ET spoke with the now-former 'Real Housewives of New York City' star at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards.
Bethenny Frankel may have turned in her apple, but she’ll always be a Real Housewife.
"I have had such a great experience, Bravo has been such an amazing partner, and I'm always rooting for the women, and what a great journey I've had," the 48-year-old reality star told ET. "So, this is the next chapter. The Emmys is a wonderful place to start the next chapter!"
ET’s Leanne Aguilera spoke with Frankel at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, which fell just about a month after she announced her exit from the hit Bravo series. In the weeks following Frankel's announcement, Housewives boss Andy Cohen took to his SiriusXM radio show to say his peace on the situation, telling RHONY fans that he hopes she will return to the series in the future.
"My overwhelming feeling about Bethenny leaving New York, and I told her this six weeks ago were she going to leave, that I am so grateful that she came back," Cohen shared. "She already left is what we need to remember. So, we were so lucky to have these last seasons with her on it, and it was just so fun to have her back and she brought so much to the show that -- I just am living in the gratitude of her second return, and I will hopefully live in the gratitude of her third return. Because we are much like the mob, you can’t get out. And I, I do hope and think that she will come back sometime."
"She's so still a part of everything that’s going on, that you almost could see her dropping in and it's like, Oh my god! OK. Here’s Bethenny, Bethenny's at a party," he added. "Or, Bethenny’s on this trip. You know, you never know. You never know. So, I look forward to her in any capacity on the show, and I’m just grateful that she was back at all. We all should be."
"You know, I love Andy," Frankel told ET, in response. "I love Bravo. They took out an ad yesterday to congratulate me on everything BStrong is doing, so it's great to have good relationships and I will always be a member of the Bravo family."
The Skinnygirl mogul has been focused on her charitable endeavors with her non-profit, BStrong, since stepping away from reality TV cameras (RHONY is currently in production on its 12th season). The organization is currently focused on bringing aid to areas affected by the various hurricanes and tropical storms that have hit over the last few weeks. Frankel knows she wouldn’t be able to do all this good without her time on Housewives.
"We're at the Emmys, and it's about television, and truly, that has given me the platform to save lives and bring aid to countries all over the world who are in absolute dire need, who are decimated," she shared. "So, it's such a great thing to use something that people might think, you know, is sometimes superficial, when it's really not. Television has been so good to me, to give me that platform."
While she left RHONY, Frankel has no plans to leave TV. In March, she signed a development deal with mega-producer Mark Burnett (who produces Shark Tank, on which she’s guest-starred) and MGM TV. She revealed to ET that they already have two shows in the works, though it remains to be seen if she'll be on camera or just behind the scenes.
"I am… well, watch what happens," she teased at the joint ABC/20th Century Fox /Hulu Emmys after-party.
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