Bethenny Frankel has been getting close with a married man, sources exclusively tell Page Six — but friends of the “Real Housewife” insist they’re just pals and she’s enjoying the single life.
Sources said Frankel’s been spending time with Dennis Shields, executive chairman of the board of New York’s Esquire Bank, who’s also the hubby of an old high school pal of Bethenny’s.
“Bethenny has a new boyfriend,” one source claimed, adding, “She even just threw a birthday party for him.” Another source close to the Skinnygirl mogul told us, “Bethenny and Dennis have been friends for 27 years — and she did throw him a birthday party.”
But the second source added that Shields and his wife, Jill, are separated, and “Bethenny and Dennis’ soon-to-be-ex-wife have a long history.” The source said that although “he’s had feelings for Bethenny for a long time,” he and the “Housewife” are friends.
Frankel’s rep told us when reached for comment: “Bethenny is very much enjoying being single. Her focus is on her business and her daughter.”
Frankel, 45, has been going through her own divorce from Jason Hoppy since 2013. She said in an interview in January that the divorce “is sort of like a drop of poison in the ocean . . . Am I feeling it? No. But it’s there . . . It’s not that emotionally draining. It does come up at times. You have to really just be very Zen about it.” She’s also said she would not get legally married again, “not even with a billionaire.”
Frankel’s been rumored before to be dating celebrities from CNBC’s Marcus Lemonis to “Modern Family” star Eric Stonestreet and rich dudes Michael Cerussi and Michael Toppel.
Shields, who is also CEO of LawCash, didn’t return multiple calls for comment.
When we reached out to his wife and Bethenny’s former classmate, the person who answered told us, “She’s not interested and she’s not around!” and hung up.
According to a New York Times wedding announcement, Dennis and Jill married in 1990.