Bethenny Frankel says a stranger randomly hit her in NYC
Bethenny Frankel says she was hit by a random stranger in New York City.
The former “Real Housewives of New York City” star, 53, described the alleged assault, which she said took place when a "homeless man" struck her while she was apartment hunting in the city, in a TikTok video on March 28.
“I was in New York City looking for an apartment and I stopped at this cute little deli-bakery tiny place,” Frankel explained. “I walked in and I was shooting the baked goods and as I turned around — I mean, the place was the size of a bathroom — I turned around to walk out the door, and this guy punched me."
"Hit me is more (accurate). It wasn’t like a closed fist,” she clarified.
The “completely stunned” former Bravo star then let her driver, who is also a security guard, know about the alleged assault.
“I looked at him and like, you know, gestured over to this man, this homeless man, to explain to him that I had just been hit,” she recalled.
Frankel’s driver “started confronting the guy,” but Frankel wanted “get the hell out of there” rather than further “provoke” the man.
“At that point, I texted the broker and said, ‘I don’t want to see apartments anymore. This city is insane," she said.
The Skinnygirl founder's video comes on the heels of a number of other women sharing personal stories on social media about being punched in the face by strangers in New York City.
A day prior to posting her video, Frankel reportedly left a comment about her alleged assault on a TikTok made by a Parsons School of Design fashion design student who shared her own story of being hit in the face while walking home from class, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Frankel mentioned commenting on the Parsons student's TikTok video at the top of her own March 28 clip.
“I saw a woman talking about the fact that she had been punched in the face on the street. And I commented, ‘Oh, my God, the same thing happened to me,’” she began. “I actually recorded my reaction to it that day, but felt embarrassed or weird to post it.”
Frankel concluded her video, “So it’s a crazy crime spree and I don’t understand it. And I’m sorry for all the other women that it’s happening to."
"To say that's alarming — it's to be cold-cocked, like in the street. It was wild," she said. "And I hope it’s more of like a weird trend than an actual reflection of crime because it did scare me about New York City.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com