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The Liz Smith Column | 05/26/2009 11:00 pm

A 'Real Housewife' Tells All to Liz Smith

Kelly Bensimon on boyfriends, books, jewelry and her ‘bad girl’ TV image. (She’s really not ‘bad’ at all!)
Kelly Killoren Bensimon © Getty Images
“You have put me here a cub, but I will come out roaring like a lion, and I will make hell howl!” That was the tempestuous temperance crusader, Carrie Nation, unbowed by her stint in the slammer.

***

Kelly Killoren Bensimon, the good-looking New York model, actress, author and jewelry designer (there’s no such thing as a simple triple threat anymore), has become one of the most-talked-about celebrities in Manhattan. She is a controversial star of the Bravo reality program, “The Real Housewives of New York City,” and has been mentioned in various guises on Google with more than 440,000 entrees. 

She has a domestic-violence incident in her recent past and is waiting for a verdict in the matter of sentencing. But having known this charmer since she grew up, and even before she wed Elle’s onetime head Gilles Bensimon and had two divine little girls with him, I am inclined to take Kelly’s “side” in the matter of slapping a boyfriend she describes as “obsessive.” He had her arrested. I call that downright unfriendly. Kelly cites the ill-fated “Dorothy Stratton Story” as an example of the kind of involvement that leaves the female of the species unable to get the obsessive one to leave their house and stop harassing.

Kelly and I sat down in my apartment building in the celebrated El Rio Grande restaurant for a chat and by two o’clock PM the same afternoon, with nobody on our side calling in, we turned up on Gawker.com as lunching and “having a business meeting.” There wasn’t much business to it; just two longtime girlfriends chatting.

I asked Kelly about her much-talked-about appearances in the Bravo series. She laughed: “Can you believe I’m the ‘bad girl’ on this show? They have tried to make me into the Angelina Jolie of the reality world. I consider myself so normal. What I’d really like is to find a real man to live with because I want to have another baby. (Kelly and Gilles are divorced but live in the same Manhattan apartment building for the welfare of their daughters.) 

“Gilles and I get along fine and I will always love him as the father of my children. But in the past I felt very insecure as I was raising the girls myself and I felt I was living in a bubble. Now I am ready to reinvent myself and have a real career.”

A real career? Kelly has already written three books and soon she’ll be going to California to launch her “Pocahontas” pave jewelry line at Kitson, a very trendy launch for the glamorous bracelets, earrings and necklaces created by Kelly. “I’ll also be in the Hamptons Classic this summer where I’ll be spending lots of time with my children.”

Kelly goes on to say, “I am an aspirational kind of girl. The “Housewives” show was an opportunity for me. In only three months, however, I became a household name, a favorite of Page Six and all the tabloid magazines. They see me as a bitchy socialite, a bad girl from the Country Club set. But the hardest thing in life is to be true to oneself. And I have a great family backing me up – an older sister, a twin brother and my parents in Illinois.”

29 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Mommy Dearest
Dahlings, how many "real" housewives are trailed by camera crews, Mommy wonders?
By Mommy Dearest on 05/27/2009 7:21 pm
beth willis

How much really is real?  I don’t happen to watch these show, but not because I disapprove of them.  Quite the countrary as these shows have created two more groups that attract those who do not approve of the reality show, someting about the decline of Rome.  But the true judges who loathe those people who watch the reality shows are those ,cultured mavens who almost drown themselves when they turn up their noses on a rainy day in New York, totally disgusted with CHOOSING to look in on  kelly and crew in her show.

I read the ‘National Enquirer’ weekly, never taking any guilt for reading a taboid.  And have for years.  If you want to watch, watch.  If you don’t want to watch, don’t, but don’t tell other people anything is below you and  that we are bringing about the decline of the socity. That’s why we elect public officials.  Certain ones of them will just naturally go where no man has gone before. We will not lack for reality scenarios in the coming reponses to administration actions.

Peace and grace

By beth willis on 05/27/2009 10:34 pm
darcus grey
That reminds me, I need to renew my subscription.
By darcus grey on 05/28/2009 1:50 am
Tee Zee

Kelly out of all the housewives is the most removed from reality…her statements about how she’s different because she drives a truck and jogs in the street say as much about her as her condesending behavior. She has more insecurity than brains to be drooling over "pretty boys" like Max. 

By Tee Zee on 05/27/2009 10:39 pm
darcus grey

I hope Kelly Bensimon is given the opportunity to return to RHoNYC so she can at least try to salvage what’s left of her unfortunate new image as a result of the show. I was sure that she simply had a problem expressing herself verbally until I started reading her old columns and realized that her thinking is kind of off the tracks.

She seems to be an example of what can happen when a person coasts through life based on physical appearance alone. She had a longer than usual ride that surely would’ve continued in its cocooned state had she not decided that (as she said) being known just in New York was no longer enough. Hence, she joined the Real Housewives franchise — without ever having watched a single show.

I find her peculiarly fascinating and hope she survives this tumble. 

By darcus grey on 05/28/2009 1:31 am
Ellen Apgar
I was stunned to learn that this vapid, snobbish social climber is a friend of Liz Smith.  Here is a woman with a truly ugly and mean personality.  Her behavior on RHNYC was jaw-dropping.  Aside from a very attractive face, I couldn’t think of another redeeming quality.
By Ellen Apgar on 05/28/2009 1:56 pm
Lauri Anderson
You think so?  I never really saw her as either ugly or mean spirited, just perhaps living in Kellyworld, where other people and their issues just bounce off her.  Narcissistic maybe?
By Lauri Anderson on 05/30/2009 1:25 am
Orchid
Liz, you’re a real good friend trying to help Kelly redeem herself.  With you as her mouthpiece, Kelly comes off somewhat likeable.  It’s when she tries to defend herself that she sounds like such an idiot. Kelly needs to learn to speak.  Alex McCord had it right, on the Reunion show she said Kelly is inarticulate.    She can’t go one round with out sounding like a space cadet.   "Stop, stop, Bethenny stop……." Does she really think the show is portraying her as the "bad girl’, that would be a compliment, she actually comes off looking like the stupid girl.  Kelly, it’s time to take off the rose colored glasses.  Yes, RHoNY is my guilty pleasure and comedy relief.
By Orchid on 05/28/2009 5:01 pm
Lynette Schweigert
Kelly Who??? Since when… has lacking dimension, personality and humility become star worthy….pleeez…actress, author, jewelry designer..for a 6th grader ..maybe!
By Lynette Schweigert on 05/29/2009 1:38 pm
under stimulated
she seems like a total twit to me—(i know, i’m a twit too—for even watching the show) she wasn’t coherent in her confrontation w/ bethany—she should figure out what she’s fighting about before picking another fight. what a big goof-ball
By under stimulated on 05/31/2009 1:34 pm
Terri D

I understand reality showa are edited to death but some of the things Kelly did weren’t the fault of bad editing. She blows in late for a charity meeting announcing she is sooo busy, doesn’t apologize for being late, then states "I never lend my name to things because there are too many of them". What??? Then don’t come. A person doesn’t have to be a part of the upper-crust to know that it’s only polite to apologize for rudeness,aka lateness. And the "I’m up here, you’re down here" explanation she fumbled & stammered through was ridiculous. She needs to own the fact that she truly believes she is above the others. I’d take Bethany any day over Kelly. She states her opinion, may make someone angry, makes up & they move on. Kelly, please take an etiquette class over the summer instead of strutting around to get your picture in "Page Six". You never seem to mind posing for the photo but gee, you seemed so irritated when they publish the pic. Pick a side~~you can’t stay on the fence all day without coming off as a ditz. BTW-just to reiterate- Team Bethany!

By Terri D on 06/01/2009 10:05 am
Jane F
Yep, Betheny rocks — Kelly is a self-obsessed kook.
By Jane F on 06/01/2009 5:29 pm
felix katz
As a university professor and a therapist in private practice I use this show to demonstrate to my students the various personality disorders in the DSM IV.  My students overwhelming react with very mixed feelings. First is the hilarity that comes from watching what they perceive to be very funny and ridiculous women. Then comes the sadness from the acknowledgement that these women take themselves seriously and can’t see themselves as shrill harpies with major untreated personality disorders. In the end the result is one of sadness at the lack of insight that these women possess. Just sheer sadness.
By felix katz on 06/01/2009 9:02 pm