31 Facts About Bethenny Frankel

Bethenny Frankel starred in the Bravo television series The Real Housewives of New York City, appearing in eight of its thirteen seasons since its 2008 premiere.

Outside of her work in reality television, Frankel is the founder of the Skinnygirl, a lifestyle brand, and BStrong, a disaster relief initiative.

Bethenny Frankel's father was German-Jewish, whereas her mother was a Roman Catholic of Welsh descent.

Bethenny Frankel's father left her mother when Frankel was four years old.

Bethenny Frankel says her mother "was always drinking" and often argued violently with her stepfather.

Bethenny Frankel said she moved many times and attended multiple schools before going to boarding school.

Bethenny Frankel attended Catholic schools as a girl, and she graduated in 1988 from the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she lived on campus.

Bethenny Frankel attended the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, Boston University for two years, and graduated with a degree in psychology and communications from New York University.

In 1992, Bethenny Frankel moved to Los Angeles with hopes of being an actress.

Bethenny Frankel used these connections to start her first company, called "In Any Event", a party-planning business, which was short-lived.

In 2003, Frankel started a baking business called "BethennyBakes", focusing on "healthy" cookies and meal delivery in New York City, which was featured on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, a reality competition series, in 2005.

Bethenny Frankel was one of two finalists on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.

The company, BethennyBakes, later went out of business in 2006, but Frankel remained a spokesperson for Pepperidge Farms low-calorie line.

In 2008, Bethenny Frankel began starring in the reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City, which premiered in March on Bravo.

In September 2010, Bethenny Frankel announced her exit from The Real Housewives of New York City following its third season.

Bethenny Frankel taped the pilot of a potential talk show in June 2011.

The syndicated daytime talk show, eponymously titled Bethenny Frankel, premiered in September 2013.

Bethenny Frankel rejoined The Real Housewives of New York City as a cast member for its seventh season, which premiered in April 2015.

In March 2019, Deadline Hollywood reported that Bethenny Frankel had signed a deal with MGM Television and the company's chairman, Mark Burnett, to produce and star in future unscripted television projects.

In June 2021, Bethenny Frankel announced she no longer had a deal with MGM Television.

In 2021, Frankel starred in the HBO Max reality competition series titled The Big Shot with Bethenny, which she produced alongside Burnett.

Bethenny Frankel created an exercise DVD, Body by Bethenny, in spring 2010 and an audiobook, The Skinnygirl Rules, which summarized her two prior books.

In 2011, Bethenny Frankel published, A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life and in December 2012, published the novel Skinnydipping.

Bethenny Frankel created a pre-packaged margarita line, named Skinnygirl Margarita, in 2009, which led to Bethenny Frankel founding the company Skinnygirl and the cocktail line, Skinnygirl Cocktails.

Bethenny Frankel is the founder of BStrong, a disaster relief organization.

In 2017, the organization raised $300,000 in donations and supplies for the victims of Hurricane Harvey, after which Bethenny Frankel visited Houston, Texas to distribute these items.

Also in the same year, Bethenny Frankel chartered four planes to Puerto Rico and distributed medical supplies, food, water, and hygiene products in assisting with Hurricane Maria relief efforts.

Bethenny Frankel posed nude for a PETA billboard in September 2009.

Bethenny Frankel was married to entertainment executive Peter Sussman from 1996 to 1997.

Bethenny Frankel has a severe fish allergy and was hospitalized in December 2018 after consuming soup that contained fish.

Bethenny Frankel has since advocated airlines stop serving fish, stating that it is a hazard to passengers with fish allergies to be in the presence of cooked seafood in an enclosed commercial airline jet.