Kelly Killoren Bensimon

**Kelly Jean Killoren Bensimon** (born May 1, 1968) is an American television personality, model, designer, author and real estate agent. She is best known for starring in the Bravo reality series The Real Housewives of New York City.

## Early Life

Bensimon was born in Rockford, Illinois.

She attended Keith Country Day School, a college prep academy in Illinois before attending Trinity College, Connecticut. She graduated in 1998 from Columbia University's School of General Studies with a degree in Literature and Writing. She also completed an Masters Bachelor of Art's with a focus on International Marketing at Northeastern University in 2015.

## Career

Bensimon began her career as a model. She appeared in magazines such as Elle, Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar and she was once the face of Clarins. She appeared on the cover and in a six-page editorial in the March 2010 edition of Playboy, which was photographed by her ex-husband Gilles Bensimon. In September 2011, she was on the cover of Shape and was featured in a pictorial based on her exercise routine.

She was worked as a host of various events including IMG fashion week, and of the IMG swim shows in Miami. She was a spokesperson in 2006 for Wool as part of their Test Marketing Productions (TMP). She hosted and modelled in menswear events with GQ magazine. She was also an "ambassador" for Spring 2007 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City.

Bensimon had had several jewellery collections. Her first line of jewellery was sold exclusively at Barneys New York. Her second line of jewellery was sold at Bloomingdale's in fall 2007. On June 24, 2010, she announced the launch of her fourth jewellery collection, Kelly by Kelly Killoren Bensimon. The collection included mixed metals, leather, feathers and crystals and was sold at Intermix stores across the U.S. to support Feeding America. For spring 2011, her jewellery collection was sold at Wink, W Hotels and Dash. She also sold a jewellery collection on HSN. In 2013, she launched a fragrance, In the Spirit of, and a candle line called Baiser Rose. In 2019, she launched an outerwear line called Enville by Pologeorgis.

She appeared on Bravo's Oldd Mom Out in episodes nine and ten of Season 2. She also appeared on WEtv's reality series Million Dollar Matchmaker.

Bensimon has also worked as a writer, producing three books for Assouline Publishing: In the Spirit of the Hamptons, American Style and The Bikini Book. A portion of the author's proceeds were donated to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her fourth book, I Can Make You Hot, was published by St. Martin's Press in April 2012. A portion of the author's proceeds were donated to Generositywater.org. In June 2016, Simon & Schuster published her novel, A Dangerous Age. In August 2017, she launched the sequel The Second Course, an odyssey about the food world. Bensimon also wrote a column in Page Six magazine called "The Socializer: Kelly Bensimon". She is a style columnist for the newspaper AM New York. She is the editor at large for Hamptons Magazine, a free weekly with circulation of 40,000 to 50,000 and Gotham Magazine. Both publications are owned by Niche Media. She became the founding editor of Elle Accessories, but left after two issues.

After obtaining her real estate agent's license, she joined Dolly Lenz Realty in New York in 2018. She moved to the Douglas Elliman real estate group in 2019.

### The Real Housewives of New York City

In 2009, Kelly joined the cast of the Bravo reality television series for the second season. She then appeared in Season 3 and 4 before returning as a 'guest' in Season 6 and 7.

#### **RHONY Taglines**

* Season 2 and 3 - "I've created a great life and I love living it."
* Season 4 - "I'm living the American dream, one mistake at a time."

## Personal Life

### Marriages and Children

Bensimon has been married once. She married photographer Gilles Bensimon in 1997 and together they have two daughters: Sea Louise (born 1998) and Thaddeus Ann "Teddy" (born 2000). The couple divorced in 2007.

### Legal Issues

On March 5, 2009, she was arrested on allegations of domestic violence and assault against her ex-boyfriend. Her ex-boyfriend alleged that she punched him in the face during an argument. She entered into a plea agreement with the State of New York, under which she was required to perform two days of community service.

## Family

**Husbands and Partners**

* Gilles Bensimon (Ex-husband; 1997-2007)

**Children**

* Sea Bensimon
* Teddy Bensimon

## Filmography

### Film

 2015
 2016

## Bibliography

* In the Spirit of the Hamptons - (2002)
* American Style - (December 2, 2004)
* The Bikini Book - (April 1, 2006)
* I Can Make You Hot - (December 24, 2012)
* A Dangerous Age - (February 28, 2017)
* The Second Course - (August 15, 2017)