BravoPlease give it up for Bethenny Frankel and The Real Housewives of New York City for keeping it "real." The Bravo reality series is now in its eighth season and as E! News has already told you, having its best season yet. In the 12th episode, "Always the Bitch, Never the Bride," viewers were presented with the quite the dichotomy: Carole Radziwill's dog participating in a dog wedding stunt with the dog of the Internet celebrity Fat Jewish and Bethenny's health scare with her fibroids. This, right here, is what makes Real Housewives, particularly The Real Housewives of New York City season eight, so great.
On one hand, you have Bethenny struggling to keep things together, living up to her tagline, "If you can't handle the truth, you can't handle me." On the other, you have Carole getting her dog dressed in a cashmere sweater to take photos to raise money and awareness for puppy mill rescues. This is quality television, people.
Bethenny has long said if she was going to return to the Bravo reality series she was going to go all in, and she has. While most Housewives health crises in the past seem to be related to jobs of the nose and boob variety, here is a woman showing her struggle with something millions of other women struggle with. She was open about her fears and let her wall come down by allowing Dorinda Medley to accompany her to the doctor. In that moment, you could tell it wasn't for a TV scene and Dorinda wasn't saying she wanted to go to get more airtime; this was real for both of them. This was real Real Housewives.
Bethenny revealed her doctor told her she had lost almost 10 percent of her blood, she was anemic and her iron levels were very low and the fibroids had grown and increased the size of her uterus by 50 percent.
"The doctor's visit was a wake-up call," she said in a confessional. "One of the three options was a hysterectomy and it's just like, ‘Whoa,' that that's even in my vocabulary now."
Dorinda said it best as Bethenny bemoaned losing the Mexico trip: "Your life's got to stop now for a little bit. It does, game's over. Rest, legs up, it's done. Nothing else matters."
Meanwhile, Carole had the women at the dog wedding for The Fat Jewish's dog (The Fat Jewish couldn't be there for some reason) and even Ramona Singer found the event bizarre. Yet that didn't stop her from cutting the dog wedding cake herself.
Like two sides of the coin, the absurdity and the real life stakes balanced each other out perfectly. Life isn't always dog weddings, nor are they always filled with serious medical happenings, and in the best way possible Real Housewives of New York City is both showing and giving life.
The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays, 9 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)