Anger tore their friendship apart onThe Real Housewives of New York City,but it was tragedy that finally brought former bestiesBethenny FrankelandJill Zarinback together.
It was the first time Frankel, 47, and Jill, 54, had come face-to-face since their epic falling out on the third season ofRHONY,which aired in 2010. “There’s a lot going on in my life right now and I just don’t feel like now is the time to take on a huge emotional conversation,” Frankel told Jill at the time during that season’s reunion, explaining why she didn’t want to try to repair their relationship. “Maybe we’ll have lunch some day.”
That day, it turns out, came eight years later. But it wouldn’t be a lunch — it would be a funeral.
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“I’m alone now. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. What am I going to do? I haven’t been alone since I was 20 years old,” Jill lamented to Frankel as they met outside after the funeral. “You know I’ve been crying for a year. And the last six months and the last month, all I did was cry in the hospital. He was gone. He was gone.”
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Frankel tried to comfort Jill. “We’re all alone. I’m alone too. But you have good friends,” she said, adding that she couldn’t leave and was struggling seeing Jill alone. “What are you going to do now? I know, I’m sorry. It didn’t hit me until yesterday. He’s not here. He’s supposed to be next to you.”
HOUSEWIVES HISTORY: The History of Jill Zarin andBethenny Frankel’s Feud
Though their chat ended soon thereafter, Frankel would return to see Jill days later at her home in Manhattan, where the Zarin Fabrics matriarch was sitting shiva.
With her, Frankel brought a special guest: daughter Bryn Hoppy, 8.
It was the first time Jill had ever met Bryn.
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That’s not all Jill apparently said. According to Frankel, Jill also used their time together to apologize for their falling out.
“She said, ‘I was wrong.’ And I swear, she seemed different,” Frankel recalled. “She seemed humble. She said, ‘I did the wrong things, I didn’t know what I was doing, I had the wrong priorities, I’m not the same person.’ I believed her. I really did. I could be crazy. I believed her. … It was just us. There were no other girls, it wasn’t an ordeal, and we had a nice conversation. She was calm and real.”
While Frankel seemed ready to move on, she was remaining cautious. “Let me just keep this where it is right now,” she told audiences. “I was burned. If she reaches out, I reach out back. I’m happy we had closure, I’m happy I came to the funeral, but I just want to keep it where it is.”
Since then, both have stayed on good terms.Jill told PEOPLE in May that she and Frankel are still texting.Frankel was vocal that same month about her time with Jill, saying onWatch What Happens Live with Andy Cohenthat their friendship was “nice.”
The Real Housewives of New York Cityairs Wednesdays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
source: people.com
