Heavy/Getty Bethenny Frankel and Martha Stewart
Former “The Real Housewives of New York City” star Bethenny Frankel prides herself on her honesty, and now she’s telling all. Following the release of the Netflix documentary “Martha”, Frankel took to TikTok on November 3 with a multi-post series of videos describing her appearance on “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” in 2005 and her relationship with Martha Stewart in the years since.
“I did not win [the show], I was the runner-up,” Frankel said in her fourth post in the series. “And that was fine, except for the way that Martha said it.”
Frankel went on to say that Stewart “trashed” her in the final deliberation on the show. “My friends were crying. My best friend Terry, who I lived in her house, and my other friend was there, and they were like ‘Oh my god, I hate her.’ She was super mean.”
What Did Martha Stewart Say to Bethenny Frankel?
The full finale of “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart” is available on YouTube. In the final episode, broadcast live in front of a studio audience, Stewart interviewed Frankel and eventual season winner Dawna Stone before jumping suddenly into her final decision.
“Bethenny, you’re spunky. You’re a show-off. You feel you have to make a physical impression which is really not terribly necessary at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Dawna, you are clearly a talented manager and we could always use someone with your business acument at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and I would like to offer you the job of my apprentice,” Stewart said while addressing both finalists. Frankel took the rejection in stride in the episode, hugging her competitor and shaking hands with Stewart.
In her TikTok video, Frankel said she thinks her loss in “The Apprentice” comes down to a few different “strikes” against her, including Stewart seeing a Louis Vuitton purse in her closet during filming, a chance meeting with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (which ended with Allen saying he would put in a word to Stewart on her behalf), and Frankel’s then-recent breast implants (which she has since removed). Frankel attributes Stewart’s comments about her being a “show-off” and making a “physical impression” to these different “strikes” in her video, although she stated that she will never be sure why Stewart chose her competitor.
Bethenny Frankel Apologized to Martha Stewart Later in Life
Nearly 20 years after “The Apprentice”, Frankel shared that she has run into Stewart multiple times, but in a December 2023 episode of her podcast, “Just B with Bethenny Frankel,” she shared that the two had buried the hatchet at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball.
“I walked up to Martha and I sat down and I said, ‘You’re amazing. What you’ve been doing is unbelievable. I’m so impressed.’ I kissed the proverbial ring,” Frankel said. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry for anything that has ever happened.’ Full tail right between legs. Don’t even know what I’m sorry for, doesn’t f—ing matter. Meaning like, we’re both grown-a– women who have nothing to prove in this life.”
Frankel shared some photos from her run-in with Stewart at the Jingle Ball in December 2023 as well, writing, “Tonight I walked up to her in deference and adoration, for the first time, kissing the ring…something she has earned and deserves. We are both mothers of one daughter, older and wiser, and something has shifted, as if I am finally secure in my accomplishments and have earned her respect after all these years… @marthastewart started an incredible path I could never have dreamed of walking.”
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Bethenny Frankel Says Her Friends Cried After Martha Stewart ‘Trashed’ Her