Bethenny Frankel has worked hard over the years to make a name for herself as an actress and entrepreneur. She endured many highs and lows in her career—which included working as a nanny for Paris Hilton and as a personal assistant for Jerry and Linda Bruckheimer—before she was cast in The Real New York City She got a spot in the first season of Housewives and became an instant hit. Since RHONY premiered in 2008, she has not only become one of the most beloved stars of the Bravo franchise, but also one of the richest stars in "Housewives" history.
Although she exited the Real Housewives world in August 2019, she's kept busy. Frankel has built more businesses, including her Skinnygirl brand, and her latest attempt to make a fortune has paid off brilliantly. She remains a regular on television, appearing on CNBC's Money Court and the reality show The Big Shot With Bethenny . In 2023, she teamed up with French vineyard owner Valérie Rousselle to launch a new line of premium rosé wines called Forever Young, which is sure to become a staple, along with her Skinnygirl drinks (from which she continues to profit) company). The entrepreneur also has a knack for buying and flipping properties.
Read on to find out how much money she's made from reality TV, and how much money she's made from Skinnygirl.
5 Ways Bethenny Frankel Made Millions
1. Film and television
The reality TV show made Frankel a household name, but it didn't make her rich, especially not at first. She has repeatedly admitted that she was only paid $7,250 during the first season of The Real Housewives of New York City , but that number quickly increased each season. Celebrity Net Worth estimated that she was earning $40,000 per episode at one point, while Forbes said she likely made at least $1 million during the final (and likely final) seasons.
After amassing a sizable fan base, Frankel launched other television shows that solidified her status as a headliner rather than as a member of a cast. Bravo brought her back for three seasons of "Bethenny Got Married" (later renamed "Bethenny Got Married "), which focused on her wedding and marriage. She also signed a contract with Bethenny for follow-up reality shows Bethenny & Fredrik and The Big Shot with Bethenny , who was looking for a second-in-command for her Skinnygirl company. Frankel even branched out into daytime television with Bethany , which lasted one season, giving her her first foray into the online world.
Frankel has also guest-starred or been a recurring character or character on television shows such as "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," "Skating with the Stars," "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" and "Shark Tank." How much she was paid for these non -housewife efforts is unclear, but she continued to return to television regularly.
She most recently appeared on the TV show "Money Court," alongside "Shark Tank" fame Kevin O'Leary. In the show, entrepreneurs mediate financial disputes between former colleagues in small businesses. Participants will have to agree with Frankel and O'Leary's final decision, which is probably a safe bet given the pair's level of success.
2. Enterprise
Frankel founded a number of businesses in New York in his early years, ranging from event planning to selling cashmere and even healthy dessert and meal delivery service BethennyBakes. This last adventure lasted a few years, but perhaps more importantly, it gave her her first major appearance on television, as it led to her second role on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart name.
In 2009, a year after she began starring on "The Real Housewives of New York City," Frankel launched Skinnygirl Cocktails, her brand of low-calorie alcoholic drinks and mixes. The line became so popular that two years after it was available for fans to purchase, she sold the brand to Beam Global for $100 million, according to Forbes. Her agreement includes financial incentives if sales continue to grow.
One of the smartest things Frankel did in her business career was change her Real Housewives contract. Before signing, she insisted on removing a clause that would have given Bravo some control or a cut of any products or businesses launched by women on the show. "I said, 'You can pay me $7,250, but you're not going to take any of my business,'" Frankel told New York magazine.
In another business move, Frankel retained control of the Skinnygirl brand as she sold the cocktail line, which she expanded into other products after she no longer ran the liquor business as before. Over the years, Skinnygirl has also sold coffee and tea (as well as flavored syrups), popcorn, salad dressings, preserves, apparel, supplements, cookware and glassware, glasses, luncheon meats, skin care, soda, and more.
3. Books
Frankel is also a best-selling author and has published at least 11 books to date, almost all of them related to Skinnygirl. To date, four of the books are New York Times bestsellers.
Here are summaries of her published books:
- Born Skinny: Release Your Skinny Girl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting
- Skinnygirl Dish: Simple Recipes for Naturally Slim Living
- Body by Bethenny: Body Shaping Workout to Unleash Your SkinnyGirl
- Yes Place: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want in Life
- Naked Swimming: A Novel
- The Skinnygirl Solution: Simple Ideas, Extraordinary Results
- Skinnygirl Solutions: Your Straight Guide to Home, Health, Family, Career, Style, and Sex
- Cookies meet peanuts
- Skinnygirl Cocktails: 100 Fabulous and Sexy Cocktail Recipes and Party Food for Any Occasion, Guilt-Free
- I'm terrible at relationships, so you don't have to: 10 rules to avoid screwing up your happy life
- Business is personal: The truth about how to succeed while staying true to yourself
Details about publishing royalties or advances for the books have not been made public, but with nearly a dozen books to her credit, she clearly has reasons to keep writing.
4. Social media
Frankel has more than 2.5 million followers on Instagram, and like many celebrities with large online followings, she sometimes posts ads that could get her paid handsomely. Forbes estimates she may be paid $10,000 to $30,000 per video upload. She often uses her social media profiles to promote her Just B podcast, sometimes just by herself, while on other occasions she recruits celebrity friends to join her. How much she paid for the project hasn't been shared, but it's another part of her income stream.
5. Real estate
For more than a decade, Frankel also invested time and money into real estate, often purchasing properties to repair, renovate and resell. According to Architectural Digest , she was a serial buyer, and sometimes she made a profit, while in other cases it seemed she might lose money.
In 2016, Frankel snapped up an apartment in New York's Tribeca neighborhood for just under $5 million, invested about $500,000, and later sold it for just under $7 million. the apartment. In the Hamptons, she bought a house for $2 million that she planned to rent out for $150,000 a month, according to the ad , but she later sold it for $2.28 million. In 2020, she bought a house in Greenwich, Connecticut, for $2.1 million, and less than a year later (and after several renovation projects), she turned around and sold it for $3.3 million, Yahoo reports it.
What is Bethenny Frankel's net worth?
$80 million
According to Celebrity Net Worth , Frankel's net worth is expected to reach $80 million by 2023. In 2011, she appeared on the cover of Forbes , when the magazine claimed she had earned $55 million the previous year. In 2016, she ranked sixth on the publication's ranking of the highest-paid reality stars, becoming the only non-Kardashian or Jenner on the list.
