Bethenny Frankel Is No Longer a Housewife ... or a Fiancée — Her Complicated Relationship Timeline with Paul Bernon
The on-and-off relationship between ‘RHONY’ star Bethenny Frankel and Paul Bernon is officially off for good.
Published July 9 2024, 10:14 a.m. ET
When we think of Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise, no one comes to mind before Bethenny Frankel, the iconic 53-year-old philanthropist who rose to fame on The Real Housewives of New York City after a 2005 run on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. But despite her fame as a wife, the relationship with her then-husband didn’t last. And then Bethenny met Paul Bernon.
A real estate developer and film producer, Paul Bernon matched Bethenny’s do-good energy and was even awarded a Peabody Award for his 2014 documentary advocating for those with disabilities, Best Kept Secret. Naturally, when they met in 2018, sparks flew. But in 2024, details of their breakup have circulated the web, so let’s dive into their relationship timeline.
September 2018 — Bethenny Frankel and Paul Bernon meet through a dating app.
No one in the public knew it yet, but Bethenny was about to meet her third fiancé when she and Paul matched on a dating app. “I was pretty lucky when I walked in and saw him,” Bethenny told People a few years later. “He had a twinkle. He came as advertised — better than advertised. He overshot the mark."
December 2018 — Bethenny and Paul make their relationship Instagram official after a near-death experience.
News of Bethenny and Paul’s relationship started circulating after he saved her life on an airplane due to an allergic reaction. She tweeted about the incident that landed her in the ER for two days, after which a source confirmed, “It was that serious. Her blood pressure was through the roof and she was unconscious. She went into anaphylactic shock. Her boyfriend saved her life."
A week later, they made their relationship Instagram official. Bethenny shared some pics of them together from their Dominican Republic vacation, which she called a “healing retreat.”
September 2019 — Paul and Bethenny celebrate their one-year anniversary and move in together.
Things move fast in the world of celebrities, and when you already have your lives underway, moving in together just makes sense. They celebrated their official one-year anniversary on Sept. 12, 2019, on Instagram, and an insider told Us Weekly, “They live together in the Back Bay area [in Boston] now. She has been spending a lot more time up there. They are house-hunting in the New England area.”
December 2019 — Things are going strong between Bethenny and Paul.
Throughout 2019, both Bethenny and Paul had the new relationship glow on social media as they shared posts celebrating each other and their birthdays. "Things are wonderful. He's a good person who I love," she said to People. "I don't know if it's a yin to my yang, but he's really relaxed, he's mellow and he's very, very funny."
October 2020 — Bethenny and Paul publicly split.
Although the rumors of their split circulated with no comment from Bethenny’s rep, she addressed the news herself on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: "You know, not everything works out, and so many people have tried to define my life — our lives — with, 'When are you getting engaged? When are you having a baby? When are you getting married?' " she said.
“We've had a great, great relationship and I'm really happy. Not everything has to end badly. Some things just don't continue and it's not negative, it's just life,” she added.
January 2021 — After a few months apart, Bethenny and Paul get back together as Bethenny finalizes her divorce.
The couple was spotted holding hands on Jan. 6, 2021, in Miami. “It was a spontaneous get-together,” an eyewitness told Us Weekly at the time. Additionally, Bethenny finally finalized her divorce from ex-husband Jason Hoppy, who she separated from in 2012. The nearly 10-year legal battle revolved around a custody battle for their then-9-year-old daughter, Bryn.
February 2021 — Paul got down on one knee as the pair got engaged.
The engagement wasn’t announced publicly until March 2021, but Paul first proposed in the Florida Keys in February. Bethenny later shared the details of his proposal on Instagram: “On Feb. 12, 2021, during the pandemic, Paul and I went to Little Palm Island, a small private hotel on a Florida island in the Florida Keys… The intimate details of the story are private but it was a beautiful proposal, in a beautiful setting, with a beautiful ring, to a beautiful man.”
June 2023 — Bethenny and Paul say that they think of themselves as married.
Since their engagement, people had naturally been wondering when Bethenny and Paul would actually tie the knot. "I'm never gonna plan a wedding," she said on Today with Hoda & Jenna. "We love each other. We're great life partners. We are married. I just don't want to go through what everyone else wants us to do."
"I love my life, I love my fiancé," Bethenny added a month later to E! News. "He's an amazing life partner and I don't want to sign a contract with someone I love and I don't want to plan a massive wedding for everybody else and not what we want."
May 2024 — Several sources confirm that Bethenny and Paul called off their engagement.
After rumors circulated when Bethenny wore her ring in videos less and less often, Us Weekly reported that they had broken up. A mutual friend explained that “it just wasn’t going to work” because “they are so different – he’s an under-the-radar kind of guy.” On a July 7, 2024, episode of her podcast, Just B with Bethenny Frankel, the RHONY star finally discussed the breakup with her fans.
"I went through a breakup. It was something that I kept to myself. It was something that I mourned on my own, and I did therapy, and I did the work... I just didn't feel like it needed to be shared,” she said, just after losing her mother in April 2024. "It was a breakup that I wanted to process alone privately, and I didn't feel that I owed anybody any explanation.”
She added, "The breakup was something that I initiated. I wasn't happy. Something needed to change. It was certainly mutual. The relationship had its challenges, and nobody dumped anybody."
If we know anything about Bethenny, it’s that she always lands on her feet.
