Bethenny Frankel and Tinsley Mortimer will not be returning to The Real Housewives Of New York City, OK! can exclusively confirm.
Despite speculation surrounding their possible presence on the beloved reality series, a Bravo rep told OK!: "These are all rumors and there is no truth to this."
Bravo shut down the rumors after it was reported that the network is considering a permanent hiatus for RHONYafter the 13th season due to the show's all-time low ratings.
According to speculation, NBC was trying to save the show by completely shaking up the cast, with them allegedly eyeing Frankel and Mortimer as the perfect stars to get the job done. Bravo is “working overtime to secure a Bethenny Frankel” return, an insider previously spilled to gossip Instagram handle Deuxmoi.
After the brunette beauty originally left the show following the first three seasons, she parted ways with it for a second time in August 2019.
The 50-year-old revealed earlier this year that Bravo offered her “a number I couldn’t refuse” to come back for season 7. While talking to Paris Hilton on her podcast, Frankel explained she returned on her own terms, noting she was allowed to work on other projects while filming.
Despite her brief return, Frankel decided to part ways with the franchise once again because the show became something she didn't want to be part of: “I didn’t want to be having those conversations; I didn’t want to be arguing about things that really didn’t matter to me."
As for Mortimer, she said goodbye to the show in 2019 to be with her then-fiancé Scott Kluth. The two have since called in quits.
Meanwhile, Frankel wasn't the only one fed up with the conversations on the show. Fellow reality star Ramona Singer reportedly refused to take part in the upcoming reunion special because she was "sick of all the race talk."
After rumors circulated that Singer, 64, may be getting the axe from the series, she didn't want to be part of filming for the reunion because she knew she was "going to be destroyed" and wasn't "willing to go through with it if she’s already out." The highly-anticipated reunion has been postponed twice now — the August 5th date was canceled followed by the September taping, OK! learned.
Singer's hesitancy to tape the reunion stemmed from her conversation with the series' first Black star, Eboni K. Williams, during which Singer said she doesn't understand how Williams can talk about “suffering" given the "great life" she has.
And while the show may not be seeing the return of Frankel and Mortimer, an insider pointed out that a change of direction is needed in order for the show to survive.
"A bunch of older white women behaving badly was fun a decade ago but not today,” the TV source candidly said of the show that premiered over a decade ago. “The world has changed and if the show wants to survive another decade, it must change too and that starts with the cast."
