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The ladies of Bravo's Real Housewives know how to hurl the insults, but they just might learn a thing or two from Kelsey Grammer. In an interview that aired Monday on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, the 56-year-old actor painted a vivid portrait of his ex-wife, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member Camille Grammer, as fame-hungry and opportunistic.
"I think she married me because I was Frasier," Kelsey said, referencing the character he played on Cheers and its spinoff Frasier. Not surprisingly, his marriage to Camille, 43, didn't work out -- although it did last 13 years.
"Camille asked for a divorce really almost the first day we were married," Kelsey revealed to host Piers Morgan. "If you say you want a divorce enough times, you're going to get one."
Before that happened, however, Kelsey helped Camille grab a taste of the celebrity she'd always wanted. "I have to tell you, the Real Housewives was my parting gift to her," Grammer said on the show. "It was my way of saying, 'Look, you always wanted to be famous. Here you go.'"
Camille has said that Kelsey encouraged her to do Housewives, and even speculated that he did so because he wanted her "preoccupied" so he could cheat. Kelsey doesn't address those rumors in the interview, but he does admit that he knew their days were numbered even as Camille was signing on for the show.
"I remember having one conversation where I said, 'Well, don't worry about it. After the first season, you can do the Divorced Wives of Beverly Hills next season.'"
Kelsey filed for divorce in July 2010 -- during the filming of the show's first season -- and soon afterward stepped out with his new girlfriend, 29-year-old flight attendant Kayte Walsh. The couple was married on Feb. 25, and Grammer says he's never been happier.
"It was insane," he told Morgan of his first meeting with Walsh. "It was like all the planets had danced together into a segregated charm on our behalf."
When Morgan asked whether this was the first time Kelsey had experienced "proper love," the actor didn't miss a beat.
"No question about it," Grammer replied.
Camille, with whom Kelsey says he now has "no contact," recently stepped out with attorney Dimitri Charalambopoulos, 35. No word yet on whether their meeting involved planets dancing together into a segregated charm.
