Bethenny Frankel Spills on New York's New Housewives

Socialite single mom Sonja Morgan and entrepreneur Jennifer Gilbert are set to recur throughout season three

They're heeere!

As expected, Bravo is adding new castmembers to The Real Housewives of New York City, and today the network announced that socialite single mom Sonja Morgan and entrepreneur Jennifer Gilbert will recur throughout season three. Why the new blood? Well, for one thing, NYC Housewives superstar Bethenny Frankel is getting her own spinoff, and she's said repeatedly that she doesn't want to do both shows. The new additions ensure that Bravo has a deep bench of talent on the show even after Ms. Frankel exits.

Speaking of Ms. Frankel, what does she think of this new blood? Are the new kids friend or foe? And how's she getting along with the existing castmembers during the filming of season three? E! News just sat down with Bethenny exclusively and snagged the scoop on the "explosive" new episodes...

Bethenny tells us that the newbies are new to her, too! She says, "I haven't met any new castmembers, but I just have to do the math and say, on Orange County, they only have two of the original housewives, and on Atlanta, they have already replaced someone."

Bethenny does have a passing acquaintance with Sonja, telling us, "We have a mutual friend, and I remember meeting her. So bring it on. I'm excited for new women if that's the case."

But enough about the new women, who could very well turn out to be total duds, let's talk about the old women. OK, not old, just...original.

According to Bethenny, season three is well underway, and so far, she says, "It's been very, very explosive. And that's what Housewives is. It's six women, and it's like high school. In high school, you had time to argue and that was your whole life—the drama, the mean girls and the cool girls and all that. I don't have the time for the girl trouble right now. I'm not really revolving my life around reality TV; reality TV is revolving its life around me. Catfighting is not what I can really spend my time doing." You know, that point of view probably makes Bethenny a marginal reality-TV star, but it makes her a pretty cool person.

According to Bethenny, she and Jill Zarin are still very much an item, but their relationship is changing, not least because they didn't spend the summer together since Bethenny was off on her book tour: "Jill has been a very good friend to me...I love Jill. We have a great history. I want all the best things for Jill in life. We're all working together [this season]. It definitely gets tense. We all have good days and bad days. Jill and I have fought on the show; we fought on season one. We made up after that, and we'll fight again."

As for Bethenny's nemesis, Kelly Killoren Bensimon, their relationship might (surprisingly!) be looking up: "It couldn't have gotten any worse than it did with Kelly and I. I thought that maybe we could rent out Madison Square Garden and have a WWE fight. Of course, I would be producing it and promoting it and making all the money, and Kelly would just be able to take some hits at me. Actually, Kelly asked me to sit next to her at a fashion show, and she came to my Skinnygirl Margarita launch this summer, which was a very diplomatic and smart move given what happened last season."

As for Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, who recently split from her allegedly cheating husband, "I don't know how the countess is doing. I don't know much about her personal life. I think she's probably happy; she has a lot going for her."

Last but not least, when E! News asked Bethenny what was up between her and Alex McCord, Bethenny said: "I don't think I'm allowed to say that. Alex and I have had some emotional scenes recently. And let's just say that I'm definitely having my share of arguments and drama. But a lot of people are having arguments." Scandal!