Bethenny Frankel on Dating: 'I Turned All My Burners Off' to Focus on Health and Daughter

"The Real Housewives of New York City" star said she's focusing on her health.

ByABC News
April 6, 2016, 7:38 AM

— -- Bethenny Frankel is near the end of years-long divorce proceedings. But it's not her lengthy divorce that's stopped her from dating. Instead, a new issue in her life has.

"My dating life is uneventful right now. It ebbs and flows. It's by choice," she told ABC News. "I turned all my burners off just to put them on the pilot light, which is something I refer to in my book, 'I Suck at Relationships [So You Don't Have To].'"

Frankel added: "Because of my health, I've turned everything off."

In the season 8 trailer for "The Real Housewives of New York City," which returns to Bravo on Wednesday, Frankel, 45, hints that she's dealing with a health issue that requires surgery.

Although Frankel didn't disclose specifically what she's dealing with, she told ABC News: "I have several female issues that are all sort of colliding at the same time that are like the perfect storm -- the prefect female storm. There have been moments where like right now I'm really feeling great and then there are times where it's really bad. And so it can be challenging for work if it's really bad because it does interfere."

Frankel said when it comes to her love life, it depends on how she feels week by week.

"I have a date this week but that's just sort of filler," she explained. "I'm not motivated to date right now."

Instead of dating, Frankel said she enjoys spending time with her "fun, little spunky" 5-year-old daughter, Bryn. In fact, she's already giving her daughter relationship advice for when the time comes.

"It starts now," she said of advising her daughter about potential suitors. "There was a movie we were watching -- like a teen-y movie -- and the boy was trying to kiss [the girl] and she didn't want to kiss him, so he broke up with her. I was like saying [to Bryn], 'You never have to kiss a boy if you don't want to kiss a boy. Ever! You find another boy to be friends with.'"

And even if Frankel does end up falling for her own potential suitor down the line, don't expect her to walk down the aisle anytime soon. "I don't believe I would get legally married again," she said. "I don't ever want to enter into a contract. I'm still in the contract that I entered into years and years ago."

The reality television star announced in 2012 that she was divorcing estranged husband Jason Hoppy after three years of marriage.

Frankel is hopeful her divorce will be finalized soon.

"I think there's a light. There's a light. I'm not in the dark. I can see the end of the tunnel," she said.