Bethenny Frankel

Early career and television

In 1992, Frankel moved to Los Angeles with hopes of being an actress. While she landed some small acting roles, she worked as an assistant to Kathy Hilton, sometimes taking her daughters Paris and Nicki out for ice cream or picking them up from school. She was also a personal assistant to Jerry Bruckheimer and Linda Bruckheimer.^[16] During this time, Frankel also worked as a production assistant on the set of Saved by the Bell.^[17] Frankel used these connections to start her first company, called In Any Event, a party-planning business, which was short-lived.^[16] Her next entrepreneurial enterprise was Princess Pashmina, a business selling pashmina scarves she bought wholesale from an Indian manufacturer.^[16]

In 2003, Frankel started BethennyBakes, a baking business that made egg-free, wheat-free, and dairy-free cookies and provided meal delivery in New York City. It was featured on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, a reality competition series, in 2005, in which Frankel was the first runner-up to the competition winner.^{[16][18][19][20]} BethennyBakes closed in 2006. Frankel became a spokesperson for a low-calorie Pepperidge Farms line of bread.^[16][19]

In 2008, Frankel began starring in the reality television series The Real Housewives of New York City, which premiered in March on Bravo.^[21] In June 2010, Frankel appeared in the Bravo reality series Bethenny Getting Married? (later retitled Bethenny Ever After), which documented her engagement and marriage to Jason Hoppy as well as the birth of their daughter. The series premiere was Bravo's highest-rated at the time, garnering 2.1 million viewers.^[22] In September 2010, Frankel announced her exit from The Real Housewives of New York City following its third season.^[23] In November, she competed in the reality competition series Skating with the Stars and finished in second place.^[24]

Frankel taped the pilot of a talk show, Bethenny, in June 2011.^[25] The syndicated daytime talk show was created and co-produced by Ellen DeGeneres. It had a test run in 2012 in limited markets, and officially premiered in September 2013.^[26] It was canceled in February 2014 after one season, although episodes continued to run because 170 had been taped.^[27] Frankel rejoined The Real Housewives of New York City for its seventh season, which premiered in April 2015.^[28]

In March 2019, Deadline Hollywood reported Frankel had signed a deal with MGM Television and its chairman, Mark Burnett, to produce and star in future unscripted television projects.^[29] Frankel starred in the HBO Max reality competition series titled The Big Shot with Bethenny, which she also produced alongside Burnett. The series featured "aspiring business moguls compete for a job on Frankel's executive team."^[30] The show underperformed, and in June 2021, Frankel announced she no longer had a deal with MGM Television.^[31] In August of the same year, she announced her departure from The Real Housewives of New York City.^[32]

In 2022, the Jewish Journal named Frankel one of "The Top 10 Jewish Reality TV Stars of All Time".^[33]

Skinnygirl

Frankel created a pre-packaged margarita line named Skinnygirl Margarita in 2009. This was the foundation product for Skinnygirl Cocktails. The cocktail line was sold to Beam Global for a reported $120 million in 2011,^[34] but Frankel kept the Skinnygirl brand name to sell a variety of foods including dips, shakes, candy, deli meat, sweeteners, jellies, popcorn, and salad dressings. She sells Skinnygirl shapewear, apparel, and accessories on the Home Shopping Network.^[35] Frankel developed a Skinnygirl cookware line sold at TJMaxx and Marshalls stores, which premiered in 2021.^[36]

In March 2009, Frankel's book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, was published. The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life, was published in December of the same year. In spring 2010, she released an exercise DVD, Body by Bethenny, and an audiobook, The Skinnygirl Rules, which summarized her two prior books.^[37] In 2011, Frankel published A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life. In December 2012, she published a novel, Skinnydipping.^[38] She published five additional books including a children's book and additional self-help books.

Other business ventures

Around the end of 2025, Frankel launched a private dating platform called The Core.^[39]

Following many years of various collaborations with many different companies and products, in June 2026, Frankel acquired a stake in haircare brand dpHUE and joined the company as chief brand officer, overseeing brand strategy, product innovation, marketing, consumer education, and retail expansion.^[40]

In August 2026, Frankel opened her first café, Supermodel Café, in East Quogue, New York. The café sells a menu developed in partnership with Goldberg's Famous Bagels, including coffee drinks, bagels, chicken salad, and various other dips and spreads.^[41]

Philanthropy and activism

In September 2009, Frankel posed nude for PETA's anti-fur campaign, "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur."^[42]

Frankel is the founder of BStrong, a philanthropic arm originally formed to assist women, which has increasingly participated in disaster relief around the world.^[43] In 2017, the organization raised $300,000 in donations and supplies for the victims of Hurricane Harvey,^[44] after which Frankel visited Houston, Texas, to distribute these items.^[45] In the same year, Frankel traveled to Mexico City and Jojutla, Mexico, following the Puebla earthquake to raise awareness for the disaster's recovery efforts, for which BStrong also raised $150,000.^[44][46] Also in the same year, Frankel chartered four planes to Puerto Rico and distributed medical supplies, food, water, and hygiene products in assisting with Hurricane Maria relief efforts.^[47] Her philanthropic efforts produced her partnership with Global Mission Empowerment (GEM).^[48]

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, BStrong raised funds and delivered personal protective equipment such as masks, goggles, gowns, and sheets to hospitals in the U.S.^[49] During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Frankel supported Ukraine by supplying 100,000 relief kits; equaling out to $10 million in aid, and raising $20 million in donations.^[50][51]

In the wake of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, Frankel called for reality television personalities to go on strike and to unionize.^[52] She stated that reality television personalities are subject to exploitation and intense scrutiny and deserve increased protection and worker's rights.^[53] Frankel's proposals for a union would call for reality television personalities to earn residual-like payments, a minimum wage of $5,000 per episodic appearance with a raise for each season, retrospective compensation, and the freedom to quit filming at any time without risking financial penalty.^[52][54] Frankel has enlisted attorneys Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos to investigate the problematic treatment of reality television personalities.^[55]

In 2025, Frankel, with BStrong, supported the victims of the Southern California wildfires with her distribution of cash cards of $1,500 to help victims with hotel housing and the renewing of their lives, in addition to raising $24 million in donations.^[56][57]

As herself

As actress