Bethenny Frankel used her first three seasons on The Real Housewives of New York City to launch her Skinnygirl margarita into a $100 million booze brand — something her fellow cast members were happy to help promote.
But when it comes to repaying the favor, many of the New York Housewives now say Frankel has turned her nose up at them.
On Wednesday’s season 10 reunion part 1, Ramona Singer, Carole Radziwill and Dorinda Medley all confronted Frankel about the apparent hypocrisy.
They used Singer’s upcoming “Ageless by Ramona” skincare line as an example, and the fact that Frankel refused to show up to its pre-launch event earlier in the season. She had also slammed Singer for naturally bringing up the beauty cream to the group in conversation, claiming Singer had turned their hangout into an “infomercial.”
When asked in the finale why she had been so dismissive, Frankel had nothing to say. But when the topic came up at the reunion, she said she felt Singer’s business ventures weren’t legitimate.
“Since the show has begun, there was Tru Renewal, Tre Faith, wine, hair extensions, a restaurant that never existed that she said existed,” Frankel explained, listing off previous products Singer has been involved in. “And currently, Ramona is still looking feverishly for a lab to create these products because they don’t exist yet.”
“Currently, I speak around the country about business to women and I think it is not ethical to pretend to women at home that it’s just so easy to get these hair extensions and these restaurants,” Frankel said. “[Ramona] says she’s a maven of everything and she’s not.”
That didn’t sit well with the other Housewives, who pointed out that Frankel has put out products like Skinnygirl deli meat, Skinnygirl candy, and most recently, Skinnygirl jeans — all things she was never knowledgeable about before they started.
“You’re not an expert in jeans!” Radziwil said, Medley quickly adding, “You’re not an expert in bologna.”
Singer went on to explain that she was still “finalizing the formulations” of her skincare line. She also responded to Frankel’s implications that she’s not serious about her career.
“First of all, I put myself through college, unlike Bethenny who had a rich father who put her through college,” Singer said. “She had her own car, she went to BU — I went to state school. I was a buyer for Macy’s. I’m self-made. At 37 years old, I had over a million in the bank and owned two f—— homes. Two f—— homes! And I kept them both.”
“I had a Pinot Grigio that I was doing for two years, but I was doing so much between the HSN and the Tru Faith jewelry — which I lost because of the divorce,” Singer added. “So don’t say anything.”
The million-dollar question was then posed to Frankel from Singer: “Why can’t you support me?”
According to Frankel, she had good reason. “You’ve been terrible to me! You’ve been terrible to me for years Absolutely terrible,” she said, recalling past fights they’ve had throughout the seven seasons they shared together on the show. “Think about all the things you have said to me. You have only been nasty to me for years.”
Unsurprisingly, Singer didn’t agree. “I have not been nasty to you,” she said. “You’re so wrong. You’re the mean girl. You’re the bully.”
“You’re such a bitch to me. Take a mirror,” Singer added. “I’ve not been terrible to you. I’ve supported you in everything. You don’t understand where I come from. You say I’m not a good friend, you don’t know how to have friends! You don’t know how. You’ve have nothing. You don’t see things for what they are. I don’t know what happened in your life, but you don’t see things for what they are.”
Singer’s fellow Housewives stood by her side, Medley stressing that Frankel should have just told Singer, “That’s great Ramona, congratulations” and moved on.
They even knocked Frankel for falsely saying that Singer had criticized Morgan for “having fake businesses.”
“You did!” the three clapped back, as flashback video played of Frankel telling Morgan, “I think you’re a fraud — you come up with these fake businesses and nobody buys any of them,” back in season 8 (when Morgan was trying to launch her own alcohol line named Tipsy Girl).
“You create animosity with all of us,” Singer said. “You don’t support us. You don’t like to engage us or compliment us. Even in your interviews, you knock each and every one of us. You never say anything positive. And it’s really, really upsetting to all of us. And if we say one little thing negative, you [get upset]. You don’t even see what you do to us. You’re very negative.”
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Eventually, the pile-up on Frankel got too much, and she appeared to admit that she was wrong.
“I’m sorry what I said to you,” Frankel said. “If your skincare is really happening, I’ve heard it’s not even being formulated yet, if it’s happening then I’m sorry and I congratulate you on that.”
“I really didn’t want any negativity,” she admitted, as to why she ignored Singer at the finale. “I didn’t want to get into any kind of altercation. And I didn’t want to say what you’re not going to want to hear, so I’d rather say nothing. I don’t want to get into a fight. If you would have come and said, ‘Can we just have a conversation … you know, it kind of hurt me’ — I probably would have said, ‘You know what, my bad.’ ”
That was a good olive branch for Singer, who confessed, “My delivery is bad.”
“My delivery isn’t exactly fluffy,” Frankel responded — Singer pointing out, “We’re similar in that way.”
The Real Housewives of New York City airs Wednesdays (8 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
