Bethenny Frankel Isn't Concerned With What You Think of Her

"I'm just one of those people that throws my entire body into everything that I do."

When you think of Bethenny Frankel, the first thing that probably comes to mind is Bravo's The Real Housewives of New York City. But what may surprise you are the hundreds of millions of dollars her BStrong organization has delivered to people in crisis, such as for Ukrainian refugees and victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes. "Hollywood is the land of bullsh**," Frankel says about celebrities' responses to international tragedies. "There are cool crises and not cool crises...bam, next week, it's something else." But BStrong is "gonna talk about things when they're not cool anymore." Similarly, Frankel recently ruffled feathers over her call for reality television talent to unionize. "It got picked up everywhere. And then I felt a responsibility." That has led to a moment of "reckoning" for industry leaders. "Bravo is scared." With everything Frankel is doing right now—including as a TikTok beauty influencer—she's not one to slack off. "How you do anything is how you do everything...I'm just one of those people that throws my entire body into everything that I do."

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARTING SHOT WITH H. ALAN SCOTT
ON APPLE PODCASTS OR SPOTIFY

Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

One of the things I don't think a lot people know about you is your efforts with BStrong and the international aid work you're doing. Right now you're focused on marshaling aid, relief and funds to help support refugees of the Israel-Hamas war. Why was it important to you to get involved with that, especially considering some of the thorny politics involved in the issue?

There is a choice each time, and sometimes we insert in something that isn't typically what we do. Doing millions of dollars of PPE for all 50 states during the pandemic is an example of something that would not normally be within our purview; it just became such a crisis and people were dying as a result of it, so we jumped in and we got educated immediately. And truth be told, it's often what people are passionate about, the people want you to help with this situation. And then you learn more about it and then you get really invested in it. Or it's just so prevalent on the news, you can't avoid it.

In this case, we had done so much with Ukraine, and we have these models that we keep building. I mean, years ago with Hurricane Maria, it started that I was on the switchboard as I always am, which is answering all messages and talking to people on social media, realizing that all these different groups have raised all this aid but with no plan to get it to Puerto Rico. So, we created this model and that model has served us in many different ways. We have all this aid that now comes in all year round in this Costco-sized warehouse. So we then allocate to each disaster. And it used to be that we only did the Caribbean for hurricanes and storms, because we were in Miami. And then we really broadened with Ukraine. Because obviously, it's so far away. But we created infrastructure and a model where Poland became our Miami and so again, all these other disorganized units, raising aid, they could bring it to us. And then by the same token, other orgs could come collect it from us. So, we keep creating these different not-for-profit business models that work. And it's like case law, each time we take something else with us. So, we're pretty much equipped for anything.

This situation now in Israel and Gaza is no different, where we're applying a lot of what we've done in the past there. So first, we're applying a lot of this here, because there are many refugees that people aren't talking as much about, many people have fled and have nothing. My BStrong cash card program, which I started after Hurricane Harvey, is really great to give these refugees cards and give them the dignity and the freedom to buy what they want. And then we always have aid here. So, if they're coming through Florida, we can give them what they need to start; we've relocated people, we've gotten people apartments. With a warehouse in Egypt, we sent aid to Israel, which was dedicated for Israel. And let's not mince words, it's been a unique time, and there's a lot of blame and a lot of hate and a lot of arguing and a lot of "why are you giving them that and why don't you do this and why don't you do it that way?" There was a post that I did that my partner was like, "this is going to be the most polarizing post you ever do, plummeting followers for trying to help different types of people." And no one's talking about it. And everyone's a big baby that only wants to talk about lip gloss and the pumpkin latte and their new show or movie. Hollywood is the land of bullsh**.

Does politics or the threat of polarization get in the way of what you decide to do organizationally?

We don't go in and start placing blame and alienating either group because we take money from everyone to help people. We are putting human suffering first and we mandated that a long time ago. People don't get to bully me into averting from what our not-for-profit business model was. We've come into contact with this a lot and we've had to talk to different governments and navigate corruption and navigate, yes, interception, the possibility of interception of aid and cartels and crazy sh**. No money ever changes hands until we're absolutely certain, but when things are moving at 100 miles an hour and people are dying, it's not like vetting a business for six months. So you have to have a really strong stomach, be a good decision maker, and be a bit of a motherf***** to do this.

Do you ever worry that your celebrity and any controversy that might be involved in that will impact the humanitarian work you do?

We've passed that. We've done $300 million in aid worldwide, we are completely respected. I mean, billionaires call us. We don't advertise. One thing was, no pamphlet. There's no begging, there's no website. There's no getting up on stage like a monkey asking people to give money to some stupid package. It's no bullsh**. It's money to the people. And like my business, I built it one step at a time with my partner who is good at exactly the opposite of the things that I'm good at and who's the only person in the world who can keep up with me.

And in a lot of ways, you've heard it all, everything has been written about you, so you're probably a good figurehead because nothing will really shock you.

Also, I'm a good messenger. And sometimes my operations partner is in the weeds of everything that's happening and all the details and thinks that the average person can digest all of that. And they really don't care. Most of them don't give a sh** about this war at all, which is frightening. So, you have to be the person that's always taking the temperature of the room and not flogging them with all this information and knowing when to talk and when to hold and when to let the public take a break from hearing all of this. There are cool crises and not cool crises. It was very cool for a week for every celebrity to post a koala in the fires, and then a link to some other celebrity that they didn't know where the money was going. And 30 percent was being taken by somebody, but no one cares because it's just a cute koala on a celebrity's picture and then bam, next week, it's something else. [But] we're still there helping because we said to the people, we're going to take this money, we're going to get donations and we're rebuilding churches, schools and helping in the Bahamas for years. Haiti for years. We're gonna talk about things when they're not cool anymore.

On another topic, I've been so fascinated by your pivot to being an influencer. It's been fascinating to watch. How did that start for you and are you surprised by how much attention you've gotten for it?

I don't even know what's going on. I got sick of myself and sick of all the waste and the stuff, because 98 percent [of makeup] is bullsh**. I don't do well with a lot of bullsh**. If someone is posting five times a day that something's miraculous, they're just lying. Because it's a scam. You don't need all this. That's why I'm a little full, and I only want to speak when I think something's good or do a deal when something's good and worth talking about. But I guess I now have this credibility. It's almost like in the beginning, I worked extra hard at relief work. And now everyone comes to me, and that's what the influencing [is like]. I don't talk about it that much, but it's still this crazy thing. It's so weird. It's The Producers, you were doing something ridiculous and then it became successful. And you're like, wait, this was supposed to be a joke. So, it's a joke, but it's real. It doesn't make any sense.

Your podcasts ReWives and Just B have done a lot to give people a peek into what goes into being a Bravo Housewife, and they've caused some controversy. On one hand, some of it sounds horrible, but on the other side of it, there's a "why are you biting the hand that feeds you" element to it. What's your take on that?

It's so weird, because it's also like relief work, not knowing anything and all of a sudden you put another foot in front. So I just said something, I said, "Oh my God, we should have a union, we're the most exploited." It got picked up everywhere. And then everyone reached out to me, and I felt a responsibility. All these people were saying they'd been abused and this has happened and this thing and I can't get into all the details but crazy sh**. So I felt like, what am I going to do with all that information? Every Hollywood person just says something but doesn't do something. Just up on soapboxes, waxing poetic, then wait for the next popular proposition. It's so insufferable.

So I ended up connecting them with the lawyers who were going to help them with what's going on. And I thought "it is the time for a reckoning and why not be me?" I'm the best person to do it because I wasn't disgruntled, I wasn't fired. I was begged back many times. That's why I was the most scary person to do it, because I could get it done. I'm a pretty strong b****. So I am getting it done.

There's a lot coming. And major, major titans, leaders of industry, are getting on board. They know this is the way to go, and they're not getting in the way of this and they'd rather be with me than on the wrong side of it. Bravo is scared, let's just put it where it is. And the hand didn't feed me, as I said in a post, I fed the hand, too. The caliber of Housewives that changed since I was on and my success, everyone says, "I'm on here trying to do what you did." Anyone says that's not true, like anyone from the powers that be at Bravo, they're lying because the women individually have come up to me and said that. They got a different caliber of a person. I created the model for monetizing reality TV, even before the Kardashians. I made them as much as they made me. Like NeNe [Leakes, from Real Housewives of Atlanta] said about herself, we were breakout characters. And if that's not true, and I just made that whole thing up, and I'm biting the hand that feeds me, it deserves to be bitten. I mean, there are people that worked with Harvey Weinstein that have gotten Academy Awards and been fed very well. Does that mean that when he said they had nice tits, that that was okay? Does that mean that directors and writers and other actors, people could talk to people a certain way in offices around the country? Just because they were making money and doing well? Is that okay?

I can see established Housewives and other reality stars wanting to join a union, but new talent just wanting fame. How likely does it seem that they wouldn't be lured by money from a studio?

There's always someone who would sleep with someone for a part, it doesn't make it right. If you really think it's exploitation, just because you can, doesn't mean you should; just because they're desperate, young girls who want to do it doesn't mean that you then go and make all this money on it and abuse them in the process. And you'll find in the next in the coming weeks that the women that have been abused the worst are the types that life has beaten them down a little, too. It was like they're the perfect people to take advantage of. Those people are really, really vulnerable and this medium takes advantage of them. It's been complete exploitation of women. It's like a cult, each woman is promised something very specific and has a different type of relationship with the powers that be and everyone's pitted against each other. There's all these promises of things you're going to get. It's a f***** up place, but no one ever notices how f***** up places are until someone shines a light on it.

One thing that really hits me about your career and that you've talked about before is that you were a late bloomer, if you will. What message would you hope people still trying to make it at 40 might take from what you've done? And do you remember that anxiety?

I do, because it was very scary time. People are very scared at that age. And they need to hear it because you can't really be a maverick-tough entrepreneur unless you've really felt it [the drive to succeed]. It's hard to be raised privileged and have that level of hunger. And it sounds like I'm discriminating against somebody who happened to grow up wealthy and it's not their fault, poor them. But I kind of am saying that. You don't have this grit unless you have this grit. I didn't grow up poor, and I went to private school and was fortunate in many ways, but there was a lot of dysfunction in my house and a lot of have and then have nothing and be broke and a lot of gambling, a lot of real dysfunction. And then as an adult on my own, I had no safety net and no money. I also had no prospects. I really didn't know which road I was going on, I wasn't leading toward anything. I didn't have upward mobility building a career at one place. And it was very scary. I was no more successful at 38 then I was at 26. I was more successful at 26 producing events. So that was scary, because it gets not that cute as you get older. Like desperate and alone and don't have any money and can't afford to pay for anything. It was scary.

That's why I think you talking about it is important, particularly for my generation, millennials. We had 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis, wars, the pandemic. Most of us don't even have a 401K or any sense of job security. Now we're making it into our 40s and it's scary. So it's important to talk about how you did it.

Thank you. Well, how you do anything is how you do everything is how I feel about it. I'm just one of those people that throws my entire body into everything that I do.

Listen to H. Alan Scott on Newsweek's Parting Shot. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Twitter: @HAlanScott