Bethenny Frankel’s ‘Excuse’ She Used To Leave ‘Real Housewives of NY’

Bethenny Frankel is dropping business knowledge on TikTok. Lesson No. 1 — how to find a way out of a contract with the help of a technicality. It’s exactly how she was able to finally say adiós to The Real Housewives of New York City.

The 51-year-old business mogul shared on TikTok during one of her “business is personal” stories. The subject of this story? Frankel set the record straight on the real reason why she left the long-running Bravo reality TV series.

“People thought I left the Housewives because of money,” she said. “If I had stayed it would have been because of the money. I left because I wanted to leave. I was ready to leave.”

Frankel joined the RHONY when the series launched in 2008 but left after three seasons in 2011. A few years later, she rejoined for season 7 in 2015 but left after season 11 in 2019. At the time, it had been reported that contract negotiations fell apart and the sides couldn’t reach a deal. Turns out, that was kinda true, but with a twist.

“I used a technicality deal point as my excuse,” Frankel explained. “I had just lost someone very close to me and I went to work when the show came back. I didn’t want to. Pros play hurt.  I’m a professional. I show up on time. I deliver. That’s my reputation in business. So there was a new point, and this new deal term was because of Housewives in different cities who just decided not to film because they didn’t like other people, because they were at odds. So they decided not to film, so it affects the quality of the show.”

She continued, “So this became something where they had to add this into all contracts — just like the Bethenny clause named after me — this new point said that if you don’t appear in an episode then you won’t be paid for it, which does make sense. It just doesn’t make sense for me because I already knew that the production company said, ‘We’d never air an episode without you.’  They told me that directly. I have receipts. I already knew that I’m professional and there would be no situation where I wouldn’t show up for work.”

By the way, the “Bethenny clause” stems from when she was, according to The New Yorker, initially presented with a contract that stated Bravo would receive a percentage of any business she promoted on the show. She refused to sign the deal and the contract was tweak to reflect that anything she ever does or promotes on the show, she fully owns. Frankel, of course, would go on to sell her Skinnygirl Cocktails in 2011 for a whopping $120 million. 

This time around, Frankel again said no to signing a deal that stated Housewives would only get paid if they appeared in an episode.

“So, I said no. And the reason for that term is Housewives in other cities weren’t filming. They just decided not to film,” Frankel explained. “And that’s just my excuse. And then the powers that be said ‘We would have changed it, etcetera.’ But every little thing matters. And I don’t bluff. And I just was looking for a reason, and that was a good reason.

“That’s a little business is personal nugget about the fact that I knew that I’d showed up for work every single day when I experienced a tremendous loss, so obviously I’m going to show up for work every day under any circumstance,” she continued. “There can be no more extreme circumstance than that. The little, tiny minute detail that would have never come to pass it was the impetus. That was the catalyst that just said, ‘Boom, not going back.'”