Kelly Killoren Bensimon

Kelly Jean Killoren Bensimon (born May 1, 1968)[1] is an American author, socialite and former editor of Elle Accessories and a former model. She appeared as a full-time cast member on the Bravo television series The Real Housewives of New York City from seasons 2 to season 4.

Kelly Killoren Bensimon
Bensimon at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
Born
Kelly Jean Killoren

(1968-05-01) May 1, 1968
Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesKelly Bensimon
EducationTrinity College, Connecticut
Columbia University (BA)
Northeastern University (MBA)
OccupationModel, entrepreneur, author, TV personality, real estate broker
Years active1980–present
Known forThe Real Housewives of New York City
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Spouse(s)Gilles Bensimon (1997–2007)
ChildrenSea Bensimon
Thadeus Bensimon
Websitewww.kkbloves.com

Early life

Kelly Jean Killoren[2] was born in Rockford, Illinois.[1] She began working as a model while in her teens.[1]

Education

Kelly graduated from Keith Country Day School, a college prep academy in Rockford, Illinois before attending college. She attended Trinity College, Connecticut, but left after a year.[3]She graduated in 1998 from Columbia University's School of General Studies with a degree in Literature and Writing. She completed an MBA with a focus on International Marketing at Northeastern University in 2015.[3][4][5]

Career

Kelly began her modeling career in New York City. She appeared in magazines such as Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Harper's Bazaar. She was once the face of Clarins. She is the editor at large for Hamptons Magazine,[6] a free weekly with circulation of 40,000 to 50,000 and Gotham Magazine.[7] Both publications are owned by Niche Media. She became the founding editor of Elle Accessories, but left after two issues. She authored several books including In The Spirit of the Hamptons, American Style, and The Bikini Book - American Style was edited solely on her Blackberry.[8] Bensimon also wrote a column in Page Six Magazine called "The Socializer: Kelly Bensimon".[9] Kelly Bensimon is also a style columnist for the newspaper AM New York.[10]

Killoren Bensimon was host of the 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);.[11] Bensimon hosted and modeled in menswear events with GQ magazine. She was also an "ambassador" for Spring 2007 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week[12] in New York City. Killoren Bensimon's first line of jewelry was uniquely made with fishing lures and was sold exclusively at Barney's New York. Her second line of jewelry was sold at Bloomingdale's in fall 2007.

Killoren Bensimon joined Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City (seasons 2-4) in 2009 as a full cast member. Her most notable moments on the show include a controversial onscreen nervous breakdown while on a cast trip to the island of Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

After regaining relevance from the Bravo show, Killoren Bensimon appeared on the cover and in a six-page pictorial in the March 2010 edition of Playboy, which was photographed by her ex-husband Gilles Bensimon in August 2009 at Milk Studios in New York City.

On June 24, 2010, Killoren Bensimon announced the launch of her fourth jewelry collection, Kelly by Kelly Killoren Bensimon. The collection mixed metals, leather, feathers and crystals and was sold at Intermix stores across the U.S. to support Feeding America.[13] For spring 2011, Bensimon's jewelry collection was sold at Wink, W hotels, and Dash.

Killoren Bensimon wrote three books for Assouline Publishing: In the Spirit of the Hamptons (2 volumes), American Style, and The Bikini Book. A portion of the author's proceeds are donated to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bensimon's 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 being donated to Generositywater.org. In June 2016, Simon and Schuster published Bensimon's novel A Dangerous Age.[14]

In September 2011, Killoren Bensimon was on the cover of Shape and was featured in a pictorial based on her exercise routine. She also opened the NASDAQ on September 1, 2011 to promote the cover.[15] She was featured in a pictorial in the December 2011 issue of Avenue magazine and was guest editor for the January and February issues. Killoren Bensimon and her girls also appeared on the June 2012 cover of New York Family. Killoren Bensimon's 2013 projects were her fragrance In the Spirit of and her candle line Baiser Rose; her HSN jewelry line which was launched on May 19, 2016 called Kelly Killoren by Kelly Killoren Bensimon. The collection was is no longer available on HSN.com. Killoren Bensimon appeared on Bravo's Odd Mom Out in episodes 9 and 10 of season 2. In June 2016, Killoren released her first novel, A Dangerous Age with Simon and Schuster. The loosely based novel on her personal life exposes the art and publishing world via four female friends who knew each other since they were young models, and places them in New York City with a lot at stake. In August 2017, Killoren launched the sequel The Second Course, which is a well researched odyssey about the alluring food world, and in September, she appeared on WEtv's reality series Million Dollar Matchmaker.

In March 2018, Killoren began to work as an agent for Dolly Lenz Realty in New York.[16] In August 2019, Killoren joined the Douglas Elliman real estate group. [17]

Personal life

Killoren Bensimon was married to fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon until the couple divorced.[1][18] They have two daughters, Sea Louise, born in 1998, and Thaddeus Ann, born in 2000.

Killoren is Catholic.[19][20]

On March 5, 2009, Killoren Bensimon 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. Killoren Bensimon entered into a plea agreement with the State of New York on June 8 to clean her record and was required to stay out of trouble for a year and perform two days of community service in order to wipe her record after her arrest.[21][22]

In August 2017, long after her divorce, Killoren Bensimon explained in a video that she went back to her previous name Kelly Killoren, dropping her ex-husband's last name.[23]

gollark: Ah, so you are NOT downloading the lyricly videoids.
gollark: I assume "tp1a" is Toki Pona 1A somehow.
gollark: ubq home directory reveal?!
gollark: Fascinating!
gollark: Fascinating.

References
  1. "Kelly Bensimon Bio". UsMagazine.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  2. "Kelly Jean Killoren". Geneanet.org.
  3. Wilson, Eric (May 18, 2006). "Bikinis, Breakups and the Glam Game". New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  4. Radziejewski, W. J. (April 1996). "Of All The Reasons To Interrupt An Education" (PDF). School of General Studies, Columbia University. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 7, 2007.
  5. "Kelly Killoren Bensimon". LinkedIn.com. Retrieved 2019-02-04.
  6. "Hampton's Magazine - Contact Us". Hamptons Magazine. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  7. "Gotham Magazine - Contact Us". Gotham Magazine. Archived from the original on June 13, 2008. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  8. "Kelly Kelly Bensimon - Author, Trendsetter, Model & Editor of Elle Accessories". IMG Speakers. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  9. "The Socializer: Kelly Bensimon". The New York Post. August 1, 2008. Archived from the original on April 1, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  10. Gordon, Julie. "Ask Kelly: Submit your style Qs to Kelly Killoren Bensimon". AM New York. Archived from the original on May 8, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  11. "Test Marketing Productions - Dillards Program" (PDF). Test Marketing Productions - Dillards. October 2006.
  12. Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  13. "Real NY Housewife Kelly Bensimon Debuts Feather-Filled Jewelry Line". UsMagazine.com. June 24, 2010. Archived from the original on June 28, 2010.
  14. A Dangerous Age. 2017-02-28. ISBN 9781501136139.
  15. Nasdaq. "Nasdaq: Market Bell Ceremonies". business.nasdaq.com. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  16. "Kelly Killoren Bensimon Has a Brand-New Career". Bravotv.com. March 2, 2018.
  17. "Kelly Bensimon joins Douglas Elliman real estate group". 2019-08-13.
  18. Jade Watkins (May 14, 2012). "They could be sisters! Youthful Kelly Bensimon and her fashionable mini-me daughter cuddle up for Mother's Day".
  19. "Kelly Killoren Bensimon". Stylecaster.com (Interview). Interviewed by Carol. June 16, 2009. I am Catholic and so are my girls.
  20. @kellybensimon (June 5, 2017). "But at the time, I was terrified. I'm Catholic, so I knew that I would go forward with my pregnancy" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. "'Real Housewives of New York City' star Kelly Killoren Bensimon arrested for assault". NY Daily News. March 10, 2009.
  22. "Community Service Deal For Kelly Bensimon". Gothamist. June 8, 2009. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  23. "Bensimon Is Going by a Different Name These Days". Bravotv.com. August 23, 2017.
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