“The Real Housewives of New York City” cast member Jill Zarin opened up about her current relationship with her former best friend, Bethenny Frankel, during an appearance on Vicki Gunvalson‘s podcast, “Whoop It Up with Vicki,” last week.
Over two years after Jill and Bethenny were seen reconciling at the funeral of Jill’s late husband, Bobby Zarin, Jill admitted to the “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member that she and Bethenny aren’t exactly close friends at this point in time.
“We’re on no terms. Not good, not bad,” Jill explained, according to a report shared by Reality Blurb on June 4.
After hearing what Jill revealed of her status with Bethenny, Vicki revealed that she heard from the Skinnygirl mogul in January after she announced she would not be returning to “The Real Housewives of Orange County” and said she felt comforted by their exchange.
“She reached out to me privately and she just said, ‘You’ll be okay.’ I was happy that … because she’s removed from it. She’s unemotional,” Vicki explained.
According to Vicki, she would have never quit her role on “The Real Housewives of Orange County” if she hadn’t been demoted to a part-time position ahead of the series’ 14th season last year.
“I would never have left, probably. I probably would have never. It was gonna take them firing me to be done. It was part of my life — 15 years. I was 42 years old when I started,” she explained.
Vicki was one of five original cast members.
Following Vicki’s revelation, Jill offered her some advice about walking away from the “Real Housewives” franchise.
“This is the thing I can tell you, being in your shoes many years ago … you are the original,” Jill said. “You will always get respected as the original. Nobody can out top an original — you’re the OG.”
Not only was Vicki an original cast member of “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” she was also the longest-running “housewife” of the “Real Housewives” franchise.
While Vicki has feared people will forget her following her exit, Jill doesn’t believe any such thing will happen.
“You may not be making the money you were making and that sucks, but you have a career that [was helped] by the show. And you continue to do it. You have a podcast and that can be huge and [can] lead to other things,” she stated.
Don’t miss new episodes of the 12th season of “The Real Housewives of New York City” on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo.