COURTROOM SHOCKER

Embroiled in a child custody battle, Bethenny Frankel makes a startling allegation of abuse.

Bethenny frankel has, quite literally, been living in fear. While fighting for full custody of 8-year-old daughter Bryn, the star recently testified that her ex-husband Jason Hoppy allegedly abused her after they separated in late 2012. “Emotional, mental, phone, Facetime, email, being followed, being harassed, being ver- bally attacked, an all- out assault in every possible way,” revealed the Real Housewives of New York City cast member, 48, who compared sharing a home with her ex to a “torture chamber” in court. “I felt hopeless and helpless. I had no way out. I knew I was being abused. Jason would say ‘ You are so desperate and pathetic.’ He would say I looked ugly and old. There was a more threatening event at [our daughter’s] schoolyard.” Indeed, in 2017, the 48-year- old businessman was arrested and charged with stalking and harassing the Skinnygirl mogul and her late boyfriend, Dennis Shields, at Bryn’s Manhattan school and an order of protection was put in place. “My daughter was steps away, and he couldn’t control his anger,” she stammered. Reliving the details of their messy split in public no doubt hasn’t been easy. But “Bethenny isn’t holding back. She strongly believes that Bryn is better off with her,” an insider tells Life & Style, “and will stop at nothing to ensure her little girl is safe.”