Donald Trump's Former Lawyer Michael Cohen Once Exposed A Major RHONY Betrayal
Back in 2016, Bethenny Frankel dropped a bombshell on her fellow "Real Housewives of New York City" castmates, revealing that Tom D'Agostino had cheated on his then-fiance Luann de Lesseps just days before their engagement party. "The person said that he was so f— up that he wouldn't even remember," Frankel told Carole Radziwill and Ramona Singer at the time. "He and her partied like crazy" (per People).
For years, "RHONY" fans were convinced that Frankel's evidence, a photo of D'Agostino making out with an ex-girlfriend at the Regency hotel in Midtown Manhattan, was fed to the Skinnygirl founder by producers. However, Carole Radziwill blew this theory out of the water when she revealed that Donald Trump's disgraced lawyer Michael Cohen was the true source of the incriminating snapshot.
Radziwill, who appeared on Seasons 5-10 of "RHONY," shared this info on Heath McDonald's "Juicy Scoop" podcast in August 2023, disclosing that Cohen himself had let her in on the secret during a dinner months before. "I thought, actually, production had set something up," Radziwill said. "But in a million years, I would not have thought that Michael Cohen was gonna sit down at dinner and, like, tell this whole story about how he took the picture."
Radziwill dishes on the D'Agostino picture details
During her appearance on the "Juicy Scoop" podcast, Carole Radziwill revealed that Michael Cohen spilled the story behind the incriminating Tom D'Agostino picture while she was sharing dinner with a friend in downtown NYC. The former presidential attorney was initially there to talk shop with Radziwill's show business friend, but he and the "RHONY" alum began talking about her old co-stars.
"He goes, 'I know all those effing Housewives,'" the former ABC producer recounted. "We started talking about Tom or the wedding and he's like, 'Oh please.' He goes, 'Of course, I know Tom, who do you think took the picture?'" Radziwill went on to explain that Cohen was friends with Bethenny Frankel's late partner Dennis Shields, which is how the "RHONY" star received the photo to feature on the show.
"So let me just say 'allegedly' because this is just what he was telling me," Radziwill added. While it was definitely a surprise to learn of Cohen's role in this infamous "RHONY" drama, it's arguably pretty on brand for the controversial figure.
Bethenny Frankel tried to discredit the Cohen reveal
After Carole Radziwill's "Juicy Scoop" revelation, Bethenny Frankel took to TikTok to deny that Michael Cohen was the source behind the Tom D'Agostino make out photo. "No, Michael Cohen did not take the photo at The Regency of Tom," the former "RHONY" star said in the now-deleted TikTok. "The woman who did take the photo at The Regency is texting me right now on this very phone. Just sent me our original text and the photo" (per The Messenger).
However, the assertion that the snapshot's photographer is a woman contradicts statements that Frankel made when she originally shared the photo with Luann de Lesseps during a Season 8 episode of "RHONY." As seen in a TikTok clip shared by celebfail, Frankel answers in the affirmative when de Lesseps asks if the photographer was a guy. "Well, I'm glad to know it's a guy and it's not some chick who's, like, jealous, you know, sending a picture," de Lesseps said at the time. "Like, an ex-girlfriend."
While Frankel was initially pretty adamant that her source wasn't a jealous woman or ex-girlfriend, her subsequent TikTok statements leave room for such possibilities. It's unclear where she stands now that she deleted her original response, but it's safe to say that she was lying at some point during this cheating scandal.