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.
And now she’s revealed she’s looking for love once again.
Kelly told New York Post column PageSix: ‘I’m not in a relationship. I am … happy to move forward with new possibilities… [I’m] having fun dating.’
She went on to add: ‘I am enjoying myself. I am not hunting.
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Kelly Bensimon is back on the dating scene less than two months after she called off her wedding. The former Real Housewives of New York City star, 56, had been due to marry wealth management advisor Scott Litner on June 29. Seen in July for Camilla With Love
‘I can’t wait for my next chapter. I am not in a committed relationship.’
The reality TV star initially explained she had decided not to get married for the sake of her two daughters – Sea, 26, and Teddy, 24.
She later revealed the decision came after Scott refused to sign a pre-nuptial agreement.
After calling off her big day, she told PEOPLE: ‘Ultimately, my decision is nobody’s business, but I understand that there is speculation and gossip, and I want to put an end to all of it.
‘To be clear, he refused to sign a prenuptial agreement, and I refused to marry him. Full stop.’
A statement released to the outlet added: ‘She was looking forward to an exciting new chapter in her life together with Scott when everything became clear to her late on Tuesday afternoon.
‘[He] refused to sign a prenuptial agreement, effectively stalling their engagement mere days before the wedding.’
The statement included words from Kelly, which explained: ‘He thought that I would enter this union without legal protections in place, that I would leave everything to faith.
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Bensimon at the opening night of the new play Job on Broadway at The Hayes Theatre on July 30 in New York City
‘But I’ve worked really, really, hard as a single mother and have always made smart decisions for myself and my family, and that will continue.’
Scott proposed to Kelly over the Fourth of July weekend in 2023 during a holiday in Wisconsin and they planned to marry in two ceremonies.
One would have taken place at Scott’s mother’s home in Boston with a second celebration taking place in the Hamptons.
Kelly was previously married to fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon – the father of her two daughters – from 1997 to 2006.
Meanwhile, when asked in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com if she would take him back if he changed his mind about the prenup, she quickly responded, ‘No.’
‘No, because that’s what happens in real estate. They always say time kills all deals,’ she explained, comparing her personal life to work.
‘So, when you’re separated from people, clarity comes in, you go through all these different stages of loss – anger, sadness – but you have clarity and I deserve that.
‘If it’s not the best, don’t do it. It doesn’t matter if I’m 56 or if I’m 22. You know, I deserve the best.’
The former couple of two years, who lived together in downtown Manhattan, were scheduled to say ‘I do’ on June 29 in Boston in Scott’s mother’s backyard in front of friends and family.
‘This wasn’t my dream wedding. This is a wedding that I wanted for my ex’s mom. I wanted her to be there,’ she spilled.
‘My parents are both deceased, and so I wanted to do something where she would be involved and it would be centered around her, about her.’
Even though she played coy about the finances of the wedding, she said, ‘There’s a lot of loss that goes into canceling a wedding, but you know what? There’s so much more gain. Sometimes you have to take the loss to reap the benefits of the game.’
The former model was previously married to famed photographer Gilles Bensimon from 1997 to 2006. They share two daughters Sea, 26, and Teddy, 24.
Scott, for his part, has been married twice and also has children. During the Fourth of July weekend last year, he proposed to Kelly on a speedboat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Kelly recently told DailyMail.com at The Daily Front Row’s Most Stylish Party at Sunset Harbor in the Hamptons that she and Scott are now ‘amicable.’
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Just four days before saying I do, the Real Housewives of New York City star called off her wedding because the financier refused to sign a prenup — something she referred to as the ‘last and final straw.’
She revealed that he even reached out to her youngest daughter on her birthday on July 13 and wished her a happy birthday.
‘I hope he has a great summer,’ she shared. ‘I just want him to be happy.’
The real estate mogul has no interest in ‘bad mouthing people’ and said, ‘I don’t need to make someone else look bad. But what I do need to do is protect myself.’
‘I really understand men and I have a lot of respect for them. I’m not jaded and I’m not a bad-mouther. I never say bad things about my ex-husband. I never say anything bad about any man, so I only say the bad things about women because I get paid a lot of money to do that,’ she admitted, referring to her role as a cast member on RHONY.
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When asked in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com if she would take him back if he changed his mind about the prenup, she quickly responded, ‘No’ (seen trying on a wedding gown at Kleinfeld earlier this year)
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She and Litner were set to walk down the aisle on June 29 in Boston in Scott’s mother’s backyard in front of friends and family (seen on May 30, 2024)
Despite feeling ‘very emotional’ and ‘extremely disappointed’ over the downfall of her and Scott’s engagement, the mom-of-two insisted she doesn’t have time to sit home and cry.
‘Honestly, I don’t have the luxury to do that. I work. I have a big business. I travel a lot. My clients will not be very happy if I was just sitting there,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘My job is not a crying job. I take myself seriously, and when I’m feeling bad about myself, I’ll go on a little run. I play polo. I’m trying to do things to better myself. There’s nothing wrong with crying. Believe me, I cry a lot.
‘Just because someone doesn’t value me, doesn’t mean I’m going to cry.’
Luckily, the Housewives alum has had a lot of support from her friends, including Dorinda Medley and Luann de Lesseps, and other women going through a similar situation.
Kelly, a real estate broker for Douglas Elliman, is focused on selling ‘the most beautiful properties in the world’ from where she’s licensed to sell in New York City, the Hamptons, California and Florida.
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Kelly recently told DailyMail.com at The Daily Front Row’s Most Stylish Party at Sunset Harbor in the Hamptons that she and Scott are now ‘amicable’ (seen this month at the Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake premiere party)
‘I’m just switching gears and, obviously, focusing on the girls and my family and friends and my work,’ she revealed, while adding she’s looking forward to upcoming events in the Hamptons and ‘new opportunities.’
When asked if she’s ready to get back into dating, she shared, ‘I’m open to considering dating, but not tomorrow. I will start to go out and it’s not like I’m not having fun meeting people, but it’s not about dating people, it’s about meeting the right person. Just more disheartening this time.’
‘My dad always says too – when you least expect it, someone’s going to be there.’
Kelly appeared on RHONY seasons two to four and recently appeared in the fourth season of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip in December 2023.
While she doesn’t have any upcoming plans for a return to reality TV, she said that she would love to show her serious side. ‘Listen, I’m on Housewives in a bikini selling a $17 million house in Encinitas, but there’s also a very serious side, and I think I would love to show that.
‘But I would also like to talk more about women, personal value, and really buttoning up with our lives because men are the ones that get all the information, they get the finance information.’
A lot of women have even sought advice after hearing about Kelly’s stance on signing a prenup. ‘I’m so grateful for them for guiding me in a direction that really was so good for me. A lot of people don’t love that and they’re scared. They’re like, Oh, if I get the prenup, or if I ask for these certain things, is it going to break up a relationship?’
She concluded, urging other women, ‘Well, if you don’t get the prenup, you don’t get the things that are creating a solid infrastructure — a business at the end of the day — with a nice big love and bow and all this intimacy wrapped around it. You have to be buttoned up.’