Bethenny Frankel is an American entrepreneur and author who is best known for her appearances in television reality shows. She appeared in eight seasons of The Real Housewives of New York City, a reality television series aired on Bravo. Bethenny was born on November 4, 1970, in New York City, United States. She is also the founder and head of the lifestyle brand, Skinnygirl, and a disaster relief firm called Bstrong. Bethenny has also written many books that help to make life easier. She appeared in five episodes of ABC’s business reality show Shark Tank. Let us get to know more about Bethenny Frankel.
Net Worth
From her different sources of income as an entrepreneur, television personality, and author, Bethenny Frankel has accumulated quite a good fortune in her name. Her net worth is $70 million as of 2021. Bethanny is one of the richest cast members of The Real Housewives of New York City. She had a salary of $40000 per episode in The Real Housewives of New York City. A massive part of her income is from the show. Another massive part is from her own brand Skinnygirl. Skinnygirl sells novels, beverages, clothes, salad dressing, and DVDs. Bethenny sold the Skinnygirl to Beam Suntory in 2011. The deal was for $100 million. But she kept the right to the brand name Skinnygirl to launch other products. She has a record of earning $55 million in a single year. This achievement landed her on the list of Celebrity 100 by Forbes. She was the sixth highest paid reality show star in 2016 by earning $8.5 million that year.
Bethenny is also active in social media. This is another source of income for her. Bethenny has 2.3 million followers on her official account on Instagram. Instagram pays her per post.
Early life and education
Bethenny was born in an ordinary family in Queens as the daughter of Robert J. Frankel and Bernadette Birk. Her father was a horse trainer and her mother worked as an interior designer. Childhood was not a pleasant age for little Bethanny. Her mother drank so much and created problems in the family. When Bethenny was four years old, her father got separated from her mother. Bethenny’s mother remarried but she didn’t have a happy and calm household. Bethenny hates her childhood and she has said that her mother used to violently quarrel with her stepfather.
She moved on to a boarding school to escape from the unhappy household. She completed her elementary education in Catholic Schools. In 1988 she graduated from Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Later she studied at Boston University for two years. She got her degree in psychology and communications from New York University.
Shark Tank
Shark Tank is a four-time Emmy winner business themed reality show aired on the ABC channel. Bethenny Frankel appeared as a guest shark investor in few episodes of Season 9 and Season 10 of Shark Tank. Her popularity as the CEO of Skinnygirl and the success of her brand is what gave her a seat in the guest panel of the show. Bethenny says it was a fun experience to be a part of the show. But she is aware that she was a little underestimated in business. Her background of The Real Housewives of New York City gave her a not-so-serious first impression in Shark Tank.
But she was able to prove them wrong during the course of the show. Bethenny had the skills when it comes to negotiating.
Personal life and Boyfriend
Bethenny marries Peter Sussman in 1996. Peter was a Hollywood entertainment executive. The marriage lasted only for a year and they got divorced in 1997. She married Jason Hoppy in March 2010. Jason was a pharmaceutical sales executive. Their affair was featured in the show Bethenny Getting Married. Bethenny and Jason have a daughter together. Her name is Bryn. Three years later, the couple got separated and Bethenny filed a divorce case. But there were disputes between them regarding the custody of their daughter Bryn. It was settled by the court in 2014 and their divorce was finalized in 2021. Bethenny was dating Paul Bernon, an American businessman and film producer from 2018. Now they are engaged.
Engagement ring
Like her popularity in television, Bethenny’s engagement ring was also a piece of viral news in media. Her massive diamond ring was the talk of the town. Diamond experts say that the ring is “a 15-carat plus emerald cut center stone flanked by trapezoid side stones”. Its cost has been estimated as nothing lower than a whole $1 million. Her fiance is a multi-millionaire and no wonder the engagement ring costs this much. Bethenny has flaunted her engagement ring in a beach outfit.
Television shows
Other than The Real Housewives of New York City, Bethanny has appeared in several other shows too. In 2005, she was the runner-up in the reality game show The Apprentice: Martha Stewart aired on NBC. She has done several shows in her name like the spin-off show Bethenny Ever After, Bethenny and Fredrik in 2008, a talk show on FOX channel called Bethenny, and The Big Shot with Bethenny. The Big Shot with Bethenny was a reality game show aired on HBO Max. Her other appearances in television include shows like Z Rock, Chelsea Lately, Skating with the Stars, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Beat Bobby Flay, Million Dollar Listing New York, and Bar Rescue.
She has also acted in both minor and major roles in shows like Soiree Sans Hors D’oeuvres, Hollywood Hills 90028, Wish Me Luck, and The Neighbors. Bethenny has also written books for self care and happy life. Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, Body by Bethenny: Body-sculpting Workouts to Unleash Your SkinnyGirl, and I Suck at Relationships So You Don’t Have To: 10 Rules for Not Screwing Up Your Happily Ever After are some of the books written by her.