Bethenny Frankel is again on the mic after sparking controversy along with her three-part dialog with Raquel Leviss.
“What a whirlwind. Interviewing Rachel, going viral, breaking the web. So many rumors, so many press articles, and it’s unsettling, to be trustworthy,” the 52-year-old Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis alum started on her “Simply B” podcast on Tuesday, August 22. “She’s gotten lots of hate on the planet and I’m taking up lots of that hate now. And it’s been actually fascinating as a result of I’m pleased with myself for not caring actually that a lot.”
Frankel’s interview with Leviss, 28, marked the primary time the Vanderpump Guidelines star has spoken out since she accomplished 90 days of psychological well being remedy following the backlash of her affair with Tom Sandoval. Frankel — who has been vocal in current weeks about actuality stars not receiving residuals amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — confronted criticism from followers for not fully understanding Scandoval after she confessed that she didn’t watch full episodes of Vanderpump Guidelines earlier than her interview with Leviss. Different listeners accused her of capitalizing on Leviss’ trauma regardless of alleging the producers and networks are doing the identical.
“Some individuals say to me, ‘Oh, wow, is Andy [Cohen] mad you’re doing this? Have you ever spoken to him?’ And I say, I’ve not, however I’m positive he’s. And this isn’t a goal on Andy. This isn’t a goal on Bravo. That is a couple of systemic situation within the leisure trade,” Frankel mentioned.
Leviss, who confirmed in the course of the interview that she wouldn’t be again for season 11, instructed Frankel final week that she opted to speak to her as a result of she’s utilizing “her case for example of exploitation” on actuality TV.
“Individuals have come and mentioned, ‘Oh, aren’t you a hypocrite?’” Frankel continued earlier than referencing reviews that she pitched a sequence about Connecticut mothers to Bravo six months in the past. “I’m a hypocrite as a result of there was a present that I used to be speaking [about] — I used to be by no means speaking to Bravo, by the best way. I used to be speaking to a manufacturing firm. I spoke to Andy one time, however he wasn’t even engaged on this challenge. And I spoke to a manufacturing firm and Bravo was probably the most logical place that this challenge would dwell about Connecticut. And a few months in the past, I made a decision I didn’t wanna do it anymore.”
Frankel claimed she opted towards the challenge as a result of it “wasn’t actually that nicely thought out.”
“And I didn’t know that I’d even discuss this ‘actuality reckoning’ or have an issue with exploitation,” she continued. “I didn’t actually give it some thought.”
Frankel first appeared on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart in 2005 earlier than becoming a member of RHONY in 2008.
“I didn’t enable myself to be exploited as a result of I additionally was in an influence place,” she mentioned of her personal actuality TV expertise. “If you find yourself a rainmaker, you earn money, you make rankings, you’re not as exploited as different individuals who don’t actually have a vote and a voice.”
Frankel went on to handle hypothesis that she didn’t pay Leviss for the podcast.
“Persons are saying, ‘Oh, I needs to be paying her.’ They’re making an attempt to say that I’m exploiting her for rankings to dwell on the remainder of her life. … Whether or not I paid her or not, how have you learnt what I did? How have you learnt what I’m doing along with her?” Frankel mentioned. “No one is aware of what I’m actually doing. However I like the hypothesis and the factor that folks don’t understand, notably on TikTok, however positively social media normally, carry it on. I like it. We’re No. 1 worldwide. We’re having a dialog with a girl who hasn’t been capable of get a dialog out unedited and everybody thinks that they noticed every part on this tv present.”