Heavy/Getty A former RHONY star believes Andy Cohen "despises" her.
Former “Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel is speaking out about her latest endeavor — she is working with high profile lawyers and other reality stars in an effort to form a union so that they are appropriately compensated for their work.
Dubbed the “Reality Reckoning,” Frankel has become the face of this new movement, which she has talked about on social media as well as in various interviews. In one of her most recent chats with actor Rob Lowe, Frankel said that she’s sure that Andy Cohen “despises” her for what she’s trying to do.
“I can tell you with great certainty that everyone at Bravo likely despises me, including Andy Cohen, because it’s very personal and because they have to protect the realm,” Frankel said on the August 31, 2023, episode of the “Literally! With Rob Lowe” podcast on the Team Coco network.
Here’s what you need to know:
Bethenny Frankel Thinks Reality Stars Need Contracts That Don’t Include ‘Unrealistic NDAs’
Frankel admits that she’s not doing this “reality reckoning” to benefit her as she’s really not on reality television anymore. However, she does feel strongly about how some reality stars are treated and she wants to do something about it.
“What we need is, we need a union-not meaning me-I’m not even doing it anymore. Meaning, that genre needs a union because those people aren’t even reading other people’s words. They’re taking such risks by being their own voice. And right now, during this strike, they’re going to be the ones that everybody goes to for cheap labor,” Frankel told Lowe.
“SAG AFTRA reached out to me. And while we’re talking about a union and what that would look like, they also want to know in the short term what they could do to help. And I was saying there should be some language, some contract language that goes into these contracts that everybody in reality knows to include. Like they can’t just exploit people with these unrealistic NDAs,” she added.
Bethenny Frankel Says She Hasn’t Spoken to Andy Cohen About the ‘Reality Reckoning’
Despite moving forward with some of the biggest names in the legal game, including attorneys Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos (per Variety), there’s one person that she hasn’t talked to about any of this — the very person that she believes “despises” her.
Prior to her sit-down with Rob Lowe, Frankel talked about Cohen on an episode of her own podcast.
“Some people say to me, ‘Oh, wow, is Andy mad you’re doing this? Have you spoken to him?’ And I say, I have not, but I’m sure he is. And this is not a target on Andy. This is not a target on Bravo. This is about a systemic issue in the entertainment industry,” Frankel said on the August 21, 2023, episode of her “Just B With Bethenny Frankel” podcast.
Based on the responses that Frankel has received on social media alone, she appears to have quite a few reality television stars interested in working with her to see this through.
Heavy previously reached out to a rep for Cohen for comment but did not hear back.
READ NEXT: Raquel Leviss Deletes a Few Key Posts & People From Instagram