'Real Housewives' Bethenny Frankel: Childbirth is 'less painful' than Kelly, Jill is no longer in her life

Motherhood hasn't softened Bethenny Frankel when it comes to her fellow "Real Housewives of New York City."

In fact, the newlywed and mom of nearly a month admits she prefers the rigors of childbirth to the traumatic trip to St. John's in which Kelly Bensimon alienated the other vacationing housewives with her erratic behavior.

"By far St. [John's was worse] and I'm not just saying it for effect," Frankel tells the press on a call Thursday (June 3) to promote her new show "Bethenny Getting Married?" "The C-section was less painful to me than Kelly. It was horrendous. Horrendous."

During that trip, Frankel, along with Alex McCord, Ramona Singer and Sonja Morgan decided that Bensimon had a nervous breakdown and that trying to reason with her was fruitless since she wasn't in her right mind. Bensimon, on the other hand, saw the situation differently and even filmed an anti-bullying PSA, a reaction that's not really that surprising considering her past unpredictability.

"Kelly has this whole nonsense bullying angle she's working right now, which is idiotic because she's a 41-year-old woman," says Frankel. "So anything she says you can't really even listen to because she's out of her mind and certifiable."

She does admit that others, such as "Real Housewives of New Jersey's" Dina Manzo, could find her brand of speaking a little intimidating.

"Dina is Italian and her sister is a tough girl, but Dina is just a really sweet nice Jersey girl," she explains. "So I could see her thinking I'm a little bit scary. I grew up at the racetrack. I'm a little street. I'm definitely a little rough around the edges and a scrapper. So I get it."

As for Frankel's former "Real Housewives" BFF Jill Zarin, it's clear that rumors of a reconciliation are unfounded.

"Jill is not in my show because Jill is not in my life," she says, pointing out that McCord and Singer are on her show and have visited newborn baby girl Bryn. "It's only to the extent that it's real. Ramona was in Africa when I had the baby, but Alex came to the hospital because she was in town. There's nothing orchestrated, there's no drama, there's no fighting with those two.

"Of course I saw [Jill] at the reunion. She's reached out a couple times in the last couple of months," adds Frankel. "There have been a lot of changes on the show. The show kind of showed everythihg. She's not in my life anymore, and this is the time I really want people that are good for me and good for my family. I want clean energy and everything to be happy and I want Bryn for her life to be perfect for as long as it possibly can be."

Zarin also famously -- and inaccurately -- congratulated the new mom on Facebook for giving birth to a boy. Oops.

"My honest reaction was she can't get out of her own way and it wasn't like she had to pick the winner of the Kentucky Derby," says Frankel with her signature sarcasm. "All she had to do was do the 50-50 [thing] and she still didn't get it right."

Controversy makes for good television though, so why weren't the other housewives approached for their own spinoffs -- say, with Bensimon seeking therapy or Zarin finding a new hobby?

"Kelly and therapy involves a shrink and a padded room. So that might not be interesting for a whole hour," observes Frankel. "And Jill getting a hobby would probably take a little long by the time that production would get up."

"Bethenny Getting Married?" premieres on Thursday, June 10 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.

Check out what Frankel also had to say about returning to "Real Housewives" next season.

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Photo credits: Bravo