Bethenny Frankel is on a quest to unionize reality TV — and she’s made some enemies along the way.
The Real Housewives of New York City alum appeared on Team Coco’s with Rob Lowe podcast this week to chat about her “reality reckoning” plan — and how it could impact her relationship with her former network.
“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,” she said on Thursday’s episode.
The one-time Bethenny Ever After? star, 52, is currently working with lawyers and supported by SAG-AFTRA in her campaign for fair conditions for reality TV stars. “While we’re talking about a union and what that would look like, [SAG-AFTRA] also want to know in the short term what they could do to help,” she explained. “And I was saying there should be some language, some contract language that goes into these contracts that everybody in reality knows to include.”
Just a few of the issues on Frankel’s mind are “unrealistic NDAs,” which prohibit reality stars from sharing bits of the show — or their own life — with the public. “It’s a very complicated thing I walked myself into whilst also burning bridges and seeming like I’m biting the hand that fed me, but I fed myself,” she said. “There are a lot of people who didn’t get fed.”
Bravo has commented on Frankel’s NDA allegations in a statement obtained by PEOPLE: “Confidentiality clauses are standard practice in reality programming to prevent disclosure of storylines prior to air, They are not intended to prevent disclosure by cast and crew of unlawful acts in the workplace, and they have not been enforced in that manner. To be clear: any current or former cast or crew is free to discuss and disclose any allegedly unlawful acts in the workplace, such as harassment or discrimination, or any other conduct they have reason to believe is inappropriate.”
Frankel told Lowe, 59, she is advocating for people who are “taking such risks by being their own voice.” And she sees a potential trend as the SAG-AFTRA strike continues. “During this strike, they’re going to be the ones that everybody goes to for cheap labor.”
The Skinnygirl founder said she’s a “shining example” of reality TV success, surrounded by “all these other casualties whose lives have been destroyed” by the television standards.
With a Game of Thrones reference, she added, “Instead of just counting my money and not pissing anybody off, I chose to, you know, shake that whole thing up and burn bridges and torch the kingdom, Khaleesi-style.”
Frankel last appeared on RHONY in 2019. Since, she’s made a few appearances on Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live, but the pair are not necessarily friendly. The Bravo pair addressed their “feud” on a 2022 episode of his show — which all came down to Cohen’s claims Frankel was “trashing” the show as “toxic.”
“I actually haven’t been trashing the show, I’ve said it wasn’t for me, ’cause I do think that it was toxic — and I’m entitled to not want to be there but still talk about it,” she said.
