Kelly Bensimon Isn't On Scary Island Anymore

Once in a while, after I eat jelly beans or something, I find myself wondering what Kelly Killoren Bensimon is up to right now. She hasn't been a cast member on The Real Housewives of New York City since Season 4, when Bravo decided to change up the cast. (That's when we got the addition of Carole, Heather, and Aviva.) And, while she's obviously still in contact with LuAnn de Lesseps — who invited her to make brief guest appearances on Seasons 6 and 7 — everything else about Kelly isn't really well-known anymore. She's always played things up like she was a strange, erratic weirdo. But, turns out that like everyone in New York, Kelly Bensimon has to hustle, work a bunch of jobs, and be a businesswoman in order to be successful.

Not a lot of Real Housewives return after being cut by Bravo and condemned as "crazy" by the rest of the cast. But when Bethenny Frankel returned for Season 7, so did Kelly, for a second annual appearance. Can this please become a regular thing? I'd be so curious to see how Alex McCord would react to Carole's real NYC socialite pedigree, or how Jill Zarin would react to Dorinda Medley. It would make for a fantastic yearly tradition: hearing from the cut ladies each brought in by a friend of a friend, and given a little two-minute spotlight.

Kelly in particular has shown a different side of herself since leaving Real Housewives of New York. She's been working nonstop, and even when she was on the show, she secretly had a real industrial side. She was working for Elle Accessories at the time, and she hasn't stopped working since.

She Still Models

Kelly has always been good in front of the camera. And, even as recently as this winter, she's been participating in photo shoots, cashing in on both her Housewives fame and her still-impressive modeling skills.

She's Writing A Style Blog

Kelly has always looked pretty fantastic, but now she's making that look accessible for everyone. Her new site, KKBLoves (or Kelly Killoren Bensimon Loves), is dedicated to exploring her sense of fashion and the products and clothes that make up her style.

She Wrote Another Book

After her past three books did reasonably well, Kelly went back to writing and came up with I Can Make You Hot!: The Supermodel Diet .

Her Kids Are Doing Really Well

There's not a lot to say about Kelly's daughters, other than that they've continued to grow up but are still named "Thaddeus" and "Sea." Yet another way Kelly has become a part of the hip blogging crowd: Eccentric kid names.

She's Designing Jewelry Collections

Kelly's aspirations don't end at modeling, writing, or being a mother. She now also curates a "vintage jewelry capsule collection." It's reminiscent of her work at Elle Accessories... I'm speaking, of course, of "Owl-Gate," where Kelly was reportedly sued for allegedly stealing a coworker's owl pendant and using it for her own designs. Kelly denied that she was ever sued for such a thing, saying, "There’s really no suit. It’s finished, it’s over. It was basically to just get press for [my coworker's] own line, and that makes me really disappointed because that means I’m not picking the right people to help."

And She's Still Pals With LuAnn

Of course, the only way the topic of Kelly Bensimon was even raised was because LuAnn de Lesseps keeps inviting her to Real Housewives of New York events to show off her young, trendy, and supermodel diet-y self. And, while it might be more entertaining to imagine that Kelly is on a permanent "Scary Island" rant, it couldn't be farther from the truth for this hard-working woman.