EXCLUSIVE: KELLY BENSIMON’S DATE FLEES AFTER PAPARAZZI “SETUP”
Real Housewives playbook backfires again as insider says Kelly tipped off photogs without telling her date
Looks like Kelly Bensimon’s latest love story fizzled before dessert.
As #ShuterScoop first suspected, paparazzi “mysteriously” showing up outside an obscure NYC restaurant wasn’t a coincidence — and insiders say the former Real Housewife tipped them off herself.
“There is no way photographers were just waiting outside that spot,” one insider close to the situation says. “Someone called them — and it sure wasn’t him.”
Earlier this week, Kelly, 57, was spotted enjoying a PDA-heavy birthday dinner with Greenwich financier Robert Flood at the upscale Beefbar. The pair were photographed greeting each other with a hug, sharing cake, holding hands, and leaving in an Uber — the kind of made-for-tabloids sequence only someone wanted captured.
And according to sources? Flood wasn’t in on the plan.
“Does she think he’s stupid?” one industry insider asks. “He didn’t know the cameras would be there. That was all her. And once he realized, he was not happy.”
The source adds that Bensimon — like many Housewives — has a well-earned reputation for staging photo ops to stay relevant.
“They all learned it from Bethenny [Frankel],” the insider says. “Tip off a photographer, grab a well-lit table, give a flirty smile, and boom — you’re back in the headlines.”
But while it might help keep their names in the press, it’s terrible for real relationships, which is exactly why so many of these women end up alone, the source claims.
“They don’t understand that not everyone wants to be famous. Most people aren’t trying to be in the spotlight,” the source adds. “He was mortified.”
This isn’t the first time Kelly’s romantic life has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. She called off her engagement to another financier, Scott Litner, last year just days before the wedding — reportedly over a dispute about a prenuptial agreement.
“Kelly’s great at creating a moment,” a Bravo insider says. “But maybe not so great at sustaining the ones that matter.”
As for Robert Flood? Sources say he’s already pulled back — fast.
“He thought he was going on a private date,” the source laughs. “Instead, he got a full Bravo press shoot. That’s not what he signed up for.”
#ShuterScoop — where reality stars always find the spotlight, even if it’s not mutual.
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