Bethenny Frankel ‘Embarrassed’ After Being Punched in NYC Street Attack!
Bethenny Frankel ‘Embarrassed’ After Being Punched in NYC Street Attack!
Bethenny Frankel has revealed that she was a victim of the viral punching trend making headlines in New York City.
The Real Housewives of New York City alum shared that she was randomly punched in a Manhattan neighborhood earlier this year, after watching a TikTok video, in which fashion design student, Mikayla Toninato, shared her assault experience.
“I was literally like leaving class, I turned the corner and I was looking down and I was looking at my phone, and like texting, and then, out of nowhere, this man just came up and hit me in the face,” Mikayla said.
The Skinnygirl mogul wrote under the video in a since-deleted comment—“This is insane bc this happened to me a few months ago but I was embarrassed to say.”
Bethenny, 53, continued — “I was on the UWS [Upper West Side]. Insane. I was taking video of a bakery.”
The former Bravo star did not elaborate on any sustained injuries.
More than 25 women have taken to the platform to share about being randomly assaulted in broad daylight on the streets of New York in recent months.
Halley Kate, a TikTok influencer who boasts a following of 1.2 million, revealed a large bump on her forehead in a video posted Monday.
“You guys, I was literally just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face,” she said while crying. “Oh my God, it’s so bad. I can’t even talk.”
Kate, 23, likened her injury to a “devil horn” in a subsequent post.
Another woman named Olivia Brand shared a similar experience on March 17, in a clip filmed on Mulberry Street in Nolita.
“I literally got punched in the head on the sidewalk. He goes, ‘Sorry,’ and then punches me — in the head,” she said in the footage. “Holy crap, what the hell just happened? Oh my God.”
The NYPD confirmed the attacks, telling the New York Post that Kate reported an assault on West 16th Street and 7th Avenue on Monday at 10:20 a.m. Police officers said that she was treated at a medical facility after sustaining injuries on the left side of her face. Authorities confirmed that “an unknown individual punched her in the head,” when asked about Brand’s TikTok video.
The officers said that it remained unclear if the punching incidents were related.
The troubling attacks appear to be connected to a NYC trend called the “knockout game” in which young people challenge each other to sucker punch random strangers on the street.
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Avigail is an Entertainment blogger at All About The Tea, who specializes in The Real Housewives of Atlanta and The Real Housewives of Potomac. Avigail has a background in marketing. She’s a Brooklynite living in the Bahamas, with a passion for travel, writing, reality TV watching, pop culture and spoken word.