Unpopular opinion, but I was never a fan of Kelly Bensimon. She came across as spacey, entitled, and honestly annoying. Her life was not relatable to many viewers, and her personality seemed unhinged. The 55-year-olds’ behavior on Scary Island wasn’t an isolated incident, with her erratic dispositions not going amiss. Around the same time, in 2009, Kelly was arrested for punching her fiancé in the face and giving him a laceration under his eye. So it makes sense why one or more Real Housewives stars would have wanted her banned from Bravo altogether.
Recently, the former model revealed that a Real Housewives star wanted to have her kicked off Real Housewives of New York City, but the mother of two failed to mention who. There could be a plethora of women with a never-ending grudge, but without knowing the mystery woman’s identity, I will have to make a few educated guesses. While speaking to HELLO! Kelly revealed who has been her ride or die and why it took so long for her to return.
Kelly shared that “Luann de Lesseps had been trying to bring me back for 11 years, and I was never allowed to come back. There’s a housewife that kind of put a block on me. I was not allowed to film, so Luann was always trying to get me back.”
So, who really could be the culprit, and who has that much power over Bravo?
Ramona Singer
The Singer Stinger was never one to be trifled with, and as an OG of the Real Housewives of New York City, she was an important part of the series. Ramona Singer and Kelly were not the best of friends, even though the mother of one is trying to act as though they have reconnected in recent years. When Ramona was splitting with Mario Singer, Kelly never reached out and often referred to Ramona as “not nice.” During their last reunion, Kelly went as far as to say, “karma’s a bitch.”
At the time, Ramona may have had the connections since she was one of the most dramatic women in the series. She could have been very jealous of all the attention Kelly was receiving and may have wanted to put an end to it. But Ramona had her own reckoning in the last few years and essentially found herself canceled and uninvited from BravoCon 2023.
Bethenny Frankel
While on the RHONY girl’s trip to St. Johns, Bethenny Frankel and Kelly had a few run-ins, which ended in the Skinnygirl owner calling the model “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.” Kelly left the series after Season 4, with Bethenny officially leaving after Season 11. For years, Bethenny held clout within the network, so it is quite possible she didn’t want to film with all that crazy around her.
After a long rant about jellybeans, Bethenny kept yelling at her co-star to “go to sleep.” But her pleas were ignored. At the time of Scary Island, it was, for all intents and purposes, the Bethenny Show. Kelly had often noted she wanted to march to the beat of her own drum and not fall in line with the queen bee. However, this move could have placed a target on her back, inevitably getting her banned from the network.
Alex McCord
Though Alex McCord very much had her own set of idiosyncrasies, they were far less than the ones Kelly dealt with. Alex once claimed that Kelly was much more crazier in real life, with Bravo often editing footage in order for the model to look better. During the Scary Island freakout, Kelly actually called Alex a “vampire” after she broke down about Bethenny trying to stab her in her dream.
Alex often acknowledged that she was dealing with an irrational human being when she would watch Kelly throw her famous tantrums. Kelly and Alex rarely saw eye to eye, and again, while on the island, Kelly told her co-star, “You’re being weird right now. It’s not authentic,” which led Alex to put up her walls.
I doubt Alex had the pull to have her co-star banned from the series, and it seems they have moved past their issues since they filmed RHONY Legacy together.
TELL US – WHO DO YOU THINK HAD KELLY BENSIMON BANNED FROM BRAVO? OR DID KELLY MAKE UP HER CLAIMS TO GET ATTENTION?
