Bethenny Frankel's Ex Says He Needs a Relationship with Her BF

Bethenny Frankel's ex-husband is bristling over threats by her current boyfriend to sue him for trashing her in emails, saying he's forced to interact with the BF because the guy's constantly around his daughter.

Jason Hoppy fired off a letter to the lawyer for Dennis Shields, who threatened to sue Hoppy claiming he was sending a flurry of disgusting, harassing emails to Bethenny and cc'ing him.

Hoppy, who Shields claimed sent emails calling Bethenny ugly, old and irrelevant, never specifically disputed the content of what he sent, but he did say, "As a concerned father, I often have to contact others when I cannot reach my daughter through her mother."

Hoppy goes on to say as long as Shields is in his daughter's life, "I have no choice but to have some type of relationship with him."