Bethenny Frankel is setting the record straight: she is engaged. The 51-year-old reality star took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday December 21 to explain that she is indeed engaged to Paul Bernon, even though she’d made post that seemed to hint at being single earlier in the day. The Real Housewives of New York alum cleared the air, while explaining that things had been taken out of context.
Bethenny had posted a Christmas-themed photo earlier on Tuesday, giving “Shoutout all my [Jingle Ladies],, who can put their own ring on it.” The caption was an obvious play on the song “Single Ladies” by Beyonce, and a few fans commented to ask if she was single, about nine months after she was spotted with a massive engagement ring on her finger in March 2021.
The RHONY star seemed angry at people reading too much into her fun holiday post, as she posted a video of herself, explaining the timeline between her getting engaged and the news about it breaking. “I didn’t have to address rumors, but rumors hurt and affect other people, as does irresponsible press. I am engaged to a wonderful man named Paul. We got engaged in February and months later, I was swimming and had my ring on, and then it came out that we were engaged, because we didn’t make an announcement,” she said.
Besides explaining that they didn’t want to make a public announcement, Bethenny explained that speculation that she’d planned to debut the ring while swimming was silly. “That was convoluted that we planned the date that I would be swimming, wearing the ring, and criticized for wearing the ring in the ocean. So, we are engaged,” she explained. “I don’t always wear my ring. I don’t have to always wear my ring. Sometimes, I don’t feel that it’s safe. Sometimes, my fingers swell or contract, but I’m doing me.”
Bethenny finished her video by offering her stance that a relationship is mainly about the two people who are in love, and not all the things surrounding it. “[It’s] my opinion that a relationship is about the two people in the relationship: the commitment and the feelings. [It’s] not about announcements, not about pomp and circumstance, not about jewelry. It’s symbolism, and if I decide to wear an engagement toe ring then so be it,” she said, before signing off.