Bethenny Frankel Claims Tom Girardi Owed Her Ex Boyfriend Dennis Shields, Who Died Of A Suspected Overdose, Nearly $500K
Bethenny Frankel has alleged that Erika Jayne's estranged husband Tom Girardi owed her ex-boyfriend Dennis Shields, who died of a suspect drug overdose in 2018, nearly $500,000.
The former RHONY cast member opened up on the September 16 episode of her podcast Just B With Bethenny Frankel that she and her late businessman boyfriend originally met the ex-lawyer at a lawyers conference years ago.
“My experience is, especially with the ‘Housewives’ … if someone’s flaunting their money, they don’t really have it,” Frankel stated regarding the way that Girardi and his Bravo star wife lavishly spent their money.
The Skinnygirl founder went on to claim that Shields told her that Girardi owed him a sufficient amount of money. Frankel claimed that her former boyfriend told her “He owes me half a million dollars. I know this other guy he owes a million and a half dollars. He doesn’t have money. He owes everybody money.”
When the mother-of-one asked how the Girardi's were footing the bill for their over the top spending, Shields replied “It’s because he’s using people’s money to support her lifestyle. He’s using the company’s money to support her lifestyle.”
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Frankel then alleged that Shields told her that the 82-year-old attorney's financial straits “aggravates everybody,” because he could not “say no” to Erika. “That’s just what happens – things take a long time to come out. They all knew about it,” the television star explained.
Frankel went on to add that Tom's money problem was the “worst-kept secret” noting “I knew about this since 2017 … and this all came out in 2020.”
The entrepreneur recalled how she notified Andy Cohen about the Girardi's financial state to which he later told her when news of all of the lawsuits broke, “Holy s–t. You really do know it all. You told me about this years ago.”
Frankel and Shields began dating in 2016 after knowing each other for nearly 30 years. As OK! previously reported, in August of 2018, the 51-year-old was found dead of a suspected drug overdose in his Trump Tower apartment.
