Bethenny Frankel revealed she was able to leave “The Real Housewives of New York City” thanks to a “technical” feature in her contract.
“I used a technical point as my excuse,” the reality star, 51, said in a TikTok video on Wednesday. “I had just lost someone very close to me” [Dennis Shields], and I went to work when the show came back. I did not want to. Pros play hurt. I am a professional. I’ll be on time. I deliver. That is my reputation in business.”
But Frankel explained that producers added a new term to all of the “Housewives” contracts when many of them didn’t show up to film because they “didn’t like other people” or were “at odds” with cast members from different cities.
“They decided not to film so it affects the quality of the show. So this became something where they had to add this in all contracts,” she said. “This new point said if you don’t appear in an episode, you don’t get paid for it.”
Skinnygirl’s CEO said the clause made sense to other “housewives,” but not to herself.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me because I already knew the production company said, ‘We would never air an episode without you,'” she claimed. “They told me straight away. I have receipts. And I already knew I’m a professional and there just wouldn’t be a situation where I wouldn’t show up for work.”
Unhappy with the new terms, Frankel decided to leave the show for good.
“I’m the type of person” [where] that one thing is going to give me an excuse, so I said no,” she recalled. “And then the powers being said, ‘We would have changed it, and so on,’ but every little thing matters. And, you know, I’m not bluffing, and I was just looking for a reason, and that was a good reason.”
The “Big Shot with Bethenny” star said the new term in her contract was the “catalyst” that sent her over the edge, pushing her to finally turn her apple.
“That’s a small business nugget about knowing I had turned up for work every day when I had suffered a huge loss, so of course I’m going to show up for work every day under any circumstances. There can be no more extreme circumstances than that,” she said. “The little tiny detail that would never have materialized. It was the impetus. That was the catalyst that just said, Boom, I’m not going back.”
Frankel also shut down rumors that she had left the Bravo show regarding issues with her salary.
“People thought I left the ‘Housewives’ because of money,” she said. “If I had stayed, it would have been because of the money. I left because I wanted to leave. I was ready to leave.”
The businesswoman originally joined the series because she was “broken and had nothing to lose”, but dropped out temporarily after season 3. She returned for season 7, but in August 2019 she left for good.
“It’s time to move on and focus on my daughter, my philanthropy and my production partnership with Mark Burnett, producing and performing in shows that represent a shift in the conversation for women,” she told Variety at the time.
Frankel shares 12-year-old daughter Brynn with ex-husband Jason Hoppy. She is currently engaged to Paul Bernon.