Bravo officially announced Monday, Oct. 20, that Bethenny Frankel is coming back to "Real Housewives of New York City" for its upcoming seventh season.
"I'm genuinely excited, with a side of slightly nervous, for my return to 'The Real Housewives of New York City,'" Frankel, 43, said in a statement to E! News. "Bravo has always been the place on television where I have the freedom to be unfiltered, honest and inappropriate, with an audience who has been with me from the beginning. I can't wait to see what this next chapter brings for all of us. Watch what happens!"
Executive producer Andy Cohen also shared his excitement for the return of Frankel. "Bethenny is one of the most popular Housewives in the history of the franchise," he said in the statement, "and I couldn't be more excited she is coming home to Bravo!"
Since she left the reality TV show after three seasons in 2010, Frankel earned her own spinoff series titled "Bethenny Getting Married?" and "Bethenny Ever After." Both shows followed her marriage with Jason Hoppy prior to their breakup in January 2013. Earlier this year, she also hosted her eponymous talk show, which was canceled in February after only one season.
"I felt very constricted and very handled," Frankel told People of her talk show. "Being on reality TV was very freeing for me." She added that being on reality TV shows "can be challenging, stressful and often toxic," but she personally thinks that "reality TV is a great vehicle."
In an interview with Us Weekly two days before Bravo made the official announcement, Frankel revealed the she decided to go back to the show for a new start. "I'm such a different person and in such a different place than when I was on first season," she explained. "Slightly exciting, a little bit of anxiousness, but it feels fresh. It doesn't feel like [how] I felt going into the third season of the 'Housewives.' There was just so much muck and I just didn't feel it was good energy."
With all the experiences she has gone through since exiting the show almost four years ago, Frankel said that her story lines in the upcoming season may look different from the previous three seasons she filmed for the show. "When I went onto 'Housewives' when I was younger, I didn't have family, I didn't have a business, I didn't have partners," she told the publication. "I think basically the important thing is how I'm just being honest about my perspective."
When asked if she is going to open up about her love life on TV, she said: "That's not really what the focus of my life is right now."
Bravo also announced Monday that Carole Radziwill, Heather Thomson, Kristen Taekman, LuAnn de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, and Sonja Morgan are all returning to the show in Season 7.