Getty Bethenny Frankel in 2016
During a recent episode of Bravo’s Chat Room, Real Housewives of Potomac star Gizelle Bryant called Bethenny Frankel “broke”…but not exactly in the way you may be thinking of.
During the episode, the women spoke about who they would want on their Real Housewives “all-stars” team. Bryant explained that Frankel would be on her team, but she doesn’t want regular Frankel…she wants “broke” Frankel.
“I’m going to take broke Bethenny,” Bryant said during the episode, according to Page Six. “And the reason why I want her when she was broke — like her Season 1, Season 2 — is because, that’s when she was majorly funny. And she had one-liners, and she was ready and she was hungry, and she was just like all over the place, in a great way.”
Before Frankel sold her Skinnygirl Margarita to Beam Global for $100 million, fans watched as she struggled to get her business off the ground during the first two seasons. Now, Frankel is definitely not broke.
Frankel Used to Be in Debt
During a 2018 interview with Money.com, Frankel revealed that she used to have $20,000 in credit card debt. “Until my late thirties, everything was just an anxiety and a struggle,” Frankel told the publication. “It’s like the way people feel when they eat something and they don’t feel good about it…I’d be on the phone begging to get the [fees] reduced.”
However, now that Frankel is financially secure, she offered this piece of advice to others who may have been in her shoes a few years ago. “You can’t put yourself in a position where, if the s*** hit the fan, you couldn’t pay all of your bills at one time,” Frankel told money.com. “If the world came to an end, I would be able to pay for everything. I might not be left with much, but I can afford what I have.”
Frankel Previously Said That Her ‘Real Housewives of New York’ Paycheck Was ‘Astronomical’
During a February 2020 interview with Variety, Frankel spoke about her Real Housewives of New York exit and how it related to her personal finances. Frankel exited the series after season 3, and then returned for seasons 7-11. “Everyone thinks I left because of money,” Frankel said to Variety. “I wasn’t leaving because of money, I was staying because of money. 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.”
Frankel continued, explaining that her Real Housewives of New York paycheck was “astronomical.” Frankel told Variety, “So it wasn’t the platform anymore. It was really the paycheck, which was, you know, astronomical at that point. And so I was staying because of money. 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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