Bethenny Frankel simply cannot believe that Erika Jayne went there.
On Wednesday night, Jayne was a guest on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, responding at one point to questions about her estranged husband Tom Girardi.
The host asked his polarizing guest if she knew anything at all about Girardi’s embezzlement scandal in the wake of Tom having been accused of stealing money from the loved ones of a 2018 plane crash.
Jayne, as celebrity gossip lovers likely know by now, has consistently claimed complete ignorance on this topic.
“In the business that Tom was doing, which was contingent fee, it’s not unusual to borrow,” Jayne replied to Cohen, talking broadly about Girardi’s line of work.
The subject then turned to a September 2021 episode of Bethenny’s Just B With Bethenny Frankel podcast in which the former Real Housewife revealed that her late ex-fiancé, Dennis Shields, had once said Tom owed him “half a million dollars.”
Frankel also said that Girardi was “using people’s money” to support Erika’s lifestyle.
This has been a claim made by many others over the past several months.
“While that may be true, there were also loans that were really paid off,” Jayne also told Cohen of the rumors that Tom — who’s now in declining health — owed people money.
“I don’t know where Bethenny’s coming from,” she addded of Frankel’s previous comments.
“Her guy’s dead, and my guy is in a home, so whatever.
“But at the same time, that’s kind of the way the business goes.”
Yikes, huh?
Shields reportedly committed suicide in 2018, prompting quite a few eyelashes to be raised by viewers who couldn’t believe Jayne made such a reference on television.
Among those in irate shock?
Frankel herself.
Bethenny, who was actually a guest on the same aforementioned Bravo talk show on Thursday, responded to the remark on Twitter yesterday.
“The episode tonight of @BravoWWHL was taped so I don’t address the comment you & Dennis’ children are hurt, offended and disgusted by,” she wrote.
“I appreciate your loyalty, heart and compassion.”
Shields passed away in August 2018 of an apparent overdose, although this was never determined conclusively.
Due to religious reasons, an autopsy was never performed on the 51-year-old father of four… so no official cause of death has been determined.
For her part, Frankel has paid tribute to her late on-again, off-again boyfriend on numerous occasions, including the one-year anniversary of his passing in 2019.
“One year ago today, I woke up to a beautiful sunny day with @biggysmallz by the pool, and my world crumbled and turned upside down in an instant,” she began an emotional post on Instagram, alongside a photo of Dennis sitting with their two dogs.
She added back then:
“A man Dennis, who I loved and respected, who was in my life for 30 years unexpectedly passed away.”
We continue to send our well wishes to Frankel over this loss — and we continue to send the exact opposite of those to Jayne.
Source: HollyWood Gossip
