After revealing that her relationship with Dennis Shields “was not even close to a perfect” one, during the March 20 episode of The Real Housewives of New York City, Bethenny Frankel told Dorinda Medley that part of her “died inside” after his shocking death from a suspected drug overdose in Aug. 2018. She further explained, “I loved him so much and we were family and my daughter was close with him and I knew him for so many years.” Then, she revealed that Dennis had asked her to marry him, and it was something she didn’t tell anyone. “He proposed on April 25,” she shared before showing Dorinda the massive engagement ring he gave her — one that she wore throughout this week’s episode.
“I didn’t know that,” Dorinda said, before adding, “Aw, that’s sad”. And Bethenny agreed. “It’s very sad,” she repeated through tears. “… I kept it to myself because I didn’t want another circus of my life … We had our own private engagement and our own private, like, ‘Oh my God, we’re gonna do this.’” And when Dorinda asked if Bethenny’s daughter Bryn knew, the Skinnygirl mogul said, “He bought Bryn a ring, too”.
Earlier in the episode, Bethenny also talked about her engagement when Tinsley noticed her ring at Barbara‘s clambake. During her interview, Bethenny said, “Dennis and I went out to dinner in April [2018], and he proposed. And it’s funny because he said to me, ‘Well, did you say yes?’ And I said, ‘Well, I love you and I can’t believe you did this, but we have to talk about some conditions and some terms and how things are going to change, issues I’ve had with partnership and consistency,’ and it was all very complicated. It wasn’t what a natural engagement should be. So, our engagement was on ice.”
Meanwhile, Ramona was confronted by Luann about spreading rumors at the same clambake, so she quickly left. But not before she filled a doggie bag with expensive lobsters, and like us, many of the ladies raised their eyebrows at it. No joke — she was only there for 30 minutes before leaving with half the food from the buffet table. “She stays for half an hour and then she takes a lobster with her,” Luann said. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
But that wasn’t Ramona’s only faux pas this week. Once Ramona, Sonja and Tinsley got back to Dorinda, who was hanging out alone at Ramona’s Hamptons house after getting disinvited from the clambake, their conversation turned to a lawsuit that sparked Luann’s relapse and second stint in rehab. “That lawsuit won’t be dropped until everything is finalized,” Sonja said. “But that’s why I asked Bethenny to help her with Dennis and all that ’cause you need a smart guy doing that stuff.” And that’s when Ramona took a jab at Dennis, who died just a few weeks before this episode was filmed. “How smart can Dennis be? I mean, he was on drugs,” she said. Yes, she really said that. Fortunately, Ramona took to social media on March 20 (hours before the episode aired) to apologize, but we don’t think Bethenny will ever forget what she said. Even for Ramona, that was low.
Oh, and Sonja later threw a party to celebrate a recent cover shoot for a fashion magazine, where Dorinda and Luann finally came face to face with each other. However, their confrontation won’t air until next week!