Bethenny Frankel, for one, says she was not surprised when she found out aboutErikaandTom Girardi’s legal troubles.
During Thursday’s episode of herJust BiHeartRadio podcast, the formerReal Housewives of New York Citystar, 50, brought up the estranged couple while discussing stars who have been “canceled” or “demoted” over the years.
Frankel — who asserted that Erika, 50, has been “semi-demoted” due to the scandal — said she hasn’t been watching the drama unfold on theReal Housewives of Beverly Hillsthis season, but claimed she has a “specific perspective” on Erika and Tom’s situation due to her ex-fiancéDennis Shields. Shields, whodiedin 2018 at age 51, knew Tom, 82, because they both worked in the legal space.
After learning years ago that Erika was “spending a crazy amount of money” — including$40,000 a month on glam— Frankel, who felt that lifestyle would be “hard to sustain,” brought it up with Shields.
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“Dennis said to me, ‘He doesn’t have it like that. He owes me money. He owes me half a million dollars. I know this other guy he owes a million and a half dollars. He doesn’t have money. He owes everybody money,'” Frankel claimed. “And I go, ‘What are you talking about? How is she flying around on [private planes]?’ And he said, ‘It’s because he’s using people’s money to support her lifestyle. He’s using the company’s money to support her lifestyle.’ Dennis said this. And I said, ‘What are you talking about?'”
“And Dennis was like, ‘Yeah, no, he owes me money and it aggravates everybody,'” she continued. “I said, ‘Why would he do that?’ He goes, ‘He can’t say no to her.'”
Frankel said Tom’s financial issues were a “widely known best-kept secret” in the legal industry. She then recalled a conversation Shields had with an unnamed “billionaire lawyer” about the matter.
“That’s just what happens. Things take a long time to come out — but everybody in that industry knew about it. All these major lawyers that I’m talking about around the country that are in this industry, they all knew about it,” she continued. “And I told [Erika’s makeup artist] Kristofer Buckle about it. I toldAndy Cohenabout it, just to say, ‘It’s not what you think.'”
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Frankel also said she told Erika’sRHOBHcostarsLisa RinnaandKyle Richardsthat the Girardis “don’t got it like that.”
“So when this came out … Andy [Cohen] called me. He goes, ‘Holy s—. You really do know it all. You told me about this years ago,'” she said. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I told you. You know, #IKnowItAll. So I knew about this whole thing. I knew since, yeah, probably 2017 and 2018, I knew about this.”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images; Steve Eichner
Frankel, who said she doesn’t know Erika “well,” went on to criticize stars within theHousewivesfranchise flaunting their wealth.
“For some people, it works out. The money that you’re making catches up with the way that you’re spending. But for others, it doesn’t and that’s a dangerous game. If people are flaunting and showing a lot of what they have, very often it’s all show and no go,” she said. “And people are just so tempted. They must, they must show a lifestyle. And you cannot create a life out of a lifestyle. You can create a lifestyle out of a life but you can’t lifestyle your way into a life. And I think that people just get so tempted to show everything and say everything instead of just keeping quiet. And that’s so much stronger.”
Erika has also been accused of conspiring with Tom and using her “notoriety” tohide assetsas a bankruptcy trustee continues to investigate Tom and his firm.
Earlier this year, the drama wasexplored in a Hulu documentarytitledThe Housewife and the Hustler.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hillsairs Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
source: people.com
