New Details About Bethenny Frankel/Jason Hoppy's Custody Battle
Bethenny Frankel and ex-husband Jason Hoppy are in court battling for custody.
Instagram Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy are back in court arguing for custody of their daughter this week. The pair divorced in 2017, after a lengthy process, and decided on joint custody at that time.
Since their split, Frankel has become increasingly distressed over how she claims Hoppy treats 8-year-old Brynn. Her agitation is only increased by Hoppy’s past behavior which includes an arrest for stalking his ex-wife.
Why is Bethenny taking Hoppy back to court now? Read on for all the details about Bethenny Frankel/Jason Hoppy.
1. Marriage
Frankel and Hoppy married in 2010, and their daughter Brynn was born the same year.
The early days of their marriage played out on her reality show Bethenny Ever After, a spin off the The Real Housewives of New York City. By 2012, the marriage had soured and they filed for divorce. From the beginning, their separation was complicated.
2. Divorce
For a period of time after they announced that they were splitting up, Frankel and Hoppy tried to remain in the same apartment so they could care for Brynn together. But Frankel would describe it as a tense and uncomfortable situation, telling the court that Hoppy would “stare at me with a menacing face” while trying to bath the toddler and he would follow them around the apartment, never allowing Frankel to be alone with the child.
Frankel eventually moved into a different remarry apartment and limited her contact with Hoppy. She told the court at the time. “Now I ask [my assistant] Leslie to do the exchange because Jason will make faces at me and say [to Bryn], ‘I’m sorry you have to go with Mommy.’ I don’t think it’s good for Bryn to be around that kind of stress and anxiety.”
3. Co-parenting
Once the divorce was final, the couple were optimistic about their ability to move forward and successfully co-parent their daughter.
When they had first announced their split, Frankel had told fans “We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority.”
The divorce gave each parent joint custody and they hoped to be able to move forward with all the courtroom drama behind them.
4. Stalking
By 2017, it was becoming clear that Hoppy was not going to be able to move past his hard feelings for his ex-wife.
After he showed up at Brynn’s school and allegedly threatened Frankel to her face, he went on to sent her hundreds of abusive email messages. The Real Housewives star was so alarmed that she had her ex arrested for stalking.
Eventually, she agreed to dismiss the charges against him but the judge put strict conditions on Hoppy’s conduct for the six months following the incident. He issues a full stay-away order, meaning Hoppy could not contact Frankel in person, by phone, by email, or through a third party.
5. Custody
Now Frankel has taken Hoppy back to court to gan primary custody of Brynn allegedly because of Hoppy’s past abusive behaviors. In the trial, Frankel’s lawyers asked Hoppy about texts he sent to Brynn saying things like “Daddy called you last night, but mommy wouldn’t let me talk to you.”
Lawyers also accused Hoppy of sending messages to Frankel’s late boyfriend Dennis Shields saying derogatory things about Frankel. Hoppy admitted to that and apologized on the stand.
When Frankel took the stand, Hoppy’s lawyers had their own set of nasty texts as evidence. Frankel once texted Hoppy saying “You’re an example of a dead beat man who needs a woman to support him.” Hoppy’s lawyers also alleged that, while Hoppy allows Brynn contact with her mother while she’s with him, Frankel doesn’t extend him eh same courtesy.
Hoppy testified, “When I would request to talk to Brynn, 90 percent of the time I couldn’t talk to her. 10 percent I wasn’t sure if Bryn was on the other line. Or Brynn would be distracted when I was talking to her, or Bethenny would be in the picture with whoever she was with.” Hoppy also objeted to an incident where Frankel's allowed a boyfriend to travel to the Hamptons alone with Brynn. Hoppy claimed that Brynn was too young to be alone with a man Hoppy doesn't know and the situation was inappropriate.
The course case around custody is ongoing and it’s unclear when the parents will have a final decision.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.