Social media has shown a disturbing trend of women saying they were punched while out and about in New York City, and this week, Real Housewives alum Bethenny Frankel said she was the victim of a similar random attack.
Frankel shared her experience in a now-deleted comment on fashion student Mikayla Toninato’s viral TikTok video. In the video, Toninato says she was punched in the face while leaving a class in New York City.
“I turned the corner and I was looking down at my phone and texting, and then out of nowhere this man just came up and hit me in the face,” Toninato recalled. “I just texted my friends like, ‘Hi, I just got punched in the face,’ and then they sent me a TikTok of this other girl in New York who got punched in the face.”
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Frankel left a comment on the video that read, “This is insane [because] this happened to me a few months ago but I was embarrassed to say.”
“I was on the [Upper West Side],” Frankel wrote. “Insane. I was taking video of a bakery.”
Frankel’s comment comes as more and more women have shared their experiences of being punched in the face by strangers. Whether or not there is a concrete connection between the incidents remains to be seen; New York police told NBC News on Tuesday that they’re investigating at least two similar incidents, but wouldn’t say whether or not they’re the same ones described in any of the TikTok videos.
“I don’t know if this is like a thing that’s going around,” Toninato said in her video, “but I guess if you’re in New York right now and you’re walking while looking at your phone, maybe don’t do that.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Frankel for comment.
