RHONY’s Kelly Bensimon on Why She’s Not Bothered by Scary Island Incident Today: It Was ‘Iconic’

Kelly Bensimon reflected on the infamous ‘RHONY’ season 3 cast trip in an exclusive interview with Hollywood Life.

Kelly Bensimon is not offended that fans are still obsessed with the “Scary Island” trip on season 3 of The Real Housewives of New York City. Despite having a rough go on the infamous vacation, during which her mental health was questioned by some of the other ladies, Kelly embraces the trip today because she knows it made for unforgettable television. 

“Scary Island is one of the most iconic scenes of all time, because we really pushed it,” Kelly exclusively told Hollywood Life ahead of the premiere of The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip: RHONY Legacy on December 14.

“If I thought it was difficult, I wouldn’t have called it Scary Island and I wouldn’t talked about it,” the reality star added. “And we weren’t talking about wellness and mental illness and everything like that.”

“So that’s another reason why I tied a big bow on it — because I was like, ‘We’re not gonna go down a road that is not… there’s no medical doctors here. It’s just women behaving badly. And I’m gonna tie a bow on it.’ So that’s what I did,” Kelly said.

Kelly is on the new season of RHUGT with fellow RHONY alums Luann de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, Dorinda Medley, Sonja Morgan, and Kristen Taekman. Since it’s been so long sine Kelly has done a show with those women, she admitted that it took a moment before she really got into the drama on the St. Barts trip.

‘It took me a second. I was eating and drinking a lot. I was loving life. I was just watching and eating and drinking,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Wow, okay.’ And then I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. What am I doing? I gotta start getting into it.’ ‘

Kelly said that she’s “so happy to be back” with the RHONY girls and is excited for the fans to see her in a very different light than Scary Island.

“Filming with the ladies was so much fun and just spending time — seven days together — was really fun,” she said. “I really needed that female time and that camaraderie. It was just a great seven days. I missed everyone! I missed everyone so much. I really did.”

The first three episodes of RHUGT: RHONY Legacy premiere Thursday, December 14th on Peacock. The remaining episodes will premiere weekly on Thursdays.