Bethenny Frankel Breaks Silence After Andy Cohen Revealed He Didn’t Want Her on ‘RHONY’ at First
Bethenny Frankel is one of the most iconic stars of The Real Housewives of New York City franchise. The entrepreneur help put the show on the map and was loved by fans for her upfront attitude. However, Andy Cohen was seemingly not fond of casting Frankel on the Bravo reality series in the beginning. Now Frankel is breaking her silence following Cohen’s revelation.
Why wasn’t Bethenny Frankel a good fit for RHONY?
Frankel joined RHONY in 2008 and was part of the original group of housewives. The Skinnygirl founder quickly became a fan favorite for being a straight shooter. However, executive producer Cohen didn’t always feel Frankel would be a good fit for the show because she was too well-known.
In The Real Housewives tell-all book written by Dave Quinn, Cohen said he didn’t want Frankel to be part of the original cast.
“Andy talks openly about having some bad decisions,” Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It author Quinn told Us Weekly. “He wasn’t really interested in Bethenny. … She had been on [The Apprentice: Martha Stewart], and it was this idea about, ‘Is it going to be a shark-jump moment to have another reality star on the show?’”
Frankel would go on to star in the first three seasons of the franchise before landing her own spinoff series focused on her wedding. The reality star would later land a daytime talk show gig that was short-lived and would return to RHONY in season 7. Frankel would end up quitting the show for the second time ahead of season 12.
Bethenny Frankel comments on why Andy Cohen didn’t want her on RHONY
Frankel proved to be a great housewife on RHONY despite having appeared on a reality show before. After Cohen’s revelation about the star made headlines, Frankel reacted to his words on the Just B with Bethenny Frankel podcast that was released on Oct. 21.
“The reason that Bravo didn’t want me on, Andy Cohen didn’t want me on, was because I was already on a reality show,” the RHONY alum said. “So, I had some slight — basically no — awareness. Like, I was nobody, but to him, that was, ‘You had a preexisting profile,’ meaning they wanted it to be real.”
She went on to add that the cable network “wanted it to be real people in New York that are not famous.” Of course, Cohen and Bravo would reverse this when they started hiring actors — especially seen in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
What Bethenny Frankel misses about RHONY
Frankel has moved on from RHONY and has no plans on coming back to the franchise. However, she recently did open up about what she misses about the reality series she starred in for 8 seasons.
“There’s a lot of laughing on the ‘Housewives.’ There’s a lot of satire, and it was fun to react off people. The comedy is funny. The craziness is funny,” Frankel told Variety in an interview.
And the thing that she doesn’t miss is the “stress” of it all and the arguments between the cast.
“Someone’s always winning and someone’s always losing — and there’s always a gotcha moment,” she added.
Frankel continues to oversee her company Skinnygirl.
