Tamra Judge reacted after a small business owner accused Bethenny Frankel of reaching out about promoting her brand, only to allegedly snub her afterward. The 58-year-old TV personality said they backed her on the podcast, stressing they “want nothing free.”
Bethenny Frankel “offered to help” a small business owner, but things went wrong
Small business owner Amanda Rojas, who owns The Candy Lace, slammed Frankel. According to Rojas, the 54-year-old Real Housewives of New York City alum reached out and expressed interest in helping promote her brand. However, the business owner claimed that Bethenny ultimately snubbed her.
In a carousel post on Instagram, Rojas criticized Bethenny for sharing posts featuring items from her brand. She claimed the Bravo alum credited the items to rival brands or failed to give her brand any credit. She captioned the video, “Stories moving to main because I have nothing but my voice. Words can’t express how disappointed and heartbroken I feel.”
In the first slide, she wrote, “I’m having a really hard time with my work being [miscredited] and omitted from sourced brands after initially offering to help and having me send this product.” After Bethenny credited Bauble Bar and Gold Haus, Rojas questioned whether the lack of credit toward her brand was intentional.
The owner added that she had stayed quiet about the situation for three months and tried to make the best of it by reposting Bethenny’s images. However, she pointed out that Bethenny had never publicly acknowledged that she made the pieces. She admitted that it was heartbreaking.
Rojas clarified that she didn’t send Bethenny her items without reason or expectation. She explained, “We had a conversation after my piece was misrepresented by another brand. I really wanted to believe the best in all parties and to be patient. I understand that everyone has their own life going on. This feels pointed, though. And it’s really crushing me.”
According to an email from Bethenny’s team dated May 11, 2026, they expressed interest in featuring Rojas’ Etsy shop on social media and said Bethenny loved her pieces. However, a later email asked her to remove promotional content featuring Bethenny and offered a paid partnership, noting that Bethenny’s standard licensing rate was $30,000 per piece for 30 days.
Following Rojas’ post, Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra Judge showed her support in the comments. She wrote, “We supported you on the podcast today and want nothing free,” and added a hashtag for “support small business.” The post also drew reactions from other users, including one who wrote, “The email saying she loves to support small businesses but that her rate is $30,000 is hilarious.”
The controversy comes just months after Bethenny faced similar criticism from Lexi Ioannou. According to RealityBlurb, the 30-year-old daughter of Real Housewives of New Jersey alum Dina Manzo accused Bethenny of improperly crediting shoes she had gifted her. Lexi claimed Bethenny instead, linked to a similar brand to earn money through a commission.
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