Bethenny Frankel sobbed on the witness stand as she described how her ex-husband Jason Hoppy tormented her for six-and-a-half years after she asked for a divorce and the custody battle for their daughter began.

In the third day of their bitter custody hearing at Manhattan's Supreme Court on Wednesday, a weepy Frankel described in detail how Hoppy tried to turn their eight-year-old daughter Bryn against her, turned her life into a 'torture chamber', and even left mess in the toilets of their Tribeca apartment for her to find.

Among the more disturbing anecdotes Frankel, 48, gave was one in which she described Hoppy drawing a picture of her beloved dog Cookie and leaving it in Bryn's lunchbox for her to find just a day after the pup died. It was signed 'Dad'.

The court also heard recordings of phone calls between Hoppy, 48, and Bryn in which he told his daughter that Frankel wouldn't let him speak to her.

Frankel, who had the support of new boyfriend Paul Bernon in the courtroom,, described in detail the 'thousands' of 'abusive' text messages, emails, and phone calls Hoppy has bombarded her with since they split in 2012.

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Bethenny Frankel wipes a tear from her face as she leaves the courtroom after giving four hours of testimony against her ex-husband Jason Hoppy at a custody hearing in Manhattan's Supreme Court on Wednesday

Bethenny Frankel leaves court on Wednesday after testifying against her ex-husband Jason Hoppy as part of their custody battle. Her current boyfriend Paul Bernon is pictured walking behind her

She is fighting not only for sole custody of Bryn but also for sole decision making powers on the grounds that she is afraid of her unpredictable and 'violent' ex.

Hoppy claims they are co-parenting successfully despite Frankel crying on the stand and asking the judge to tell her ex-husband to stop 'glaring' at her.

Frankel said on Wednesday that she was once so scared of Hoppy that she put a padlock on her bedroom door when he refused to leave the apartment after she asked for a divorce.

'I was helpless, I had no way out. I knew what he was doing was illegal. I knew I was being abused,' the tearful Real Housewives of New York City star said at the start of her testimony.

'I pleaded, begged, emailed, to please stop harassing and abusing me.'

Hoppy and Frankel met while she was filming the second series of the show. They married in 2010 while she was pregnant with Bryn. In 2012, Frankel told Hoppy that their marriage was over.

Frankel's face was etched with emotion as she left the courtroom after a grueling morning of testimony

Frankel said that Hoppy warned her after she asked for a divorce that 'this is war'.

'If you leave me you are dead to me,' Frankel said Hoppy told her. 'I want nothing to do with you. I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to ruin your life.'

Frankel said she had told Hoppy that she wanted to co-parent harmoniously, and even one day be friends who could share holiday dinners or vacations together. But she claims he only reiterated that he wanted revenge.

'I'm going to destroy your life,' Frankel said he told her. 'I'm going to have you and your publicist on the floor crying.'

Frankel said life soon became a 'torture chamber' and 'outright mayhem' at the Tribeca apartment that she had bought for them.

She claimed that Hoppy would lay in their marital bed and just stare at her face until she had to call friends and beg them to help her get him out of the bed.

Frankel and Hoppy got married at The Rainbow Room in 2010 when she was heavily pregnant with their daughter. She described on Wednesday how happy they were to appear in a reality TV show together afterwards

Hoppy is seen here leaving the Manhattan Supreme Court following a long day of testimony from Frankel on Wednesday

Frankel said Hoppy would lock her dog Cookie into the storage room for hours and leave negative press clippings about her around the house where she could find them. When she tried to throw them away, Frankel said Hoppy would dig them out of the trash and put them back.

Describing the state he left the home in, Frankel described 'rotting food in the refrigerator and 'dishes piled to the top' of the sink.

'He would go to the bathroom in the toilets and wouldn't flush them. He would whistle and sing and slam doors,' she continued.

'He did everything he completely and possibly could to torture me.'

When they split, Hoppy refused to leave the apartment when it was Frankel's turn to be with their daughter - even taunting her while she read Bryn bedtime stories, she said.

Frankel also recalled how her ex-husband and his father would walk around the house in their underwear and that he would often invite friends to stay for days on end.

'I begged, pleaded, asked Jason to please leave. He refused,' she said.

Frankel walked into court in Manhattan on Wednesday with the support of her boyfriend Paul Bernon (right) nearby

Bernon watched throughout Frankel's tearful testimony on Wednesday and spoke with her during breaks

Eventually, Frankel moved out. The abuse, she said, then became worse 'but different' via a steady stream of emails and text messages.

'They were abusive, mean, insulting,' she said.

One of his favorite taunts was to call Frankel by her mother's name, Bernadette, or Bonnie, which was her nickname.

'I'm trying to be a mom, run a business, keep myself together. It scared me, made me feel helpless, hopeless, and alone

Frankel and her mother Bernadette Birk, who she said suffers from alcohol and mental health issues, have been estranged for decades.

'He'd say I was dangerous and going to have a mental breakdown,' Frankel claimed.

'He said I was going to do to Bryn what my mother did to me. He'd say I was just like my mother, that I would never know what it's like to have a family, that thank god Bryn had Jason so that she'd know what it's like to have a family.

'He knew it would upset me and cut me to the bone,' Frankel recalled on the stand.

Frankel said she would 'shudder' every time she saw an email from Hoppy, and that the 'vast majority' of the messages were 'abusive'.

Frankel at one point mentioned her 'boyfriend' as she told the judge of how she was a 'homebody' who rarely went out to social events in the months she doesn't film Real Housewives of New York

Bernon held Frankel's bag for the reality star that morning as they walked into the Manhattan Supreme Court

'It was like a visceral reaction every time I looked at my phone and saw his name,' she said.

'The reason I didn't completely ignore them was he's the father of my daughter. You have to read correspondence from the co-parent. That one time could be she fell on the playground or something happened.'

Frankel said she suffered 'emotional, mental, and physical' effects from the 'thousands' of emails.

'I'm trying to be a mom, run a business, keep myself together. It scared me, made me feel helpless, hopeless, and alone,' she said.

Frankel said she currently has an understanding with Bravo and does not work on Real Housewives of New York City on the nights or weekends she has Bryn.

'I've chosen to wind things down a lot more than I used to be,' she said. 'I was feeling stretched.'

'This ongoing, horrible situation has been another job. Going through a six-and-a-half year nightmare, something has to give. I want a better quality of life.'

Frankel and Bernon are seen speaking to each other during a lunch break on Wednesday

Frankel is shown, left, leaving the courtroom for a brief break and right, heading out for lunch

If there's an all-cast event she must attend, Frankel said she is the 'first one there and the first to leave so I can be back before bedtime'.

The reality star also addressed the days of school Bryn had missed, including one day this year that included a trip Frankel took to Los Angeles for press about her ongoing relief work, and two days as part of a Christmas vacation in Mexico. Frankel said she discussed both absences with Bryn's teacher first.

'I've worked hard to give her experiences, and I want her to have them,' she added.

But Frankel said Hoppy has had a 'big issue' with these days off from school, accusing her of narcissism and using the absences to accommodate her own social calendar.

Frankel said Hoppy has even gone as far to call Bryn's principal and demand that the reality star not be allowed to come visit or eat lunch with her daughter on his custody days.

The principal denied Hoppy's demands after Frankel showed her their custody agreement, she added.

She said Hoppy would often make fun of her looks and frequently called her 'old, ugly, and irrelevant'.

On her 43rd birthday, the reality star said Hoppy told her, in front of their daughter: 'Ugh, is that what 43 looks like?'

Frankel looked chic in a black coat and hid her face behind large sunglasses as she left the courtroom following hours of testimony

Frankel put on a smile although she was visibly tired from the long day and told reporters she was excited to get home

In 2014, two years after she asked for a divorce, Frankel agreed to a custody agreement with Hoppy that allowed him to have two phone calls per day with Bryn.

Hoppy, she said, used the mandated phone calls as a new opportunity to harass her and try to turn their daughter against her.

'Phone calls were Jason's new tool in his arsenal to abuse me,' Frankel said.

'The majority of phone calls and FaceTimes were Jason staring into the phone, sometimes in his underwear. He'd say "You lost.'''

'It was way worse than the emails and texts,' Frankel continued. 'Having a child in the car with me, or him, while Jason is abusing me, is bad for Bryn.'

Hoppy's defense team tried to stop recordings of the phone calls from being played in the courtroom, but their request was denied by the judge.

At one point Frankel could be seen speaking to her lawyers during the day, which was filled with numerous objections from Hoppy's legal team

Among the nine recordings taken between 2014 and 2017 that were played during Frankel's testimony was one in which Hoppy can be heard telling Bryn: 'Just two more days and you're going to be back with daddy'.

'Bryn you love your daddy, it's so nice to have a daddy who loves you,' he continued.

The majority of phone calls and FaceTimes were Jason staring into the phone, sometimes in his underwear. He'd say 'You lost'

In another, Hoppy is heard saying: 'Bryn tell mommy to FaceTime me. I don't know why mommy won't FaceTime me I want to see you'.

'I don't know why mommy is making it so difficult. I don't know why she's recording things when she shouldn't be.'

'I don't know why mommy won't let me talk with you. You'll be with daddy soon.'

On one occasion, when Bryn told Hoppy that Frankel had a friend in the car, he taunted hid ex-wife.

'Which boyfriend do you have now? I see how you want to do things Bethenny, I got it,' Hoppy can be heard telling her.

Although Bryn now has a phone of her own, Frankel said she has a hard time getting hold of her daughter when Bryn is with Hoppy.

'The phone usually goes directly to voicemail. Bryn answers occasionally, very seldom,' she said.

Frankel wrapped up in a chic black coat and sported a dazzling pair of black and white stilettos as she walked into court with Bernon and her assistant

On one such instance, while she was on vacation in Mexico and Hoppy was in the Turks and Caicos with Bryn and his parents, Frankel said she eventually had to call the Turks and Caicos police as well as her attorney when she didn't hear from her daughter for days.

Meanwhile, Frankel said she will sometimes receive up to 10 emails over the span of a weekend from Hoppy's assistant demanding that she facilitate a call between him and Bryn when their daughter is staying with her.

'It's a new pocket, it's a new way for Jason to poke at me, send excessive emails at me,' she said. 'It makes me feel like this is endless, helpless, sad, nervous, stressed.'

Frankel said Hoppy told her he would 'stop at nothing' to ruin her life and was threatening and verbally assaulting as well, whether they were at one of Bryn's doctor appointments or even at the school yard.

'If I would be giving her a big hug, he'd say I was desperate and pathetic. He's say I looked ugly and old. He'd laugh and whistle,' she said.

Frankel also described the incident in which Hoppy was arrested for harassment at her daughter's school in 2017.

Frankel spoke at length of Hoppy's excitement and enthusiasm for their past reality shows. The couple are pictured here on Bethenny Ever After in 2011

The couple were often filmed enjoying vacations and parenting Bryn during their two seasons of Bethenny Ever After (pictured in 2012)

Frankel was attending Bryn's recital with her late ex-boyfriend Dennis Shields when Hoppy appeared unannounced.

'I see how you want to do this. You can get 10 lawyers and you can't stop me. You've been warned. There's nothing you can do to stop me,' Frankel recalled him saying.

Frankel said Hoppy then turned to Shields and called her 'pure evil'.

'We had settled custody, finances. It was supposed to be time to co-parent,' she said. 'He ramped it up and took it to another level.'

Frankel couldn't hold back tears as she said it reached a 'fever pitch'.

'I was afraid for my safety. My daughter was steps away and he was threatening me in front of people at the school. I didn't know what he was capable of,' she continued.

Frankel went to the police and Hoppy was arrested. An order of protection was issued that had since expired, and Frankel said she now makes minimal face to face contact with her ex-husband.

'I'm not comfortable in Jason's presence,' she said. 'It's very contentious. We're not in a good place, even in the courtroom.'

Frankel said that Hoppy continues to insists that they put on a 'united front' and attend doctor appointments and school events together.

When the judge asked what it would take for Frankel to attend a doctor's appointment with Hoppy, she replied: 'What would it take for someone whose been abused by someone for six-and-a-half years to sit with them in a room? I don't know, I don't know. It's not intellectual, it's visceral.'

Emails revealed Hoppy has blamed Frankel's fame for harming their daughter's upbringing, even claiming it was the reason why Bryn was rejected from the prestigious Friends Seminary Day School (pictured) in February 2015

Frankel said there have also been a number of instances in which Bryn has come home to her with stitches and bruises that Hoppy did not inform her of.

Bryn told Frankel the stitches on her thigh in August 2016 came from cutting a doll's hair. In another instance, Frankel received a phone call from CityMD, an urgent care walk-in medical center in New York, informing her that Bryn and Hoppy had just left and that she had received stitches on her foot after it got caught in a bicycle tire.

Emails that were read in court on Tuesday revealed that Hoppy has blamed Frankel's fame for harming their daughter's upbringing, even claiming it was the reason why Bryn was rejected from a prestigious Manhattan private school in 2015.

But Frankel said that Hoppy was 'very active' in the reality shows they appeared on together during happier times, including Bethenny Getting Married, which documented the planning of their wedding, and Bethenny Ever After, which followed Frankel's pregnancy and the beginning of the couple's parenting journey with Bryn.

Frankel said Hoppy was a 'very willing' participant in both shows. 'As the kids would say, he was down,' she quipped.

'He tried to get involved with my businesses, work with my agents, bring in opportunities. He was in my office a lot, looking for a new passion.'

Frankel and Hopper married in March 2010, two months before their child was born. They are pictured here in 2012 just months before they split

Frankel said Hoppy was also willing to have private conversations about their relationship on-air, including discussions about their sex life, and that they popped champagne together when their show was the highest-rated premiere in Bravo history at the time.

'We were in the hustle together,' she said. 'The publicity was part of our life for sure, and it was exciting.'

Frankel described herself as a 'homebody' who only goes out for a social obligation around one night a week when Real Housewives of New York City isn't filming.

'The time I'm not with Bryn is divided with work, or I travel or I spend time with my boyfriend,' she said, referring to Bernon.

'The show forces me to put on clothes and make-up and have cocktails more than other parts of the year.'

After nearly seven hours on the stand, the court adjourned. Frankel was visibly tired as she walked out of the courtroom, her face covered with large sunglasses.

The reality star leaned against the wall as she waited for the elevator and told reporters she couldn't wait to get home.

Frankel and Hoppy are due back in court on March 25.