JANUARY 2013 – CUSTODY BATTLE BEGINS

Both Frankel and Hoppy were seeking primary custody of their daughter Bryn when the first paperwork was filed.

MAY 2014 – CUSTODY BATTLE GETS UGLY

An attorney for Frankel accused Hoppy of hacking into her personal email and ‘sought to obsessively control her every move through their daughter,’ according to a report from

Frankel hired lawyer Allan Mayefsky, who repped Katie Holmes in her split from Tom Cruise.

Mayefsky claimed the Bravo star’s husband went ‘to war’ once their union crumbled in 2012. ‘He threatened to destroy her,’ Frankel’s attorney said.

‘He had her followed and spied on along with their daughter. He hacked into her most private personal email.’

?’?He has consciously placed his desire for revenge ? over the best interests of this family and particularly the child,’ Mayefsky concluded.? ?’He has sought to obsessively control their every move through their daughte?r.’

Mayefsky said his client is a ‘very, very involved mother’ whose success will benefit the child.

While Bethenny was insisting on primary custody and sole decision-making authority for Bryn, Jason ?was asking for shared custody.

While under attack, Jason showed no emotion. His attorney Bernard Clair, who has also repped Simon Cowell’s baby mother Lauren Silverman, also accused the Skinnygirl businesswoman of wanting to get even,

Sad: Hoppy and Frankel (seen in May 2012) began their custody battle over daughter Bryn in January 2013 and it did not take long for it to get ugly

JUNE 2014 – CUSTODY AGREEMENT REACHED

The two finally agreed to share parenting duties to their daughter Bryn, who was four-years-old at the time, as Frankel said she was ‘thrilled.’

 A source close to the reality TV star has revealed to People just how happy she is that the long-running saga is finally over.

‘Bethenny never wanted to take it this far, never wanted this to be dragged out in court,’ the source tells the publication. ‘She’s thrilled this has settled.’

In a statement released by her ex’s attorney, Bernard Clair, at the time he also confirmed his client’s ‘delight’ that their legal dispute has been settled.

‘My client is delighted that this custody dispute has been resolved; that his co-parenting status has been acknowledged; that the parties’ child will have the benefit of being raised by both parents; and most importantly, that his daughter will no longer be at the mercy of a high profile courtroom battle,’ Clair stated.

He added on behalf of his client: ‘Jason wishes Bethenny only the best of luck, and he looks forward to sharing with her all of the joyous occasions, milestones and blessings that will be coming up in his daughter’s future.’ 

Clair also said that the specific terms of the settlement were confidential.

JULY 2016 – DIVORCE FINALIZED? 

It was reported that Frankel and Hoppy had finalized their divorce but details of the settlement were not disclosed.

Hoppy’s attorney Bernard Clair confirmed at the time the two had agreed on their settlement. 

‘Jason is thrilled that this chapter of his life is over; he is extremely pleased with the settlement that was reached,’ Clair said in a statement. 

‘Jason looks forward to the future and enjoying that time privately with family, friends and most important to him, his daughter.’ 

The two had haggled bitterly over her assets with frequent trips to court over how much he should be paid out.

Frankel has made an enormous sum not just from her reality show The Real Housewives Of New York City, but also from her Skinnygirl brand that sells vodka and candy, among other business ventures.

JANUARY 2017 – HOPPY IS ARRESTED FOR ‘STALKING’

Hoppy was arrested at his Manhattan apartment just four hours after Frankel claimed that her ex-husband rushed at her and new boyfriend at the time, Dennis Shields, after they had dropped off Hoppy and Frankel’s daughter Bryn at school and began to scream at the pair.

 There’s nothing you can do to stop me. You’ll be sorry. You’ve been warned. I can’t help it,’ Hoppy told Frankel according to her complaint.

He then told Shields that the Real Housewives of New York star was ‘pure evil’ before adding: ‘You’ve been warned. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

Prior to that, Hoppy had sent over 150 emails in less than three months to Frankel, this after he called her complaints that he was harassing her comical and told her: ‘I’ll never go away.’

He was charged with harassment in the second degree and stalking in the fourth degree an NYPD spokesperson told DailyMail.com for contacting the ‘female victim numerous times via email and facetime’ as well as approaching her and ‘making verbal threats.’

Frankel was also granted a six-month restraining order the following day which prohibited Hoppy from speaking with her or an unnamed third party involved in the incident, who is likely Shields.

Hoppy’s attorney Robert C. Gottlieb responded to the charges against his client by telling DailyMail.com: ‘We look forward to having all the evidence and the truth exposed in a courtroom.’

In a statement to DailyMail.com at the time, Frankel’s lawyer Barry Zone of Moses & Singer said that the charges against Hoppy come after his client endured a great deal of ‘abuse’ from her ex.

‘Ms. Frankel’s decision to report Mr. Hoppy’s abusive behavior followed years of systematic bullying, harassment, stalking and torment on an almost daily basis,’ said Zone.

‘Indeed, Mr. Hoppy has sent hundreds of escalating texts and emails to Ms. Frankel, her assistants and her boyfriend, demanding that she meet with Mr. Hoppy unnecessarily, ??????? stating that ‘I’ll never go away’ and that ‘[y]ou left me no choice but to go to extremes’, claiming that her ‘definition of harassment is comical’ and that he will ‘continue to communicate with [her] as [he] see[s] fit’, requesting copies of her life insurance policy, and telling her that ‘I’ll pray for you.’

MARCH 2018 – FRANKEL REQUESTS NEW CUSTODY AGREEMENT

Frankel sued Hoppy for full custody of then seven-year-old daughter Bryn nearly a year after his arrest.

AUGUST 2018 – HOPPY QUESTIONS FRANKEL’S ‘PARENTAL JUDGEMENT’ AFTER BOYFRIEND DENNIS SHIELDS DIED OF DRUG OVERDOSE

The custody case got even uglier when Hoppy questioned Frankel’s ability to parent after the death of her on-off boyfriend who died the previous week from a suspected opioid overdose.

He invoked Dennis Shields’, the star’s recently deceased boyfriend, in his case to win joint custody of their daughter Bryn.

He argued that Frankel sometimes left Bryn in Shields’ care which he described as a questionable decision.

As Frankel fought back tears, Hoppy’s lawyers went on to suggest that she herself may have an alcohol problem by pointing to footage of her on the Real Housewives of New York City where she is inebriated.

‘Dennis Shields spent a great deal of time with Bryn and even cared for Bryn at times when Ms. Frankel wasn’t around.

‘Considering Mr. Shields’ addiction what does that say about Ms. Frankel’s parenting that she would allow this person to care for her daughter?

‘This doesn’t just constitute a lapse in judgment this was just downright dangerous parenting,’ Hoppy’s attorney Robert Wallack told the court, according to which attended the hearing.

Wallack went on to make reference to a recent episode of the Bravo show in which Frankel appears as proof of her apparently ‘dangerous’ parenting.

‘There was a recent episode in which she appeared to be intoxicated.

‘She was running around without clothes on and then she passed out and it was said she passed out from mixing Ambien with alcohol.

 ‘Our concerns are whether Ms. Frankel may have some type of substance abuse problems so we would ask the court to order drug testing of Ms. Frankel to find out whether that’s an issue,’ he said.

MARCH 6, 2019 – FRANKEL CRIES ON WITNESS STAND AS FULL CUSTODY BATTLE BEGINS

Frankel sobbed on the witness stand as she described how her ex-husband Jason Hoppy tormented her for six-and-a-half years after she asked for a divorce and the custody battle for their daughter began.

In the third day of their bitter custody hearing at Manhattan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, a weepy Frankel described in detail how Hoppy tried to turn their eight-year-old daughter Bryn against her, turned her life into a ‘torture chamber’, and even left mess in the toilets of their Tribeca apartment for her to find.

Among the more disturbing anecdotes Frankel gave was one in which she described Hoppy drawing a picture of her beloved dog Cookie and leaving it in Bryn’s lunchbox for her to find just a day after the pup died. It was signed ‘Dad’

The court also heard recordings of phone calls between Hoppy and Bryn in which he told his daughter that Frankel wouldn’t let him speak to her.