Bethenny Frankel calls separating from Jason Hoppy ‘heartbreaking’

Forget unleashing that inner SkinnyGirl: Bethenny Frankel is looking at revisiting her inner single girl again, according to a statement issued Sunday.

Frankel, a “Real Housewives of New York City” alum, has announced her separation from Jason Hoppy, her husband of nearly three years, saying it brought her “great sadness.”

“This was an extremely difficult decision that as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family,” Frankel said, according to People. “We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority.

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She called the situation “immensely painful” and “heartbreaking.”

The coming split had been reported by InTouch last week, with an insider saying at the time, “They’ve had their exit plan in mind for months. It’s really just a matter of when they’ll file.” A friend said problems had been bubbling for a year.

Late on Sunday, the “Bethenny Ever After” star thanked her fans via Twitter for their support, saying, “You give me so much love, and I am so grateful. It feels like your words could get someone through anything.”

Hoppy and Frankel married in March 2010, with Frankel triumphantly tweeting at the time, “I’m finally a real housewife! On way to honeymoon. Best night of my life.” She was seven months pregnant with daughter Bryn Hoppy at the time, and the wedding was chronicled in “Bethenny Getting Married.”

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In “Ever After,” however, the couple were seen struggling, with Frankel telling People in July, that the second year of marriage “was not easy” and they’d “hit bottom” but come out the other side.

“I think we have what it takes to make it work. I don’t have a backup plan. It’s not like shopping for shoes and getting a new pair. That’s not what it’s about,” she said then.

This was Frankel’s second marriage. She and Peter Sussman were married briefly in 1996.

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