Just watched Part 2 of the "Real Housewives of New York" reunion and even though they only scratched the surface of the ongoing Kelly Killoren Bensimon "situation" -- Part 3 airs on Thursday -- I've seen enough to determine that it's time for me, you and the mental health community to call on Bravo to cease and desist further exploitation of this deeply disturbed woman -- the mother of two young children -- who is clearly in need of serious help. I'm the first to admit that I've enjoyed watching Kelly unravel on national TV -- I've always enjoyed watching people who don't realize how unintelligent they are make fools out of themselves. But now that I know for certain that this is not just someone behaving badly on a reality TV show, but in fact is a woman completely -- ironically enough -- detached from reality with a camera pointed at her, I think Bravo has a responsibility to its cast, crew and viewers to remove Ms. Bensimon from the air immediately. She's completely delusional -- did you see Andy Cohen confront her about being "forced" to go on Ramona's trip and how she was incapable of processing the truth, no matter how many times she was confronted with it -- or how she thought repeatedly saying "systematic bullying" would somehow rewrite history? -- and should not be exploited for profit or ratings for one more second. (It's no coincidence that the final episode garnered record ratings.) But just because she's consenting to be on the show doesn't make it right to take advantage of her any further. If you do not believe how serious this is, just watch the "lemonade" she tried to make from these lemons, below. (Was this woman on a different island than the one being filmed????)
If you agree, I urge you to contact Bravo HERE, and also alert the National Alliance on Mental Illness at stigmabusters@nami.org to let them know of your concern. It may make for good television, but unless Bravo knows something we don't then I think it's time someone thought about Kelly's daughters and what long-term impact this is likely to have on them.
7 comments:
I watched last night and it's very awkward and cringe worthy to see Kelly's behavior. I'm sure being told constantly by the other wives, "you're crazy" doesn't help either!
This is a bit rich coming from the man that penned 'one armed love bandit'... those with physical disabilities are not often invested in by the gay community or necessarily accepted but yet you jump to this woman's defense?
100% Kenneth.
At first I thought Kelly was just lying to spin events to make herself look better but I realize now that she believes the made-up version of what happened.
Also, I felt for Jill last night too. How many times does she need to apologize? They'd go over a viewer's comment and then next one would be another attack on Jill. Why not just mention there were many comments about it, let Jill speak her mind on them and be done. I felt like I was getting hammered with issue so I can only imagine how Jill was feeling.
Chuck
Kelly Killoren Bensimon is a stand in for the half-term former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. They both have a selective and creative memory, attack while claiming to be the victim, speak in tortured English, and claim to be a conservative good girls while sexing it up. Yes, both are crazy like a fox.
Gordon: If you actually READ "The One-Armed Love Bandit" then surely you would know that what you said makes absolutely no sense.
Are YOU related to Kelly, by any chance?!
Ur heart's in the right place Kenny, but I wouldn't take any of this so seriously. Kelly's just trying to save face -- like everyone on the show does. But she's very stupid, so she's not especially good at it.
Her "breakdown" was likely just her being drunk or high, but I guess she can't admit that or she could risk losing her children.
I've met Kelly several times & I know people who've worked w/her. She's not known at all as the unstable lunatic u see on the show. I don't know what's going on here, but I suspect the audience is being "played" for drama & ratings.
Hi Kenneth,
I could not agree more with you!!! This season just ended where I live, and as it progressed, I got increasingly worried for Kelly's well being and even more for her children's well being. There are clear signs giving a clue that she is not just being a bit different than most of us (e.g. being a drama queen or smth like that), but actually being a person displaying clear signs of serious mental illness. The most worrying signs were clearly displayed during the 5 day trip with the other women, here it became obvious that she really suffers from paranoia and also that she has no insight into her own mental state - a clear sign of psychosis. What is so darn about this kind of psychosis, is that the person may function pretty well in daily life and their delusions (hallucinations...) often show as things which may be real, something that causes it to be easy for them to fool e.g. their doctor. Their doctor may prescribe something to help them calm down to reduce stress and/or anxiety caused by real problems rather than see the real root of the problem, a psychosis which causes the person to experience problems that really aren't there. E.g. that all the other women are mean and systematically bullies her. If the doctor at some point gets suspicious and tries to suggest that s/he has mentall illness (not just justified stress) and needs treatment, s/he most likely gets very mad and chooses to change to another MD. There they can start with new cards and get back to hiding the real problem. So even if these people actually suffers from serious mental illness, they can go untreated for decades (after all, a doctor does not spend all that much time with people). Many, if not most people who are around them a lot, may even get fooled and don't understand how bad it really is. They may just think that the person is a difficult person, somewhat odd, not the most intelligent (even if it is not the case) etc. They may even think of the person as unlucky, since s/he so often meets and gets new friends who end out being mean to her/him, causing conflicts etc. The person may even talk about how other people have to have mental problems since they cause conflicts... They may be really occupied by ongoing conflicts with people, not being able to let it go, talking about it all the time to whoever is available (e.g. kids). They may demand understanding from their closest family/friends, thinking that their needs for support is much more important than other people's needs - including children's needs for being allowed to be just kids, not somebody to vent adult frustrations to. Frustrations which also may be very disturbing and confusing, since the issues aren't the same as the children's perception says them that they are. The person may also totally lack a "brake", telling them when they have to stop, which may cause them to go on and on even if kids or adults beg them to stop (they may have gone on and on for hours, and may not stop even if it's the middle of the night and kids need to sleep). Even if things are like that, the kids often go to great lengths to hide what is going on (for many reasons!)!
We should all stop namecalling people with mental illness (e.g. "crazy", "unstable lunatic"). Nobody would call a person having a heart transplant names! It causes stigma and prejudice - and is one of the reasons why people won't seek help! We need to stop looking at mental illness with different eyes than physical illness, it is way more common than most of us know!
Such illnesses often break out or progress during stress. Being on a reality show sure is stressful!
Do I mean Bravo has crossed the line? Yes, I do. All working in the media has a duty to be ethical in their work. Sometimes people simply have to be protected from themselves and this sure was an occasion for that! It was also wrong for her children to have to deal with the effects of this!
I sure hope she gets help!
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