BRAVOBethenny Frankel is back and doing what she does best: Telling it like it is. The Real Housewives of New York City welcomed the reality star back with (somewhat) open arms. During a trip to Atlantic City, Bethenny clashed a bit with costar Sonja Morgan during dinner after visiting Sonja's business office to see what the socialite was cooking up with her fashion lines.
"I'm in a good spot with Sonja...there's a whole trajectory with Sonja and I this season and I think I was being supportive," Bethenny told us. "I thought the show, overall, was really funny. People thought it was one of the best episodes—and it's compassion. It's not darkness; it's not dirtiness and I like that. The show is doing really well. The ratings are up. People are loving it, they say it's the best season yet and I'm glad the B is back."
Still, Sonja said it was hard to watch the episode that saw Heather Thomson admonishing her for leaving some of the ladies outside in the rainy cold instead of letting them into her house and Dorinda Medley help care for her after a night of wild partying.
"You know, honestly, I've been doing this show for a long time. Every episode is hard for me to watch…It was hard. I know Bethenny hasn't been around the last four years, I haven't seen her very much, she's been busy raising her daughter, newly married—and if you come back and listen to what these girls are saying and then you see me go off the rails one night, she would think, ‘Wow you need help,'" Sonja said. "We saw last year the girls said I was delusional about my businesses, that I was talking about so many things, yet I'm wearing Sonja Morgan New York gown from my fashion show, it's a sample. I'm wearing my earrings from my Sonja Morgan New York jewelry collection and when you go to my website you can buy it all. You can get swimwear, sportswear, ready-to-wear. The only thing I haven't put out yet that I talked about was the perfume because I was worried about how to sequence these things and Josh said I was nuts. So if I'm nuts I'm having a great time. If I'm delusional, I'm loving it. I'm off to Monaco in May, July—Saint Tropez, Greece in August. I can't talk about it with my friends because Bethenny [says] don't talk about all the places you go. ‘Nobody wants to know.' OK."
But that's just Bethenny being Bethenny. And Bethenny being Bethenny has reinvigorated the show, according to executive producer Andy Cohen.
"I think it's incredible. The ratings are up double digits, it's back, it's so funny, it's so dramatic. I love this new Housewife," Andy told us, pointing to Dorinda on the NBCUniversal Cable Upfronts red carpet. "Bethenny just came back and what she proved is she was born to be a Housewife. She's absolutely so fun to watch and she is a complete bitch one second and completely vulnerable the next, but she's always real and she's always herself. She doesn't apologize for who she is and she's great."
The Real Housewives of New York City airs Tuesdays, 9 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)