By Leah Ornstein - Breaking Celebrity News Style & Beauty Editor

Now, that’s what we call a positive attitude!

Though Kelly Bensimon may have been surprised when she was not asked back for the fifth season of Real Housewives of New York City, the former model has no animosity toward the popular reality franchise.

In an interview in the upcoming December 2011 issue of , Kelly explains how Bravo “empowered” her, how the opportunity changed her life for the better and which of her former cast mates is her real and genuine pal!

“I’m a 43-year-old woman who Bravo have empowered, who can now support herself and her kids,” Bensimon explained with no regrets in her demeanor’ to AVENUE’s Carson Griffith.

“I wasn’t going into it like it’s my lifelong goal,” she explains about her ambitions about being on the show in the first place. “My legacy isn’t the Housewives. My legacy is the future of my kids.”

And while the show was filled with lots of drama and catfights, the mother of two did come out of it all with a true friend in Jill Zarin.