‘Real Housewives Of New York City’ Star Bethenny Frankel Opens Up About Late Boyfriend Dennis Shields’ Death

Bethenny Frankel recently opened up about her past relationship with Dennis Shields — as well as about his August of 2018 death — during an episode of The Real Housewives of New York City. Now, she’s elaborating upon the points previously made.

On April 5, while attending Variety’s Power of Women event presented by Lifetime, the reality star and Skinnygirl mogul spoke to Us Weekly about the way in which she’s been coping with her loss, nearly one year after Shields’ death via an alleged overdose.

“I loved Dennis, and we talk about him a lot now, more [now] that the dust has settled,” Frankel explained. “And grief is, like, it’s a crisis in and of itself, and we’re trying to survive and trying to feel, and you just wanna make yourself feel better in any way that you can. And now that months have gone by, I’ll have sad days.”

Frankel and Shields dated intermittently for two years before he died, and during an episode of The Real Housewives of New York City last month, Frankel revealed they had been secretly engaged since April of last year. As she explained, Shields proposed to her during a dinner — and in the weeks that followed, the two of them discussed the terms and conditions that would be set prior to a wedding date.

As for what she’s told her 8-year-old daughter, Bryn Casey Hoppy, about Shields’ passing, Frankel said she’s been as honest as possible with her child.

“My daughter’s an old soul, and she’s very adult and I’m honest with her,” she said.

Following Shields’ death last August, Frankel began dating movie producer Paul Bernon. In October, the couple was spotted holding hands for the first time during an outing in Bernon’s hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. Also in October, Frankel and Bernon spent time with one another in New York City.

Although Frankel hasn’t said a whole lot about her relationship with Bernon publicly — and doesn’t appear to have welcomed him to The Real Housewives of New York City— she has shared a few photos of him on social media. Amongst these was a post from the Dominican Republic, where the couple appeared to spend the holidays with their children from previous relationships.

Frankel also spoke of Bernon on Twitter, revealing that it was he who saved her from a near-fatal allergic reaction last December.

To see more of Frankel and her co-stars, don’t miss new episodes of The Real Housewives of New York City Season 11. The show airs on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.