When you think of women who have used Real Housewives as a platform to launch their businesses, Bethenny Frankel breaks the mold. Well, Bethenny made the mold, broke it, and continued to broaden her success.
As much as I’ll miss watching Bethenny shade her frenemies and make business phone calls from the back of her car, I will not miss the constant influx of Skinnygirl promotion on Real Housewives of New York. As we know, Bethenny announced her departure from RHONY in August right before the cast started filming Season 12. Ramona Singer even claimed that Bethenny didn’t even tell the cast themselves and that they all found out through the press. Rumors ran rampant that B left the show after demanding a salary increase. However, let’s be honest: she has plenty of money. At least by my standards, anyway. Recently, Bethenny slammed the reports that she left over a payback. Oh, and she threw major shade at the show that made her famous. Again.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Bethenny recalled, “I was possibly going back, but I just kept thinking: I discussed it with my boyfriend [Paul Bernon] and my friends on beach walks. Everyone thinks I left because of money. I wasn’t leaving because of money, I was staying because of money.” And, hey, who doesn’t want some money?
However, that wasn’t enough for the RHONY OG. She went on to explain, “It no longer became this platform to promote my business, because I had done that, and there was more promoting sort of new and questionable businesses than the legitimate ones at this point, if that makes any sense.” Oh, it does. Well, sort of. Skinnygirl got PLENTY of promotion. Many times over. In. Every. Single. Episode.
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However, I do know what she means. For every Skinnygirl product placement there’s Ramona’s skincare line that never truly came to fruition, Luann de Lesseps‘ laughable collection of statement necklaces, and Sonja Morgan’s self-proclaimed “international lifestyle brand” ran by some unpaid interns.
Then, she shared a very Bethenny metaphor to explain her thought process. Bethenny recalled, “And I just thought to myself, ‘a bartender, a high-class prostitute who’s making a lot of money, you gotta sometimes make a move, and just say, ‘Let me just do what feels right to me.'”
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Bethenny admitted, “It’s taken me longer to order a pasta dish than just to decide this. I just was looking for a reason. And I just was ready to do it. I didn’t want to be there anymore. I didn’t want to be there anymore. I mean, honestly — I just didn’t.” We could tell. Unlike some of the other reality show cast members, it seems like Bethenny only hung out with her costars when she was getting paid.
The shade just kept on coming. Bethenny declared, “I have a real career. So it’s really hard when we’re not covering that what I’m really doing is my career, because I then have to do the show and my real career. So if we’re just showing me having lunches and on vacations, then I’ve got three jobs — because I’ve got to be a mother too.”
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Isn’t that quite the dig? Bethenny may have left Real Housewives, but Real Housewives will always be a part of who she is- especially when it comes to throwing shade. She is a a true professional.
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT BETHENNY’S COMMENTS? DOES REAL HOUSEWIVES FOCUS MORE ON QUESTIONABLE BUSINESSES THAN LEGITIMATE BUSINESSES? DID BETHENNY DISS HER FORMER COSTARS? OR WAS SHE JUST BEING HONEST?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
