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‘Real Housewives of New York City’ Recap: Bethenny Frankel Explodes Over Questions About Her Topless Scene

Sometimes there’s a calm before a storm — and sometimes there’s a storm before a storm. On the Wednesday, April 19, episode of The Real Housewives of New York City, the women were all hanging out in the Hamptons. Dorinda Medley stayed with Luann de Lesseps. Carole Radziwill shacked up with Bethenny Frankel. And last, but certainly not least, Sonja Morgan and newcomer Tinsley Mortimer settled in at one of Sonja’s friend’s houses. (The friend did not appear to be home.)

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The (Very Short) Calm Before the Storm

As they unpacked, Bethenny told Carole that Sonja had called her several times to speak ill of Luann and Dorinda. “They cannot be good friends,” Bethenny said, arguing, “The things [Sonja] said about Dorinda and Luann [would not be said about actual friends].” For the most part, Carole seemed too stressed about the upcoming presidential election to care much about anything else, but she did agree to accompany Bethenny for some “stress-relieving” acupuncture (whatever makes you happy!).

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Meanwhile, Sonja confessed to Tinsley that she felt guilty about not inviting Dorinda to her tea party, but again looped back to how hurt she was that Dorinda had excluded her from the Berkshire trip. (No, Sonja is not over that yet, apparently.)

Ramona Goes After Bethenny

Bethenny, Carole, Ramona, Luann and Dorinda all met up for dinner. Shortly after sitting down, Bethenny asked Ramona if she was going to attend Carole’s election party. Ramona said she wasn’t sure because Carole had been uncomfortably aggressive toward her when they’d discussed politics in the past. Bethenny shrugged and said that Carole didn’t want anyone at her party who wasn’t “very informed,” prompting Ramona to offer to bring copies of all the articles she had read. Bethenny actually agreed with Ramona on this point — that Carole was being slightly crazy about the election — but the friendly chatter evaporated when Ramona asked Bethenny if anyone had approached her daughter, Bryn, about Bethenny’s alleged nude movie role that had recently surfaced in the media.

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ICYMI, Bethenny had been in a movie where she played a murderer and was topless for a sex scene. “Ramona attempting to embarrass me through my daughter, who is in first grade, is even low for Ramona, which is a new low because ‘Ramona low’ is low already,” Bethenny explained to the camera.

Luann jumped in to say Bethenny shouldn’t worry about it, because everyone does things they regret. “I don’t regret it at all!” Bethenny replied. “I needed the money, and I wanted to be an actress.” Ramona reasoned that “in life, things happen for a reason,” but Bethenny was furious. “Good friends should be able to ask each other questions,” Ramona shrugged to the camera before calling Bethenny a “B-I.” (That was short for a longer word.)

The Real Housewives of New York City
Tinsley Mortimer, Sonja Morgan, Bethenny Frankel, Ramona Singer, Dorinda Medley, Luann D’Agostino and Carole Radziwill of ‘The Real Housewives of New York City’ season 9.

Luann Goes After Bethenny

Luann then leaned over to tell Ramona that Bethenny might be embarrassed by her question, but Bethenny overheard Lu and snapped at her. “I think your attitude is unacceptable!” Ramona barked. Carole then said that Ramona reminded her of Donald Trump. Just to recap, coming from Carole, that is not a compliment. Ramona called Bethenny stupid, reasoning, “You may be good with business, but you know what? You’re really not good at interacting with people.”

Luann jumped in to say that Ramona had a point. “You don’t care about any of us!” Luann said. “You only care about yourself!” Ramona then called Bethenny a “witch,” and Bethenny was fed up enough to storm out of the meal.

Dorinda Is Going to Go After Sonja

The next day, Luann, Ramona and Dorinda met for lunch, where Ramona insisted she had done nothing wrong the night before. “I don’t think that Bethenny likes when people point out the cracks, and Ramona pointed out a crack,” Dorinda said to the camera. Dorinda did admit, however, that Ramona’s timing and delivery weren’t so good.

But Dorinda had bigger fish to fry — and that fish’s name was Sonja. Dorinda claimed that Sonja was “on a slanderous rampage” against her. For her part, Sonja told Tinsley that she was looking forward to getting back to having fun with Dorinda. In other words, she had no idea that Dorinda was angry all over again.

Everyone (except Bethenny) reconvened at Ramona’s dinner party, where Dorinda promptly revealed to Carole that she had a “mole” who had researched Sonja’s activities and given her a file several inches thick of everything Sonja had ever said and done. Dorinda skipped wine and instead guzzled soda in anticipation of wanting a clear head when Sonja (a.k.a. her “prey” for that night) arrived. Yikes.

Tell Us: Do you think it’s OK for Dorinda to ambush Sonja at Ramona’s party?

The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET. 

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