Celebrities

Maybe you love her. Maybe you hate her. Maybe you don't even know who she is.

I, with an appropriate amount of embarrassment, must admit that I do know. Bethenny Frankel is a “Real Housewife” with a famously volatile love life and a famously ineffective filter. Let's just say “frank” is in her name for a reason.

In keeping with her outspoken ways, she's vocal about dating advice and has what I'll call “polarizing” opinions on the subject. In her recent dating manual, I Suck at Relationships So You Don't Have To: 10 Rules for Not Screwing Up Your Happily Ever After, she writes "Here’s my confession: I suck at relationships. I find relationships to be just about the most impossible thing in the world and I’ve done so many things the wrong way that I’ve become, strangely, a sort of expert at what not to do."

With that in-your-face intro, Frankel proceeds to dole out advice and opinions that will either have you nodding in agreement or turning red with rage. There's no in between.

For example, she believes “playing games” can be beneficial to a relationship. "A little cat-and-mouse is really necessary,” she told Refinery29, “because the bottom line is, the least interested party always wins — in business and relationships and life.”

When it comes to gender roles, she has brazenly traditional ideals. "I'm okay with the money gap, but men need to feel in control," she told PEOPLE. "There's nothing more emasculating than a woman pulling out her credit card. I don't care how women's lib we are."

Frankel makes her feelings about the sexes clear with chapter titles like “Understand the Man” and “Master the Catch and Release.” Men and women are from two different worlds in her mind. She even refers to men as “the other species” to Refinery29. Unless you accept those differences and learn to understand them, Frankel says “you’re never going to be happy.”

She's also a serious critic of online dating. The only way to meet romantic prospects according to Frankel is to look around and stay open to experiences. It's not the wrong way to find love, but surely it's not the only way, right? Right?

If you think her advice sounds like something out of The Rules or Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, you're not far off. There's a definite old-school vibe to it, but Frankel is confident that her advice is just as applicable now as it was two decades ago.

The subject is ripe for debate. Is she onto something, or are her opinions painfully outdated? Right now you're nodding or raging. Which one is it?

The ongoing feud between Kendall Jenner and Taylor Swift has emerged recently in the press. Apparently the singer still feels betrayed by her one-time friend, and Kendall isn’t acknowledging she did anything wrong by dating Swift’s ex-boyfriend Harry Styles.

“Harry’s always been the biggest issue between them,” according to a report by OK! Magazine. “Taylor thinks it was completely disrespectful for Kendall to be hooking up with Harry after he broke Taylor’s heart.”

Dating a friend’s ex has always been a thorny subject. Does your loyalty to your friend mean that you never cross that particular boundary, even long after they have split? Or should you cast aside your grievances with your ex so that it’s not an issue if your friend ends up dating him?

When two people have split, they are free to make their own decisions, including who they decide to date. Some people are more reluctant to risk friendships than others. Some are more motivated by their passion, so they end up choosing risk because the feeling of love will outweigh the bonds of friendship.

If you are considering dating your friend’s ex, there are several things to consider first – because remember, once you start down that road, you can’t really turn back:

How strong is your friendship? Have you known each other for years, seen each other through break-ups and hard times, or are you relatively recent buddies, or hang out with the same group of friends on the weekend? The level of friendship matters – you’ll feel more loyalty towards someone you have known a while, so you might not want to risk the friendship. On the other hand, if she’s more of an acquaintance, you might not feel bad letting the friendship go.

Are you motivated only by passion or chemistry, or something deeper? Is this just a flirtatious chemistry between the two of you, or are you just curious to see what he’d be like? If so, you might want to reconsider dating your friend’s ex. Think about the pain you might cause her just because you want to act on your impulses. There are plenty of other guys out there.

Have you discussed your feelings with your friend? Maybe you are drawing conclusions that are false. Maybe she wouldn’t mind you dating her ex, or maybe she would and you are giving her the opportunity to vent. Admitting your feelings to your friend is an act of courage and respect for the friendship – don’t hide and sneak around until she finds out. Own your feelings, and be open about what you want.

Are you willing to let go of the friendship? This is the tough question, because we want to have our friendships and love. But if your friend is hurt by your actions, you must allow her that space to grieve so she can heal. That means not demanding her friendship or understanding. Let her process her pain. Maybe she will want the friendship in the end, or maybe she won’t – ultimately, when you make that type of choice, it’s up to her to decide what to do.

Single celebrities have not been shy to admit that they are on Tinder. Stars like Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine, former Miss USA Nana Meriwether and Mindy Kaling have all been spotted on the popular dating app. The latest celebrity to check it out is recently divorced single mom Hilary Duff.

Duff shared her fascination with Tinder on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, admitting that she wasn’t sure what to make of the dating app at first, but she told her girlfriends after helping them swipe left and right on a few of their matches, she wanted to join. They protested, but Duff insisted it would be fun.

Turns out, it has been fun for her – she was recently spotted on a date in a bowling alley, and later in the week getting pizza with the same guy. Apparently, a man she met on Tinder.

Rumors are swirling that she signed up with Tinder to film a new dating reality show, one that follows her around on her various Tinder dates. According to The Daily Mail, film cameras were present when Hilary and her date went to dinner, but the crew left when they went to a bar.

Hilary went into some detail about her date on Seacrest’s show. “We went bowling so we didn't have to talk too much, but we did talk a lot actually,” she said. “He was cool. He brought a friend and I had some friends there. He used to be in editing for reality shows. Now, he's an actor and he just wrote a play. He's an interesting guy. To be honest, I don't really want an actor either … I think he has a few jobs.”

'I'm just a Tinder animal!' she joked. 'I had my Tinder training wheels on for my first date. Now it's smooth sailing.'

Duff’s latest project is a co-starring role in the series “Younger” alongside Broadway star Sutton Foster, where she plays friend and co-worker to Foster who is trying to pass herself off as 26 to keep her job. Duff hasn’t announced whether there is a dating reality show project in the works.

Duff assured Seacrest during her interview that whoever she dates has to be accepted by her son Luca, who she described as a “Mama’s boy.”

According to TMZ, she has swiped right on 9 guys so far since she joined a few weeks ago. Now we just have to wait for the show to launch.

Bravo’s latest reality TV project veered away from the sensational (unlike VH1’s “Naked Dating” which garnered a lot of unwarranted attention). Instead, The Singles Project – dubbed as a “real-time docuseries” on dating - followed eight singles in their search for love, while viewers informed them of what they were doing right and wrong.

Participants had to be willing to be critiqued, so I give them a lot of credit for their courage in putting their love lives and themselves out there on public display. There seemed to be a common goal among them: they wanted to find love, and were more than willing to try something different, to see what they could change to make their dating lives better.

The Singles Project is definitely not the well-choreographed stuff of hit dating shows like The Bachelor. There were no roses, no eliminations, no over-the-top romantic gestures. It was more real-life dating than most of the shows out there.

In a recent interview, the stars of the show talked about their experiences, what they learned, and how dating in front of a camera changed how they viewed themselves and also how they date. Some found love, some walked away still single, but according to Bravo, they say they “consider their efforts to be successful rather than shameful.”

“I learned that I’m a pretty particular person and that I have a tendency to drive people away at times,” said Brian when Bravo asked what he’d gained from the experience. “But on top of that I’ve learned that it’s probably caused by my desire to not settle. My desire to find The One and my desire to find The One that I deem to be my equal and the person that I want to grow old with and love forever and be happy with.”

For Tabasum, the show taught him to open up. “The thing that I learned about myself the most is that I have become so much better at communicating and telling the person that I am dating exactly how I feel—and that was kind of a struggle for me before.”

The cast members who ended up together learned a few things about themselves too. Ericka, who ended up falling for cast mate Lee, admitted: “I learned that I’m a bigger control freak that I thought I was originally.” While it’s too early in their relationship to tell, her awareness of her controlling nature might help her have a different kind of relationship than the ones she’s experiences in the past.

The big takeaway is that we all have things to learn when it comes to relationships. We can all improve our communication. The key is to never stop trying, to never give up.

TV's biggest bachelor seems to have become a matchmaker too, according to the latest buzz in Hollywood. Ryan Seacrest, who has launched such successful reality TV shows as "Keeping up with the Kardashians" (and their spin-offs) and "Married to Jonas" under his Ryan Seacrest Productions banner, has announced that he will be producing a dating competition series called "Dream Date" which will air on FOX.

According to Deadline, which first reported the news, the show will revolve around a group of women looking for love as well as a "celebrity element." No information on which celebrities might be involved, in what capacity, or even how many has been revealed.

Nationwide auditions began last spring, calling for women ages 21 and over to apply. Those auditioning were reportedly given surveys with questions that included: "Do you think chivalry is dead? Are you asked or expected to pay half the final bill? Would you like to be wined and dined? Are you ready to have a life-changing dating experience?"

The questions in the survey point to the failings of today's dating culture. It seems producers are looking for women who are disillusioned with dating and romance on some level. (It makes for good TV, too.) With all of the talk about "the end of dating" and "hook-up culture" in The New York Times and other notable publications, many daters are feeling disheartened, and wondering if they will ever find someone, or if they will ever be romanced at all. Perhaps focusing on the problems with dating is a good way to attract not only contestants, but viewers. The challenge for the show becomes: can we deliver a genuinely positive, romantic dating experience?

We don't know for sure. Producers have started shooting but are tight-lipped on the details. According to Deadline they are looking for a mid-season fall premiere but so far no date has been set.

One thing's for sure: The Bachelor and Bachelorette won't be the only popular dating dramas in the media this fall. With the launch of "Dream Date" and the serial blog posts from two co-workers at Forty Days of Dating (which has gained considerable buzz and is in consideration for a TV deal), we will have more interesting dating stories than ever to follow. And perhaps it will help us figure out our own relationship goals, habits, and challenges so that we can improve our love lives.

Or at least we can have fun watching other people's drama.

Katy Perry recently revealed to Vogue that her break-up with Russell Brand happened via a text message - one that he sent to announce he was filing for divorce. And while she admitted she made mistakes that contributed to its demise, she also realized in retrospect that Brand was very controlling.

"At first when I met him he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they're like, I can't handle the equalness. He didn't like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour. So that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting," she explained to Vogue.

Katy Perry's experience sheds light on something that many people don't consider when entering into a romantic relationship - that one partner may be too controlling, which leads to conflict, self doubt, and a lot of frustration. But it isn't always obvious when you're in love. You may tend to make excuses for your partner or ignore the warning signs.

So how can you be sure you're not dating someone who's too controlling? Here are a few red flags to consider:

He's inflexible. Does he normally get his way when you are making plans, or is it a joint effort? If he's really considering your opinion and feelings, he will listen and try to come up with a solution that makes both of you happy. If he makes you feel guilty and claims you're being unreasonable most of the time, this is a red flag. Don't ignore it. Speak up and let him know your opinion matters.

He has poor communication skills. Some men aren't very emotionally open, and as a result they feel powerless when they are in love. In order to take back some control, they assert themselves when they should be partnering. If your man doesn't want to discuss issues you face, and directs you instead, it's time to address your concerns.

He's possessive. Does he sulk when you go out with your girlfriends instead of him? Does he get angry when you make a decision without his consent, even if it doesn't involve him? If he makes you feel bad for making choices independent of him, then consider it a problem.

He has no accountability. He places blame on other people, including you, because he isn't willing to look at himself. This is common - we tend to blame other people, circumstances, etc. instead of seeing how we contributed to the problem, and what we can do to change things. If he's not willing to look at himself, then maybe it's time to move on.