Kelly Bensimon, New "Real Housewife," Arrested For Assaulting Boyfriend

NEW YORK — A model who appears on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New York City" is facing charges that she punched an ex-boyfriend and left a bloody gash on his face.

Kelly Killoren Bensimon, 40, was arrested in Manhattan last week on a misdemeanor assault charge after her 30-year-old ex-boyfriend Nicholas Stefanov told police she assaulted him.

Killoren Bensimon surrendered Thursday, two days after the alleged assault. A misdemeanor complaint says she hit Stefanov with her fist in her apartment.

She was released without bail after her arraignment on a third-degree assault charge.

Her lawyer, Stephen Turano, didn't return a call for comment, but the Daily News quoted him as saying she denies the allegations. He called Stefanov "a jilted lover."

Stefanov told the Daily News that he still loves Killoren Bensimon. He said the pressure of being on the hit reality TV show caused her to snap and punch him during an argument.

He said she "had the courtesy to take her (engagement) ring off first," the News reported, adding she also returned it to him that night.

Stefanov's friends told the New York Post he went to his hometown of Pittsburgh because he was embarrassed to be seen in New York with a black eye and cut face.

Killoren Bensimon was married to French photographer Gilles Bensimon until 2006. They have two daughters, ages 10 and 8. She has modeled for Elle, Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan and Harper's Bazaar, and has edited several magazines.

Comments

[onedivasinger]

Talk about the self absorbed. I am sure little Nick is looking for his own show on Bravo.

[mick7191]

I am a guy and if you hit me, you will get hit back. I don't care what gender you are.

[kappa08]

This is what happens when daddy's little princess never gets called on her behavior.
You see this a lot nowadays. Violence is the first reaction when a woman gets frustrated. In my opinion it's because they never got their a55 kicked. You see: guys try that once in the school yard and realize there are consequences when you "go there"...

[robXdion]

Basically. So many don't know their limitations.

[wrenchdevil]

Cowards hit women.
Strong men have enough sense to just walk away.

[OC4Obama4Pres]

Women who hit men because they think they can get away with it are cowards. Smart women have enough sense to just walk away.

[sable41]

Now men are wimps, becuz they call the police instead of hitting her back or just suing her...., Yet Chris Brown, needs to be in jail, I say this lady, needs to go to jail n be made an example of, .....Its not right to HIT...No matter who swinging first...SMH..Double standard is a bish...!!!!!!

[exile]

well, i hope she called the camera crew in before she kicked his ass.

[jcwtts1]

what a wimp.

[kappa08]

you're right he should have knocked her the f*** out.

[johnnygoodwud]

seems that cougar has game. watch out little 'boys'

[The Ghost]

Sounds like you approve of domestic violence. Good luck with that!

[QueenCeleste]

I love the show, but she was not a great addition. The four (well, five with Simon the metrosexual) original are far more compelling.

And because most women are not as strong as men does not mean it is okay for them to be throwing punches!

[duncansdad]

Surprising since she's such a classy, cough, lady on the show.
She's big, crazy and mean. I bet it hurt.

[littlepuffycloud]

I could have sworn that was Melissa Rivers...yikes

[Prinmare]

I think most women understand that if they hit a man, he will hit back. Maybe except for young kids who can't control their temper. Once your relationship comes to blows, it is going downhill. If a woman hits a man, I don't see any reason not to call the police, especially if he has injuries and proof that he was assaulted. That would be his recourse, rather than hitting her back. And the best revenge. No woman wants to be arrested for assault. But when a man hits a woman, most of the time it is a fight that the woman is going to lose. Most women can't match a man's strength. And we all know that this method is used as a way to control women, at time with lethal results. I have encouraged my son to walk away. It's not worth complicating your life, especially in today's world when a company does background checks and finds out you've been charged or convicted of a felony.

[Strywever]

Why do you assume that most men would hit a woman back if she hit him first? I suppose it would depend on the man's maturity. Mature people of either gender don't hit . . . they control themselves and would hit back only if it were truly a matter of self-defense (that is, they were at real risk of significant injury).

[aweissnet]

It's news when a woman hits a man.

It's not news when a man hits a woman. It happens all the time.

[brooklyncitizen]

Every 15 seconds in AMerica.

[cloudminder]

these NY housewives are really tacky

that one that calls herself the countess and thinks she teaches etiquette is the rudest and crudest

they are not what they try so hard to represent

[Bashley]

I haven't seen the new season, but I loved all the ladies EXCEPT Luanne. First of all, your parents named you Luanne, that just doesn't scream royalty (and I have a LouAnne in my family). She is the biggest poseur on that show, she obviously used her looks to get her man. I love her kids, but she's a mess.

[Winthorpe]

This story's commentary is off to a disturbing, hypocritical start. If she's guilty, send her up the river, man. Bravo!

[beartrack]

That's what she gets hanging with her boy toy. Kid probably needed it. She wouldn't try that with a man, rather than boy, and if he treated that hot thing right, she wouldn't want to.---And that's the bear truth.

[Tyrione]

You're implying a "real man" would a: dodge the punch and laugh at the attempt? b: take the punch and knock the crap out of her for self-defense? c: be so damn present she wouldn't dare throw a punch?

I don't care if you're a man or a woman. You throw a punch as one adult to another, expect the other adult to defend themselves.

Respect goes both ways.

[Lucille]

If she'd hit him with an open hand would he not be suing her? I'm sure he is suing her, because she's rich. 21st century men are such wimps. And no, hitting a man is not the same as a man hitting a woman. Most women don't have a 10th of the strength men do, so being hit by a man is like being hit with a hammer; but being hit by a women might be irritable, but not damaging.

[rickeagle]

So, do you have experience in fisticuffs with men in another century? How 'bout them 20th Century men. Now there was some REAL woman-fighting men.

Yawn.....

[Lucille]

To rickeagle,

Rather it's this century, the 21st, or the prior century, the 90's, men in both centuries are wimps. When they can't control a women they want, they kill her; and if a women hits a man, who probably deserved it, he calls the police and if she's rich he extorts her through a lawsuit for money.

No wonder women are marrying less, and having less or no children at all. Men have become needy, mean-spirited pains in the a*s and hardly worth the effort anymore.

[Hemkit]

It's not about pain, it's about intent.

[amensupremera]

What about equality? Shouldn't she get punished the same as a man would for hitting a woman.?Isn't this domestic violence? I can see you're one of those broads that want it both ways. Women are just as good as men and should be treated as equals but you want the physical standards lowered for female fire fighters and the standards lowerd to attrract more women to the police force SWAT team and if a man gives a woman an open hand smack in the mouth he is an abusive maniac but when a woman does the same thing its empowering. Women like you are a joke and if you want to know what happened to all the real men then look in the mirror.

[Lucille]

To amensupremera,

Actually I don't think the standards should be lowered for female firefighters, or for the police SWAT TEAM as you described. Some jobs involving strength are done better by men, I completely concede that.

As for as "equality", I don't believe in that either as every relationship has an ebb and flow and sometimes the woman is in charge and sometimes the man is in charge. In the broad term of “equality”, I certainly believe women should have equal access to education, credit and such.

Yet overall, it seems that women in general take their responsibilities much more seriously than the modern man does. It seems men are always the first to shout equality in order to get out of their responsibilities.

Statistics have shown that many American women (51 percent in the U.S.), avoid marriage like the plague and its happening in Europe as well, so that’s why the birth rates are down as these women are having fewer or no children at all (the only group whose birth rates have increased are Hispanic).

Today when a woman becomes unexpectedly pregnant, I think you'd be surprised at just how many of them opt to stay single, even though the man is willing to marry them. That's all I hear from friends, acquaintances, and even family about how the men want to get married and the women don't.

[robXdion]

You are so FOS and sexist to boot. Make up your mind on what a "real man" is and what a "real woman" is. Being a female doesn't give you carte blanche to go around smacking people because you can't control yourself. And having "less strength" to cause damage doesn't have anything to do with it. Women are ki||ing men with little exertion. - You're the type that yaps about a man's "responsibilities" but don't want to acknowledge the inherent submissive role that would require of YOU as a woman under his protection. A ship can't have TWO captains. You don't know if you want to dominate a relationship or be catered to. Actually you want it both ways depending on your mood at the moment.

[Lucille]

To robXdion,

If what you wrote wasn't so dangerous, it would be hilarious, so I'm only laughing a little bit. You wrote: "You're the type that yaps about a man's "responsibilities" but don't want to acknowledge the inherent submissive role that would require of YOU as a woman under his protection? Yeah, exactly what "protection" is it that you speak of? Is it the kind that Chris Brown gave Rhianna? The kind of “protection” that results in contusions and a mouth full of her own blood, that kind of protection? Obviously Rhianna, and other women like her could do without that kind of protection.

Also, you make my point that a non-submissive women would not tolerate getting beat, nearly to death, then going back and protecting the attacker. So count both me, and evidently this new housewife, as being non-submissive women.

How do we know the housewife wasn't protecting herself? I'd rather see a women beat a man, than a man beat a women any day. The article says the housewife punched him, well if he's calling the police over a few punches by a women with no weapon other than her puny fists, then damn, I ask again, what has happened to the men in America?

[kaaramel]

So basically you're saying women should fearfully submit to men because men can kill women with his brute physically strength? So she must submit so she can be protected by him from him? The curse on women from Genesis 3, loving men that will rule over them. Preach it pastor!

"Give me all your loving, or I will kill you ---- until your dead"
- Macy Gray

That's what it boils down to.

[DEANNADST6]

Yeah, and that s why the NFL player's girlfriend stabbed him in the neck. Women are weak, yeah right.

I know some women that could really go toe to toe with a man. these women today are not made of same stuff of yesteryears women. They are real fighters.