Bethenny Frankel tragically lost her boyfriend Dennis Shields to an alleged drug overdose in August of this year — but she hasn’t forgotten his support.
In a Twitter message shared on October 4, after debuting her Skinnygirl Jean collection on HSN, the Real Housewives of New York City cast member said that she knows Shields would be extremely proud to see that the collection sold out on its first day.
“I really hope they have @HSN in heaven because Dennis is watching & he would be so proud. #sellout,” she wrote.
Frankel first released her jean line weeks ago, shortly after the tragic death of her boyfriend. At the time, she was seen celebrating her career milestone with her Real Housewives of New York City co-stars, Luann de Lesseps and Sonja Morgan, as well as rumored new addition Barbara Kavovit.
Frankel and Shields began dating one another in 2016, after he separated from wife Jill earlier that year. However, despite their years-long romance, he and Jill never actually divorced. So, when he suddenly passed, the couple was still married.
Although Shields never divorced Jill, he and Frankel reportedly became engaged prior to his untimely passing, though they never announced any such thing publicly. Instead, they appeared to be involved in an on-and-off relationship in the months leading up to his supposed overdose — as was seen on episodes of The Real Housewives of New York City .
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn_s3uYHY5q/?taken-by=bethennyfrankel
Bethenny Frankel remained fairly silent on social media after Dennis Shields’ death, and understandably so, but now — months later — she seems to have resumed her normal activity online.
During an interview with People magazine in September, Frankel opened up about how she’s been coping with Shields’ passing.
“It’s like [hurricane] Florence, it’s a storm and you must go through it,” she said of the death. “It’s not one of these things you can avoid and you have to go through it and deal with it and hopefully, you come out stronger on the other side.”
Frankel elaborated further, pointing out that she had a wonderful support network in place that helped her to weather the emotional storm.
“I have a lot of really, really close friends that came and stayed with me. I’m really always one who likes to be alone, but I haven’t really loved to be alone [right now]… I’ve had a lot of my really strong support team with me… This summer Luann and Sonja came over and they both said to me separately, ‘He was really your rock.’ So I think they were a little worried about me because he really was and is [my rock].”
The Real Housewives of New York City Season 11 will air sometime next year on Bravo TV.
