We Now Know the Real Reason Bethenny Frankel and Carole Radziwill's Drama Began

We've watched the tension between Bethenny Frankel and Carole Radziwill go from bad to worse this season of The Real Housewives of New York City. So when the ladies came face-to-face at this season's reunion, we were hoping to finally get to the bottom of how things could go so wrong for these onetime besties. 

And get some answers we did. During Part 2 of the RHONY Season 10 reunion Wednesday night, Bethenny and Carole discussed the question that's been on everybody's minds all season long: What really caused the end of their friendship? 

It seemed to all stem from the summer, right before Season 10 of RHONY began. Unlike in 2016 when Bethenny and Carole had spent much of the summer together, in 2017, the ladies found themselves on opposite coasts as Carole spent most of her time in Los Angeles consoling her friend Cassandra, who had just lost her husband. 

Though Carole explained that when she returned to New York, she and Bethenny had seen each other and had been in communication like normal, the Skinnygirl mogul said that she sensed something different about their friendship. "I did think there was a little shift, but it's happened in many friendships where something happens and it goes away," Bethenny explained. "So I think that we were a little bit on different pages. I could feel it during the summer because the summer before I think we had spent a lot of time together and this one we didn't because of both of our parts." 

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Bethenny also expressed that Carole seemed distant when they were together in Montauk. She also said she felt left out of Carole's dinners with her girlfriends when they were both in L.A. Carole explained that she didn't intentionally leave Bethenny out, but rather, they were just intimate dinners to comfort her grieving friend. "But I also saw you a bunch of times. Actually, I was trying to figure out a long weekend for us to go to the Golden Door [spa]," Carole said. "I asked some friends if they could borrow private planes for your Puerto Rico mission. I was like, 'I'm gonna help you. I'm so proud of you.'" 

According to Carole, their friendship really took a turn when Bethenny spoke to Dorinda Medley about Adam Kenworthy declining to photograph Bethenny's disaster relief effort without being compensated. "And then September rolled around. That's when we had that conversation that you recounted to Dorinda. I was stunned," Carole said during the reunion. "When you were recounting this story about Adam, I remember saying to you, 'You know what, when people say nasty things about Adam to you, don't pile on. Shut that down.'"

Bethenny explained that she did try to repair the situation after hearing that Carole still had a friendship with Adam. "I thought you were broken up with him," she said. "And then I realized whether broken up or not, you were still kind of having coffee, I retreated immediately." 

Andy Cohen offered up his take on the conflict during the reunion. "It seems like you kept having these conversations, a lot of miscommunication, and you kept kind of wanting it to be back to normal," he shared. "You could never get back on track."

To that, Carole replied, "I wanted it to be back to normal. I don't think Bethenny ever wanted it ever to be back to normal. I think you were ready for it to be over. I came to you and said, 'Let's talk. Let's talk.' You were dismissive, condescending, you didn't want to talk." 

Bethenny denied Carole's claim and then from then on, the tension just continued to mount at the reunion between Bethenny and Carole, as we also saw this season, from the "that's a lot" text exchange over the holidays to their exchange of insults in their interviews. Bethenny and Carole failed to see eye-to-eye during the reunion about what they've said about each other this season of RHONY. 

The Bethenny and Carole drama continues in Part 3 of the RHONY Season 10 reunion Wednesday at 8/7c. Check out a preview, below.

Next on RHONY: Dorinda Medley Is Brought to Tears