Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy’s ‘level of conflict’ made their therapist quit

Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy’s relationship was so toxic, it even drove an experienced psychotherapist nuts.
Testifying at the ongoing and contentious child custody hearing between the “Real Housewives of New York City” star and her ex, Dr. Rami Mosseri said he was hired to help the quarreling 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 — which he’s only done twice in his career, he told a Manhattan judge Tuesday.
“I was able to get through to the mother to some degree,” Mosseri testified in Manhattan Supreme Court as Frankel and Hoppy’s heated 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.”
Hoppy repeatedly complained to Mosseri about Frankel, the longtime “RHONY” star and “Skinny Girl” founder, who had filed for divorce in January 2013.
The estranged couple had been living together and trying to amicably co-parent Bryn.
But Mosseri said the acrimonious exes were too much to handle — and that he was forced to quit, which he’s done only twice before.
“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.
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.
Frankel, who showed up to court in a chic black-and-white ensemble and white studded pumps, is duking it out with her ex-husband for more time with Bryn and sole decision-making power. They currently have joint custody over the now 8-year-old girl.
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 from a possible OxyContin overdose.
Wallack asked Frankel at least a dozen questions about Shields’ 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 Tuesday — 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.
The hearing is set to resume May 13.
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