Bethenny Frankel and Andy Cohen 'Totally Are Pals' Even Though He's Accused Her of 'Trashing' Housewives

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Bethenny Frankel says she and Andy Cohen are still carrying on "trashing" Bravo's Housewives shows.

"I texted him when [my new ReWives podcast] came out," Frankel told Today co-hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on Tuesday, "and he said, 'Oh fun, I'm glad to see you embracing the Housewives.'"

The former Real Housewives of New York City star, who left the franchise in 2019, explained, "I've said I'm glad that I'm not there — which I am, but they're not mutually exclusive. I'm glad that I'm not there [but] I also do get the right to talk about because I did it for a quarter of my life."

RELATED: Bethenny Frankel Revisits Housewives in New Rewatch Podcast: 'This is Where It Started for Me'

TODAY

Frankel, 52, was responding to comments the Watch What Happens Live host, 54, made on his Andy Cohen Live his podcast that he feels Frankel has been "trashing the series for the last few years" and calling it "toxic."

Listen below to an interview with Bethenny Frankel on our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.

Regardless, Frankel says she and Cohen "totally are pals" who can still enjoy long walks on the beach gabbing about the Bravo franchise that made her a star.

RELATED: Bethenny Frankel Says She Was Asked to Be on Bravo's New RHONY: Legacy Spin-Off Starring OGs

WesAndAlex for iHeartRadio Bethenny Frankel's podcast ReWives

As for RHONY, the Skinnygirl founder called it "a different show than what it was in the beginning. It's evolved into something different, more big, more shiny, more dramatic than what we started with."

Frankel seems intent on stepping back from the drama with ReWives, which she told PEOPLE won't be a granular rehash of the feuds and trials from her RHONY years.

"We don't delve into that territory," she explained. "I wanted to do a rewatch podcast, but I didn't want to do something derivative. I didn't just want to rewatch a show, scene by scene. So I thought 'How could I do this in an interesting way?' — not just having another Housewife talk about it to me like others do, but instead delving deeper. So it's really about the real dynamics that are going on underneath, which I find to me more interesting anyway, and not the low-hanging fruit trash that others take away from it."

Frankel also acknowledged, "You can't forget where you came from, so I always reference it. I mean, it led to such tremendous success for me. This is where it started for me. I don't want to be there in the same way that I was. But it's such a larger-than-life concept that you can't help but indulge in it."

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ReWives is available on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere podcasts are streamed, and most Real Housewives episodes are available to watch on Peacock.