Fall TV Blog

A baby on the way will help Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel find some clarity and balance, according to her costar Alex McCord.

“One thing I found for me is that being a mom cut through the layers of priorities,” McCord told PEOPLE at the 26th Annual Princess Grace Awards Gala. “Being fully invested in your child helps you filter out some of that noise that just isn’t necessary and helps you to focus on what’s important.”

Frankel, who recently announced her engagement to boyfriend Jason Hoppy, is roughly two months pregnant, and McCord said she couldn’t be more thrilled for her friend.

“She and I have had several conversations and will continue to have many more,” said McCord. “Having children doesn’t turn you into a different person, but it opens your heart in ways that you never knew were possible.

“I think it happens to everyone in varying degrees and I know how badly she wanted to have a child so I look forward to that with Bethenny.”

Adds McCord’s husband Simon Van Kempen: “Nothing prepares you for parenthood [more than] parenthood. That baby will change Bethenny for the better. It will smooth over the few rough edges she still has.” –Joyce Chen

Mike Coppola/Getty

Let’s face it: Some of the best Real Housewives moments (from any franchise) happened when someone new encroached on the nouveau-riche territory of the existing cast. Cases in point: Tamra Barney and Vicki Gunvalson’s disdain (and later sabotage by tequila) of new gal Gretchen Rossi (and to a lesser extent, Lynne Curtin) on Orange County, NeNe Leakes and Kandi Burruss’s back-and-forth “ghetto” insults on Atlanta and the fireworks between Bethenny Frankel and newbie Kelly Bensimon on New York’s season 2.

So, fans of the drama can expect plenty of priceless episodes as two new faces join Frankel, Bensimon, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Alex McCord, Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin on The Real Housewives of New York City’s third season.

Sonja Morgan (left), a former model and friend to European royalty and fashion designers alike, is a single mother of a 9-year-old daughter. According to a press release from Bravo, she “loves art, decorating, gardening, skiing and visiting France every chance she gets — be it for her charity work or just for pleasure.”

And Jennifer Gilbert, a successful and award-winning entrepreneur who owns multiple companies, has been married for seven years and has three children. Still, with a motto of “Why cook when you can cater?” Gilbert and her husband, who love to entertain, are able to find time to host dinner parties every Saturday night.

The Real Housewives of New York City’s third season has already begun production and will air in 2010. –Michael Y. Park

Tell us: Are you happy they’re adding two women into the New York City mix? Who will they get into drama with?

Joe Schildhorn/Sipa; Jerritt Clark/WireImage

When Bravo announced that Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel was getting her own show, you’d expect her castmates — especially her onscreen BFF Jill Zarin — to congratulate her, right?

Wrong!

“What’s funny is nobody on my cast has said a single word to me about it,” Frankel, 38, said on the phone from Los Angeles. “It must be a giant elephant [in the room].”

Was the famously outspoken reality star angered by her castmates’ silence? “I hope they would be supportive just because they’re human beings,” she said. “But do I care [that nobody's said anything]? Nah. I don’t even think about it. I’ve got too much to focus on [than] to focus on girl trouble.”

Frankel is also dispelling online reports that she is leaving The Real Housewives of New York City cast, calling that “completely a rumor. It’s false.” Still, speculation abounds that Frankel’s five castmates — Alex McCord, Countess Luann de Lesseps, Zarin, Ramona Singer and Kelly Bensimon — will be joined this season by socialite Sonja Morgan. (more…)

Kelly Bensimon has said she’s ready for season 3 of The Real Housewives of New York City but she’ll have to contend again with Bethenny Frankel.

“I’m definitely going to do the Housewives this season,” Frankel tells PEOPLE. “It’s been great … I love it. I understand we start filming [season 3] in September.”

Frankel, who attended the Super Saturday 12 Designer Garage Sale, a benefit for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, in Bridgehampton, N.Y., over the weekend, has had more than one awkward conversation with Bensimon, who joined the cast for season 2 of the show.

When asked if Bensimon might reach her goal of rehabilitating her image this season, Frankel said, “Good luck with that. Am I helping? No.”

As for reports that Frankel has plans for a solo show, she says a deal is “unsigned,” but suggested that she would consider doing a variety show or a cooking show.

For now, the best-selling author of Naturally Thin is hoping to expand her SkinnyGirl Margarita empire. (more…)

Kelly Bensimon says she’s ready for season 3 of The Real Housewives of New York City, but she’s not sure which of her costars will be joining her in the fall.

“I am coming back,” Bensimon told PEOPLE at Three-O Vodka’s recent launch party. “But I actually don’t know who else is coming back. They don’t really tell me.”

Rest assured, though, Bensimon expects more drama.

“We start shooting in two weeks,” she said. “And it’s going to be interesting now because the bar is so high. When Gretchen [Rossi from The Real Housewives of Orange County] is getting a motorcycle at a party and Teresa [Giudice from The Real Housewives of New Jersey] is throwing over the table, what’s going to happen?”

Bensimon, who joined the New York cast for season 2, has lived through plenty of drama already and is looking forward to returning as a veteran.

“Because I know these women now, I’ll be able to do things with them,” she said. “[Last season], it was hard. It was like the first day of school. Now I know everybody, so we’re going to have a little fun.” (more…)

The Real Housewives of New York City is coming back to Bravo in 2010, the network announced Tuesday.

Production on the third season will begin in the fall and, according to a press release, Bravo is currently casting for “additional Housewives” for the series that “follows the busy lives of a group of driven and ambitious Manhattan women as they juggle their demanding careers, motherhood and jam-packed social calendars.”

So what does that mean for Ramona Singer, Bethenny Frankel, Jill Zarin, Alex McCord, LuAnn de Lesseps and season 2’s trouble-starter Kelly Bensimon?

Bravo will only say that nothing has been confirmed regarding casting.

Tell us: Which Housewives would you like to see back for a third season? And who could you do without?

Rob Rich/Everett Collection

As Jon and Kate Gosselin go their separate ways, another famous couple are weighing in on how to “stay in love” under the intense spotlight of reality TV.

The Real Housewives of New York’s Alex McCord, 35, and husband of nearly a decade, Simon van Kempen, say that the key to keeping their family together while starring in a TV show is to make your relationship a priority.

“Remember that you [and your husband] were there first,” McCord told PEOPLE at the I Heart Gen Art 15th Anniversary benefit in New York City on Wednesday. “Remember that part of what makes raising your children a successful operation is having a successful relationship. And if you are not happy, I … guarantee you will foist that off on your kids and they will pick up on it.” (more…)

On the last season of The Real Housewives of New York City, Bethenny Frankel appeared doomed to doldrums of perpetual dating. But Frankel now tells people she has found happiness with new beau Jason Hoppy.

“I’m in love,” Frankel told PEOPLE at the Pepsi Natural Dinner at a large private home in East Hampton on Saturday. “I’m pretty much certain I’m going to spend the rest of my life with him … I’m really happy.”

And Frankel’s friends support the match. “He’s extremely handsome,” one of her pals said at the dinner. “He’s supportive, funny, thoughtful, kind. He wants kids. They’re both the same age. This could be it.” (more…)

The Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle Staub, whose sordid past was dug up on the show, is getting some sympathy from her New York neighbors, including troublemaker Kelly Bensimon.

“Everybody deserves a second chance,” Bensimon told PEOPLE at Wednesday’s 34th Annual Women in Radio & Television’s Gracie Awards in New York. “If you’ve made a mistake in life, you have two choices, you can either sit in the Lazy-Boy and eat popcorn and talk about it, or you can get out and do something fun. And I think that’s what she’s doing. I like her courage.”

Bensimon’s outspoken costar Jill Zarin said she feels sorry for Stuab, whose mug shot and arrest record was the subject of a book, Cop Without a Badge, discovered by her costars.

“This is something that happened a long time ago. It’s dead and buried in her real life, and it should never have been brought up,” Zarin said. “But because she’s on a reality show, if you’ve been arrested and have a record, it’s going to come out. If you’re divorced, it’s going to come out. If you’ve lied about things, it’s going to come out. I think she should have known that.” (more…)

Just when we couldn’t get enough of The Real Housewives of New York City, Bravo was kind enough to give us more! More catfights, more locations, more huh? moments with Kelly and more unforgettable quotes. Keep reading for our favorites. – Mark Dagostino

“What is this McCord-VanKempen? What is that? She’s so close to him that they practically walk together as one unit, and yet she retained her name? If they were born as Siamese twins they would look exactly the same way.”
– Gloria, Jill Zarin’s mom, on Silex

“Wouldn’t it be funny if I just took my top off?”
– Bethenny, hanging with her shirtless gay pals on Fire Island

“You may look at me and say, ‘Oh yeah, she’s pretty, she has a good body,’ but guess what? My business head? Ten times better than my beauty.”
– Ramona Singer, on her business acumen

“My gay-dar does not go off on Simon at all.”
“But I would kill for his shoes!”
– Alex McCord’s gay friends, on her husband Simon VanKempen

(more…)