Kelly Bensimon Defends Playboy Body, Says Other 'Wives' Were 'Shocked'

'Real Housewives of New York City' star Kelly Bensimon isn't shy about her great body and has no regrets posing naked for Playboy last March. In fact, the 43-year-old author and jewelry designer thinks an upside of baring all some in the lad mag was that she showed people, including her daughters, that you don't have to be stick-thin to be happy and healthy.

"I showed like 80 percent. A little boobie, a little butt, ankles," she tells me on my HDNet show. "The pictures actually make me look thinner than I was at the time. I really ate a lot. I wanted to be my normal body shape. I wanted to look like myself. Everyone else was on a diet and I was like, 'No! I want to be myself' ... Before that I was in a horse show, I was riding and running a lot. And being on 'Housewives' was really stressful for me and I just wanted to show that healthy is hot."

She later adds, "I think some people were wondering ... I have two kids, isn't that bad? But I think no; I want my kids to be happy and healthy and later on in their lives, be sexy and have fun. I don't want them to think that having an eating disorder is cool, because it's not!"

And it wasn't just for her body image that Kelly decided to pose naked, it was also to exact sweet revenge on Bethenny Frankel and the other 'Housewives' she believed bullied her on the show.

"I think the ladies were shocked by it," she tells me. "I think they thought, 'We tried to take you down and now you are doing Playboy, what?! And now I have Playboy so they are like, 'Wait a minute. This is not working!'"

She explains what really motivates her to be in the reality game.

"My real friends and family, they like the real Kelly. They like nice Kelly. Being cool is hot but being mean is not. Mean girls are really last year. I want to see real people doing real things. The reason we do reality is to see it ... I don't want a fabricated version. If you're mad, I want to see you mad. And if you are happy, I want to see that."

Kelly knows that you either love her or hate her, but she doesn't care. "If they're not talking about you, you are not relevant," she tells me.

For my complete interview with Kelly, tune into 'Naughty But Nice' exclusively on HDNet at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Source: http://www.popeater.com/2011/06/03/kelly-bensimon-playboy-housewives/

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