The Skinnygirl mogul was in tears as she was questioned by one of her attorneys, Ronnie Schindel, who presented a video of a past FaceTime call with Hoppy that she recorded nearly four years ago, reports PEOPLE.
On the May 9, 2015 call, Frankel asked to speak with 8-year-old Bryn, who was with Hoppy at the time, before he hung up the phone on her.
“I have a video I recorded. I was trying to FaceTime Bryn. And I experienced every day and every time I tried to do that, Jason using it as a tool to taunt and harass me. That day I recorded our correspondence — that weekend was Mother’s Day weekend, Bryn’s birthday and birthday party and celebration,” an emotional Frankel said about the video call.
“He sent me a series of abusive emails that day. He called me a wise ass, he mocked me, he said I needed to seek help and told me if I couldn’t control my behavior I shouldn’t come to her birthday party. Making me feel not welcome,” alleged Frankel, who went to the party later that day. “It was Jason’s party for her and Jason’s parents and friends surrounded her so I just stood back. … I’m the outsider.”
According to PEOPLE, Frankel's legal counsel then played the footage for the court. In the video, Frankel asked to “talk to Bryn for a minute,” and Hoppy said, “Keep recording me. Keep recording me. Okay, you lost your privilege for recording me,” before he hung up the call.
After the recording played, Frankel claimed that she would experience things like this “two times a day every day” until the order of protection was placed on Hoppy. “Jason would use FaceTimes to taunt me, laugh at me … harass me … torture and taunting every day.”
Also in May 2015, Frankel took a screenshot of a shirtless Hoppy FaceTiming with Bryn, which was presented in the court as evidence. Frankel testified this was “very typical,” and that “Jason would FaceTime Bryn and myself in what appeared to be no clothes on.”
Frankel told the judge that she has “tried everything” to have a positive relationship with Hoppy as they navigate raising their daughter apart.
“I have tried everything. I have tried a brave face, parent coordinating, pleading, ignoring, blocking, surrogates. I have tried everything to collaborate and work in the best interest of my daughter,” she said, according to the publication. “What is best for Bryn is the rational person making good decisions. Everybody just wants to protect their kids.”
She alleged that “Jason always finds a way to be destructive and not coordinating. If he can’t get through the door, he gets through the window. … He finds creative ways to torture me when no one is looking. He will always find a way to be menacing and try to hurt me and that is not the best interest of Bryn. He puts hurting me over making good decisions. He has made bad decisions since 2012 when he vowed to destroy my life.”
Additionally, Frankel also took responsibility for her misconduct prior to their 2014 custody hearing. She admitted in court that she told Hoppy “you’ll never see your daughter again,” called him “white trash,” and splashed water on him while he was sleeping, reports PEOPLE.
Frankel later explained to the court that she is “looking for more physical time and ultimate decision making” with Bryn.
“Decision making has been impossible and tedious and not cooperative or reasonable process,” Frankel said of Hoppy. “Jason makes decisions based on what will hurt me or how he will feel he has won.”
Meanwhile, Page Six reports that Frankel and Hopp's relationship was so toxic that it made their therapist quit. Dr. Rami Mosseri said he was hired to help the former couple to civilly co-parent their daughter Bryn amid their divorce.
But the expert parent coordinator, who’s been in business for 15 years only lasted a year before quitting, he told a Manhattan judge Tuesday, March 26.
“I was able to get through to the mother to some degree,” Mosseri testified in Manhattan Supreme Court as Frankel and Hoppy’s child custody battle entered its fifth day of hearings. “I didn’t feel at the time that I was able to get through to the father.”
Apparently, Hoppy repeatedly complained to Mosseri about Frankel. During their sessions with Mosseri, Frankel and Hoopy had been living together at that time and trying to amicably co-parent Bryn.
“Dear Bethenny and Jason, I’m afraid that in light of the level of conflict between the two of you, the lack of willingness to compromise … you will be better off with another [parent coordinator],” he wrote in a July 8, 2015 email, according to Page Six.
Mosseri rattled off Hoppy’s gripes about Frankel “that she uses her child, which she nicknamed Peanut, in the media. Everybody knew who Peanut was, that she tweets about her … that she one time wore her child’s pajamas in front of the newspapers and that was inappropriate.”
Mosseri testified that Hoppy wasn’t as willing to compromise as Frankel was — but that she was also “controlling.”
“I believe he had his own idea of what was in the best interest of his child and stuck to it,” said Mosseri.
Later in the day, Frankel resumed testimony and was grilled by Hoppy’s lawyer, Robert Wallack, about her dating history since the divorce, including questions about her on-again, off-again boyfriend Dennis Shields’ death.
Wallack asked Frankel at least a dozen questions about Shields’ alleged drug use and what she knew about his death.
“Did Dennis have an opioid addiction?” Wallack asked.
Frankel responded, “I don’t know.”
“You said that you tried to get answers. Did you ever ask anyone about an opioid issue with Dennis?” Wallack later pressed.
Frankel answered, “After that, maybe.”
Wallack also asked Frankel about the timeline of her current relationship with Paul Bernon — who was present in court again — which she said was put on pause in 2017 and picked up again just a month after Shields died.
“This was less than a month after Dennis died?” Wallack asked about Frankel dating Bernon again.
“Maybe a month after,” she said, reports Page Six.
The hearing is set to resume May 13.
Frankel is seeking primary custody and full decision-making power over Bryn, while Hoppy wants to maintain the current joint custody arrangement.
Photo Credit: Steven Hirsch
