Bethenny Frankel said her living situation with ex Jason Hoppy during their divorce was a “carnival” and a “torture den.” She also alleged that Jason’s parents were constantly trying to take daughter Brynn away from her, and she shared why her assistants testified for her in court.
The divorce lasted nearly 10 years, and much of it concerned custody of their daughter Brynn. It was eventually finalized in January 2021. For a time, the Real Housewives of New York alum and her ex were staying in the same house.
“Every time I would bring Brynn home after school, like [Jason’s] parents would be there and I would just want to have like her there in my bed like snuggling with me. I just wanted to be with her,” said Bethenny on her Just B Divorce podcast, via @byewighellodrama on Instagram. “His parents would come in and they’d have Mickey Mouse and his dad would have a baseball hat with like a ponytail in the back. [Or] were making cookies and you’d smell the cookies and like I couldn’t compete.”
She called it a “carnival,” and she said she found ways to take Brynn on outings away from the home so that she could have quality time with her. She also tried to make every event a big deal for her daughter.
According to the star, the situation was “purgatory” as they were sharing the house, and she alleges she would walk in on Jason in his “underwear.”
“That was the torture den,” she said. “The only, like, friend I had was like getting in the bed late at night, locking my door, and like trying to get a good night’s sleep.”
She claimed that his parents would always try to find ways to “get” Brynn “away” from her, and it “worked” – as she became the “less favored parent.”
The star also said it was a “nightmare” having to juggle this with her talk show, and there was “no end.”
She eventually decided to move out of the home despite what lawyers and judges were allegedly telling her. But later, her assistant purportedly found her “emails” on his computer and “crazy stuff.” Multiple assistants eventually testified on her behalf in court, allegedly revealing what they found.
Bethenny claimed she also found out that a private detective was “taking pictures” of her.