Let's say you built a giant brand based on how perfect and skinny and fab your life has been, and then let's say assume that a sperm donor the fairy tale marriage and a beautiful baby would be the cherry on top of said perfect life. You know what would really suck? If, due to your desire to become even more of an empire, you find yourself in a bitter divorce while you're in the middle of penning yet another lifestyle book.
Apparently, that is what is happening with the polarizing reality star Bethenny Frankel. In the midst of writing Skinnygirl Solutions, she now finds herself in a custody (and closet) battle with soon to be ex-husband Jason Hoppy. What's a girl to do?
It's like a Bravo break-up…or is it? There is a lot of gossip swirling about a feud between a neurotic former non-housewife from Real Housewives of New York and a certain Bravo front man who has basically made said woman into what she is today—with multiple spin-offs. Jill Zarin knows what I'm talking about, right?
There is news that Bethenny Ever After star Bethenny Frankel is biting the hand that once fed her. And that hand is attached to a man who will one day be my biffle for life. Ride or die. Perhaps when he stops engaging in housewives of past drama, he'll have more time to cultivate a friendship with me. A girl can dream, can't she?
So according to the interwebs, Bravo main man Andy Cohen isn't feeling the love from the woman–and empire–he had a hand in creating. That has to hurt! Many media outlets are reporting that Bethenny is turning her back on the network and the man who made her into the ultra-skinny multi-millionaire she is today. Again, somewhere Jill is laughing her butt off…while trying to secure a new contract for the upcoming season. Heather who? Holla!
Stop the presses and pour me a Skinnygirl margarita! On second thought, don't…I prefer my cocktails to taste good and go straight to my hips.
I have some wonderful news that will excite the masses. Whether you're a diehard Bethenneedy fan, a Bethennybody-else-but-her hater, or a passive and neutral Frankel, my dear, I don't give a damn, you are going to like what I have to say! Well, that third group probably couldn't care less, but the others–oh, the others!–will be thrilled! P.S. I'm working on a trademark for my newly coined phrases, so use at your own risk. TM, Ms. Frankel, TM!
Anyhoo, can you guess who this post is about? Anyone? Real Housewives of New York veteran and purveyor of Hoppylicious spin-offs and diet liquor concoctions Bethenny Frankel made an announcement earlier Monday on her website. The post was aptly titled "My Big Announcement." You have to give her credit, Bethenny always has been a straight shooter!
Well, you win some; you lose some apparently. This week BeamGlobal, the company that now owns Skinnygirl Cocktails and its affiliates (they now offer wine and vodkas) unleashed its new ad campaign. The campaign tells us to “Drink Like A Lady,” and curiously absent is a person who is hardly ladylike at all – Bethenny Frankel!
“Bethenny started this brand in an amazing way,” says Kevin George, Beam’s SVP & Global CMO told Forbes. “But as we look to consumer research of what women are looking for in terms of calorie-consciousness and convenience, we found there’s a huge group of people who are into that but actually don’t know who Bethenny is yet.” Imagine that?!
Perhaps once her new talk show debuts, her fans may increase, but as Beam seeks to take the Skinnygirl line global,Bethenny Ever After isn’t a well-known show. Although I have to wonder if BeamGlobal feels the weekly meltdowns featured on BEA may be hurting the brand…
Bethenny Frankel’s new book Skinnydipping debuts on Tuesday, May 1st, and it looks like she might have a hit on her hands.
This is Bethenny’s first attempt at fiction and the early reviews are positive. The Hollywood Reporter gushed:
Skinnydipping is a totally fun, dishy read, especially for fans of reality TV. Clearly, Frankel has drawn inspiration from her own life to construct the plot of the novel and half the fun is trying to figure which characters and events might be drawn from her real life and which are entirely made up.
Love her or hate her, you can’t deny she’s doing something right when it comes to branding and business ventures. And apparently she can write novels, too.
It looks like Bethenny Frankel should go ahead and treat herself to that $35,000 furniture. Reports show that the sales of her Skinnygirl cocktails have rocketed over the past year.
A market research firm estimates that Bethenny’s Skinnygirl drinks have had an increase in sales of almost 400%! Alcohol sales in general have seen an increase, but Skinnygirl’s sales have risen approximately 388%!
While Bethenny sold the rights to the drinks to Beam Global in a lucrative deal, she continues to work with them to promote the line and reportedly receives a cut of the profits. And promote them she does – and successfully, it looks like!
Back in 2011, she said that she created the cocktails after realizing how impossible it was to find a low-calorie drink. “I created a sub-category that never existed. I wasn’t an expert — I was just another person bothered by a 700-calorie margarita.”
Bethenny is laughing all the way to the bank as she continues to branch out her Skinnygirl brand to shapewear, cleanses, and who knows what’ll be next!? Roller skates? Budget furniture? $10 glass bowls for holding phone chargers.
In other Bethenny-is-taking-over-the-world news, she shared on Facebook yesterday that her new talk show is set to premiere on June 11th!
She shared: “I’m so excited to announce that my talk show premieres on June 11th on Fox! Want to be in my audience? Get tickets here.”
That’s just two months away, so start planning your L.A. vacays now.
CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON TO SEE A PHOTO OF HER NEW STUDIO!
Hi RT readers! Introducing our newest writer Maria Diaz to you all today! Some of you might be familiar with Maria as she has been blogging about Bravo shows for a while now. You will be able to read more about Maria tomorrow when we publish her bio! Please give her a great RT welcome! Thanks – RT
Our long national nightmare may be coming to an end; Us Weekly reports this weekend that Bethenny Ever After, former housewife and current Skinnygirl mogul Bethenny Frankel‘s hit reality show, will be coming to an end after its third season premieres on February 20.
Before you put your monogrammed tinfoil hats on and blame this on Jill Zarin, do not fear: the source tells Us Weekly that this was a decision Bethenny came to on her own, wanting to end the show on a “high note” and instead she “is going to concentrate on her many business ventures.”
“The door is open for other projects with Bravo,” the source adds. “But as far as Bethenny Ever After goes, she feels that ending the show on a high note and ending it after this season would be best for her family. She doesn’t want her [20-month-old] daughter [Bryn] to grow up on TV.”
This was a year of almost endless bad press for Bethenny, who for a while seemed virtually untouchable, as viewers watched her go from the sad singleton begging her detached boyfriend to move in with her on Real Housewives of New York City’sfirst season, to happily married, with a baby and a fat bank account after she successfully sold her line of Skinnygirl cocktails to Jim Beam for a highly disputed amount of money. However, then came some lawsuits, an accusation that she faked being lost at sea for her reality show and lastly her talk show got dropped.
In any case, if there’s one thing Bethenny is good at it’s spinning just about anything in her favor (it’s why they pay her the big bucks!) and she did just that at this weekend’s Television Critics Association press junket (this is when the networks roll out previews of all the new shows, along with forcing the actors and other stars to talk to an army of members of the media).
She says all the stories are just making her stronger and it’s a testament to just how popular she is, telling E! Online: “I’m also a little bit flattered because it means I must’ve really made something out of myself, because there are that many that that want to tear me down. A lot of people want to tear me down, and if I were them, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.”
Bethenny also spoke out about her former BFF Jill Zarin. When asked if she had any advice for the now fired Jill, she stated, “Jill Zarin is definitely a survivor. She is definitely well-to-do and I don’t think she’s worried about finding a job.”
Bethenny doesn’t end there going on to give Jill a not so subtle diss. “She was on the show for years, and in many of the cities people are only on for one or two seasons,” Bethenny explains. “It just happens that they make it a little fresher. I’m sure she’ll find exactly what she’s looking for. It probably just stings a little bit. It’s a little bit difficult. She has her own way of dealing with it. I’m sure it’s difficult for her a little bit to watch what’s going on with me. Maybe if I were in her position, that’d be difficult for me, too. She handles it the way she knows how.”
As for what we can expect on the third and reportedly final season of her reality show, Bethenny states we will get to see some marital issues between her and hubby Jason Hoppy. Though she says her marriage has “amazing ups,” it also has struggles: “I just turned 41, and I unintentionally crammed everything in,” said Bethenny. “I got pregnant, I got married, I sold part of my business, and now we’re settling into what married life really is.”
Bethenny notes that she’s still “in therapy,” and despite problems between Jason and herself, she did not request that the cameras be turned off. “We’re going there,” she added.
Regarding her future on Bravo, they are naturally tight-lipped about whether or not the third season of BEA will be her last (I’d like to suggest a follow-up entitled Everybody Hates Bethenny, where she will just deal with all her haters) and the network tells Us Weekly that: “They haven’t even finished shooting this season so no decision has been made about another one yet.”
Whatever the decision is, love her or hate her, no doubt folks will be watching Bethenny, whether to laugh, cry or just speculate on how much plastic surgery she’s truly had done.
[Photo Credit: WENN]
TELL US – THOUGHTS ON BETHENNY CHOOSING TO END HER SHOW? SMART? ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT SEASON 3? THOUGHTS ON HER COMMENTS ABOUT JILL & HER MARRIAGE?
Bethenny Frankel has built a franchise and identity on being the Skinnygirl, but now that the reality star’s life is in turmoil she’s become the TOO Skinnygirl! In today’s not so surprising news the media is questioning Bethenny’s behavior yet again — this time for her gaunt appearance!
Bethenny has always been on the teeny side causing fans to wonder about her weight and lifestyle choices for years — particularly because of some controversial statements regarding losing and maintaining weight in her book Naturally Thin.
Life & Style is reporting that the itty-bitty former Housewife has insiders “concerned” about Bethenny over-doing it, despite claims that she doesn’t do anything “extreme”, and preaches “everything in moderation.” Reality Tea has reported that Bethenny’s weight has dropped severely in recent years.
According to the mag all the upheaval surrounding the brand and image she has worked so hard to cultivate is taking a toll on Bethenny, who an observer notes looked “very thin” at a recent appearance. “Her arms were particularly tiny and frail. She looked almost sickly.” Another eyewitness confirms: “Bethenny is scary skinny in person. She looks emaciated and ill.”
An insider speculates that with Bethenny losing control of her “world” she is taking it out on her diet and has become “obsessive” about portion size and has taken to eating snacks, like small bags of pretzels, instead of a meal or she claims she forgot to eat. “Because I’m so busy, I’m not always hungry,” she confessed to the mag. Bethenny has made no secret of her struggles with her weight, telling anyone who would listen that her mother, Bernadette Birk, sent her to weight-loss camp as a child and that her classmates called her a “whale.”
Additionally, Bethenny is desperate to regain the public’s positive image of her as the “rags to riches, little girl lost who made it big” and is apparently using her weight to gain acceptance from the media and fans.”Bethenny’s in a panic,” an insider reveals. “She’s being attacked left and right for not being real.”
Indeed, Bethenny’s fear of public rejection has left her so worried she’s hired help! “She’s so frantic to improve her image, she’ s hired image consultants to guide her through 2012.” Well, I say she needs it with all the nonsense she’s been embroiled in lately!
While insiders are claiming Bethenny’s life is falling apart the Bethenny Ever After star recently blogged about all she has to be thankful for. After imparting her advice for a healthy and simple holiday meal, Bethenny noted her appreciation for her amazingly patient husband Jason Hoppy, her daughter Bryn and dog Cookie.
“I’m most thankful for my family, and in particular my beautiful baby girl Bryn. She has changed my perspective on life. She has made me more grateful and aware, and has given me different purpose than I had before,” Bethenny wrote.
“I’m grateful for a loving and supportive husband who is a great father to Bryn and a good friend to me,” she added. “I’m especially grateful to Cookie who has been with me through the most difficult and influential stages of my life. She is woman’s best friend and I love her as much as a child.”
I’m glad Bethenny is recognizing all the people who put up with her cray-cray and still love her for the wack-a-doo she sometimes is! Hopefully 2012 will be a more positive year for Team Frankel or I’m predicting she may go the crash and burn route of the Kardashians with too many negatives and too many scandals overshadowing the positives! Best of luck Bethenny in getting things on track and remember: eat some holiday cookies!
THOUGHTS ON THE ARTICLE – DO YOU BELIEVE BETHENNY IS TOO THIN? IS SHE JUST REACTING TO STRESS OR DOES SHE HAVE A PROBLEM? DO YOU THINK 2012 WILL IMPROVE FOR BETHENNY OR ARE FANS TIRING OF HER CONSTANT DRAMA?
