Celebrity Exes
‘Bethenny Getting Married?’ Turns 15: Why Did Bethenny Frankel & Jason Hoppy Divorce?
Fifteen years ago, Bethenny Frankel‘s reality show Bethenny Getting Married?, which was later renamed to Bethenny Ever After, premiered on Bravo. Season 1 of the series featured Frankel’s March 2010 wedding to Jason Hoppy, as well as the birth of their daughter, Bryn, two months later.
Unfortunately, the love did not last between Frankel and Hoppy. They split in December 2012 after less than three years of marriage, and Frankel filed for divorce in January 2013. A bitter custody battle followed, and it took eight years for the divorce to be fully finalized.
What happened between these bitter exes? Scroll down for a refresh.
Why did Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy divorce?
When Frankel and Hoppy first announced their split, she released a generic statement about the decision. “This was an extremely difficult decision that as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family,” the former reality star shared. “We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably coparent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority. This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us.”
It wasn’t until 2024 that Frankel spoke more in-depth about what really went wrong. She opened up about the divorce in her podcast series Just B Divorce.
“It all [felt] wrong,” Frankel recalled. “The way that we argued [felt] wrong, and the way that I [was] spoken to [felt] wrong.” She also admitted that being pregnant and filming a television show were part of the reasons she stuck it out for the time she did.
Frankel also said she remembered having fights with Hoppy because “it felt like there was a disparity in the power” due to the fact that she made more money. “It was awkward that I paid most of the rent,” she admitted. “There becomes this power struggle because the person that you’re in a relationship with resents you for the career that you have.”
At the end of the day, Frankel said she “did not respect” Hoppy. “I did not want to have sex at all,” she insisted. “He used to say to me, ‘It feels like this bed is like a block of ice.'”
Does Bethenny Frankel have custody of her daughter?
Yes, Frankel has full custody of Bryn, but it came after a lengthy legal battle.
The estranged couple first reached an agreement in 2014, but the specific details were undisclosed. “My client is delighted that this custody dispute has been resolved; that his coparenting status has been acknowledged; that the parties’ child will have the benefit of being raised by both parents; and most importantly, that his daughter will no longer be at the mercy of a high-profile courtroom battle,” Hoppy’s lawyer told Us Weekly at the time.
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In 2017, Hoppy was issued a six-month stay away order after he was arrested for allegedly stalking and harassing her. Frankel sued for full custody of Bryn in 2019, and the exes went to trial.
“After having been awarded full legal custody of Bryn in 2020, [Bethenny] now has been awarded primary residential custody of Bryn as well,” a rep for the Bravo alum said in December 2021. At that time, a judge also ruled that Frankel no longer had to pay child support to Hoppy, which he didn’t oppose.
“I’m removing myself [from] this fight for Bryn and my physical, emotional and mental health,” Hoppy said. “I will not spend the remainder of Bryn’s childhood fighting as we share joint physical custody. Bryn knows I love her, I want her and I will always be available for our time together.”
