Bethenny Frankel announced back in April that she was packing up her life in New York for a big move to Florida — and now the former Real Housewives of New York City star has revealed more details about her huge decision to leave the city where she was born and raised.
When Frankel, 54, first shared her big news with fans on social media, she mysteriously cited “personal and professional circumstances” for the move she’s made with daughter Bryn — but has now decided to open up further.
“I haven’t been totally honest with you about this move,” she said in a video shared on Sunday, May 11. “I’ve been pretty lonely the past five or six years. And it started with the pandemic, which gave me license to be the introvert and insular person that everyone is surprised that I am. My friends know it very well because I look like a social person, but I’m not! I could be home for days without leaving the house, and the pandemic gave me license to do that.”
She went on to say that she and Bryn, 15 — whom she shares with ex-husband Jason Hoppy — have been discussing the move for a while after becoming disillusioned with life in and around the city. “We were out in the Hamptons, and then I moved to the suburbs and I thought it was gonna be amazing,” she said “It really became a cave where I was lonely and home and never did anything. The only time I would have fun would be when I would go out of town.”
The TV star and entrepreneur added that she hopes opting for a simpler life in Florida will help her fall back in love with New York City, where she plans to keep a home too. “I ironically think this move is gonna reinvigorate my relationship with this city,” she said, explaining that New York has become “transactional” for her in recent years. “I have just been keeping this inside, because when you have something going on that you can’t change, you don’t talk about it,” she added.
And as for what she likes about Florida? “I walk outside and I go take a walk on the beach and I’m just existing, like, with other human life,” she said, explaining that Bryn is excited about the move too because she can tell it will make her mom happy. “She’s like, ‘Well, I didn’t realize you were so lonely and unhappy,’” she said.
Ultimately, for Frankel, it sounds like it all comes down to getting older and reassessing her priorities following the death of her mom, Bernadette Birk, to lung cancer in April 2024.
“I don’t want to just rot at home and feel like I’m wasting, like, years of my life,” she said. “All I’ve done in the last five or six years is reflect. I’ve done my reflecting. I’ve done my therapy. My mom died. I had, you know, a lot going on, and I’m ready to live.”
Frankel’s relocation also comes around a year after Us Weekly broke the news that the reality star called off her engagement to Paul Bernon. The couple dated for six years before pulling the plug on their romance in May 2024.
Since the move, she has already been spotted enjoying life in the Sunshine State, including partying at the Miami Grand Prix.
