Bethenny Frankel: I'm Leaving "The Real Housewives of New York City"

Bethenny Frankel (AP)

NEW YORK (CBS) Bethenny Frankel may have shot to fame through "The Real Housewives of New York City" but now that she is, in fact, a wife and mother, she wants to leave "Housewives" in the past.

The 39-year-old Bravo reality star announced the news on Tuesday that she won't be joining next season. Why? Frankel says the last season took too much out of her and she wouldn't be able to "mentally handle" another round, saying she doesn't "see any reason to go back."

Frankel told Us Weekly that "Last season was scary and painful. It took all the joy out of it."

Frankel described the relationship between she and the other New York housewives as "dirty and nasty." Drama abounded last season with her on-screen falling-out with former best friend Jill Zarin, her unexpected pregnancy, her dying father and the insults that came her way via Kelly Bensimon's surprising breakdown.

Frankel is the only "Housewives" star of any of the casts to have her own spin-off series ("Bethenny Getting Married?").

Us Weekly reported that Frankel can't get away from "Housewives" or the Bravo network that easily. She is still under contract to make a few appearances on next season's "Housewives" and the network is reportedly trying to woo her back.

[kdozer12]

The Housewives shows (plural) used to be fun to watch. Now it is almost painful. Everyone likes a little drama but who wants to watch an hour full of women behaving like teenagers. Viewers wanted to see how the other half lived. The only thing we learned was that LuAnn was right....Money can't buy you class!!!
Wise decision Bethenny

[zydeco34]

I could never work out the appeal of such a strident, whiny, ****** and desperate, wanna be. Bravo execs let her go. Good riddance to Bethenny.

[Minderella24]

Even if it is a ploy, who cares? If Bethenny is going to have to take the brunt of Kelly's insanity, she deserves to get paid more for it. If she does leave the show, I hope Alex follows suit because she'll become the new punching bag for the other ladies, and she doesn't deserve that. It's quite simple for me: I won't watch RHWNY without Bethenny.

[CindyInChicago]

After dealing with the completely insane (clearly not so bright) Kelly Bensimon, and vicious, immature, self absorbed Jill Zarin, why would Bethenny want to continue with the total negativity and absolute (could be construed as dangerous) nonsense that those two women brought to the show last season? Seriously. While viewers tend to blame Bethenny due to her biting comments (she's definitely hard to keep up with and way out of Kelly's league), she never exhibited the awful characteristics of Jill and Kelly. The fact that Bravo retain these two morons shows how much they do not have any consideration whatsoever for what viewers expect from the show. There was sooooo much negative feedback about Jill and Kelly, and they totally ignored the pleas to remove them both from the cast. Jill's back blogging about the RHWDC, and it's offensive, at best. Clearly Bravo assumed viewers would want the drama to continue, and they will find they made a big mistake in not listening to viewers' valid concerns and feedback. While I won't watch RHWNY, I'll pay attention to the media reporting on the failure of this awful franchise.

[peacefulperson]

Just another ploy to get more money for appearing on the show.