Bethenny Frankel is offering an update on where she stands with Andy Cohen amid her ongoing calls for reality stars to start a union — and her ongoing claims against Bravo.
As the Real Housewives of New York City alum, 52, also denied the claims Lisa Vanderpump, 62, made about the supposed $360,000 salary of former Vanderpump Rules star Raquel Leviss, 28, Bethenny revealed if she’s spoken to Andy, 55, hinted at a future project with Raquel, and addressed the backlash she’s gotten for her interview with the ex-reality star.
“What a whirlwind,” Bethenny began on the August 21 episode of her Just B With Bethenny podcast. “Interviewing Rachel, going viral, breaking the internet, so many rumors, so many press articles and it’s unsettling to be honest. She’s gotten a lot of hate from the world and I’m taking on a lot of that hate now.”
According to Bethenny, she’s “proud” of herself for not caring about the negativity she’s faced — and for being on the “right side of history.”
“People I really respect in the entertainment industry and politics, government, business, and people I just interact with on a day to day are all saying to me, ‘You’re doing the right thing,’” she revealed. “I’m totally on the right side of history. I’ve had five documentarians reach out to me [who] want to do documentaries … I struck a cord and a nerve.”
As for people saying she shouldn’t be leading this charge, Bethenny said she would love someone to nominate themselves to take over.
“Does anyone think I thought a couple weeks ago, ‘Let me f*cking start a sh*t-storm, make tons of enemies, burn bridges that I didn’t need to burn and be the leader of a charge, have meetings that I didn’t need to have, having meetings with SAG and AFTRA and with lawyers and all these different people?’” she asked. “I could be surfing so if somebody else wants to lead the charge, have at it.”
Continuing on about the hate she’s gotten for her interview with Raquel, which many believe only further “exploited” the Pump Rules alum, Bethenny joked that she no longer needs a publicist.
“I’ve got all these hate sites. Keep going. I like it. People have a hard time with that because then where are you gonna go? I don’t give a sh*t. It’s engagement,” she noted.
Although Raquel was reportedly not paid for her three-part interview on Bethenny’s podcast, Bethenny hinted that she’ll team up with her on an upcoming project or projects (Raquel previously shared plans to start a podcast).
“Whether I paid her or not, how do you know what I did? How do you know what I’m doing with her? Nobody knows what I’m really doing but I love the speculation,” she teased. “We’re number one worldwide. We’re having a conversation with a woman who hasn’t been able to get a conversation out, unedited.”
Following the release of her podcast episodes last month, Lisa spoke out against Bethenny’s suggestion that her interns made more than Raquel did on Pump Rules.
“‘Scandoval‘ was pushed through the PR machine and this particular incident triggered people more and everybody did make a lot of money and Rachel did not,” Bethenny alleged, giving a nod to the storyline surrounding Raquel’s affair with Tom Sandoval, 40. “And the number out there, saying she made several hundred thousand dollars for the season is false, completely false.”
As Bethenny noted, the producer of Pump Rules said they were going to cancel the show before “Scandoval” saved it. So to think that Raquel, who was in her third season as a full-time cast member, would be given $360,000 to appear on a failing show “just wouldn’t happen.”
In the weeks since she went public with her unionization calls, Bethenny has been accused of retaliating against Bravo after a show she pitched was shelved. However, according to Bethenny, she was never in talks with Bravo in regard to the potential series.
“I was talking to a production company,” she clarified. “I spoke to Andy one time but Andy wasn’t even working on this project and I spoke to a production company and Bravo was the most logical place that this project would live … [but I] decided several months ago that I didn’t want to do the show.”
Looking back, Bethenny said that because she heard about a lawsuit against the production company that she was doing the show with, which accused the company of stealing someone from Married to Medicine‘s show, she no longer wanted to move forward. In addition, she wanted to turn her focus to social media because it allows her more control over the content she shares.
“I just felt a little sketch. It wasn’t a big deal. So I walked away from that deal,” she added.
As for her relationship with Andy, Bethenny confirmed they’ve not spoken.
“Some people say to me, ‘Oh wow, is Andy mad you’re doing this? Have you spoken to him?’ And I say, ‘I have not but I’m sure he is.’ [But] this is not a target on Andy. This is not a target on Bravo. This is about a systemic issue in the entertainment industry,” she shared.
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