Bethenny Frankel came to Watch What Happens Live last night ready to fight, trading barbs with both co-host Andy Cohen and guest Jeff Lewis. The Real Housewives of New York City alum brought the drama to the late night Bravo show, as expected, going full Frankel when asked about her new, controversial Housewives podcast.
The reality star, who has come under fire for hosting a re-watch podcast about the very same show she called “toxic” in the past, immediately got into it with Cohen, who soft-balled her at first by joking about their “feud,” but was pulled into a more contentious convo with Frankel, who was in full defense mode.
“You’ve been trashing the Housewives for the past three years,” Cohen pointed out, before admitting that he thought Frankel’s podcast was “hypocritical” because she’s going “deep” into the franchise after slamming it. Frankel replied that Cohen’s criticism didn’t come to her privately and differed from what her had told her one-on-one, when he said, “I’m glad to see you’re embracing the Housewives.”
Insisting that she’s “not trashing people on the show,” Frankel was met with resistance from Cohen, who replied, “You’ve called it boring, toxic, women against other women.”
As Frankel and Cohen went back-and-forth, the host paused and turned to Lewis — another former Bravo star — and asked him, “Jeff, are you enjoying this?”
He replied, “No, I’m actually uncomfortable,” but oh boy, he had no idea what was coming for him. After he asked Frankel how her Housewives recap was different from the dozens of similar shows (big mistake), Frankel turned on him, pointing to his firing from Bravo as she explained, “Well, I wasn’t let go by Bravo. I actually left on my own choice, so that’s a little bit different. I’m not a disgruntled employee.”
Lewis leaned into it, plainly stating, “I got fired,” and Frankel confirmed, “right,” before adding, “and that’s why you’re so bitter.”
Lewis initially agreed before realizing what he was doing, and quickly reversed course, saying, “No, I’m not bitter at all!”
But Frankel kept up the antagonizing, sarcastically telling her fellow guest (and new target, apparently), “Right, exactly, that’s what they all say.”
Lewis looked around to the audience in confusion, saying, “No, I really did,” and insisted he’s happy, while Frankel went off on him.
“You said it, you opened the door, baby,” she told him. “Don’t come for this unless you wanna get shot.”
Yikes. Years spent on RHONY will really do it to you.
Watch What Happens Live airs Sunday through Thursday at 10/9c on Bravo.
