Frankel spilled the tea while talking up her new red wine, Forever Young.
Bethenny Frankel is spilling the tea on a myriad of subjects. It's peak Bethenny and it's what she does best. It's also why fans clamor to her podcasts, social media channels and her new joint venture; a fountain of youth by way of a wine collection dubbed Forever Young.
The savvy 52-year-old businesswoman sat down with ET's Rachel Smith for a game of "Sip or Spill," and Frankel didn't hold back when asked, among other things, if fans can ever expect her back on reality television like, say, The Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip?
"There's a number I suppose, but Bravo could not afford the number," she tells ET. "For me to go on an Ultimate Girls Trip? Yeah, and I think they've been brilliant, and they've saved so much money."
When asked if fans should not hold their breath, Frankel concurred.
"You should not be holding your breath," she said.
The Real Housewives of New York City alum said her relationship with television is unknown at this time, but it's not that network executives haven't tried luring her back to the small screen.
"I've been offered many TV shows and I've been approached by production companies," she says. "A show about a group of women, but I don't want to get into too much detail ... just different shows that seem like they would be good for me. Oh, another one would be a version of a talk show. I don't want to say exactly, but another version of a talk show. And I was kind of deep in negotiations on all of these and I just thought, 'I just wanna get the content to the people. I don't want to talk to suits or people in a room who are going to say every reason why it won't work.'"
She continues, "Television is very crowded and very competitive and people are riddled with fear. And everything is copying something else, so they want to be like, 'OK wait, can we make it this meets that?' We tried that. I don't know if it will work. I just want to do it my own way."
Her own way includes the Just B podcast, as well as posting lengthy TikTok and Instagram videos when the moment strikes. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Kim Zolciak and Kroy Biermann are just a few who have been in her crosshairs.
As is her nature, Frankel didn't hold back during "Sip or Spill."
Like the craziest thing she's done when she's had too much to drink?
"In college, we left our cars somewhere and couldn't find them for, like, days," she reveals. "We once lost a car."
Also: what's a topic she's ranted about that she regrets?
"I talked about the fact that I knew about Erika Jayne's husband," said Frankel of Tom Girardi, who was indicted after allegedly embezzling more than $18 million from his clients. "[I knew] from my ex [Dennis Shields] because he knew him personally. But I wasn't watching the show ... I didn't realize that that was an actual thing on the show. It was something in the press, saying this thing that was going on. I was like, 'Yeah, Dennis told me that the guy was taking money from everybody.' So the fact that I knew and said, 'Yeah, I told Andy [Cohen] and Kyle [Richards]' I said that, but that became a big thing in the reunion."
Frankel, who became engaged to film producer Paul Bernon in March 2021, also dished on her wedding plans. And the plan currently stands at there are no plans! Never mind that she told ET back in March 2022 she preferred a small wedding.
"We have not planned a wedding," Frankel reveals.
So, what's the holdup?
"That I don't know that I want a wedding," she responds. "I feel like we're married. We've committed to each other. I just don't really need to abide by constructs of what we're supposed to be doing and how we're supposed to be doing it. And also, I was married and I had a really traumatic experience. So, it's probably associated to that, just that whole chapter of my life was, by far, the hardest I've ever experienced."
Frankel and Jason Hoppy got married in 2010 but divorced in March 2021. They share 13-year-old daughter Bryn. Frankel was briefly married to chef Peter Sussman in the mid '90s. As for Bernon, Frankel admits she's more likely to be a bridezilla than Bernon a groomzilla.
"Paul is very balanced, very reserved, very funny but very polished," Frankel says. "Bryn, my daughter, is like, 'Paul always looks polished.' He always looks perfect. Like, I look like a wreck a lot of the time."
The last celebrities to slide into her DMs? That would be Maria Shriver and Debra Messing, "wanting to know about the Revlon eye shadow."
More than a decade after launching what would become a hugely successful margarita line dubbed Skinnygirl Cocktails, Frankel's now diving into the wine industry with Forever Young, which features malbec, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon and rosé.
"I've watched the rosé space and it's crowded and it's not really high quality, and it's been a lot of packaging and marketing and not a lot of substance," she explains. "And I had this opportunity because a former boss of mine -- I used to be a cocktail waitress in Boston and the last song of the night that the owner would play is 'Forever Young' -- and this restaurateur, nightclub empresario Seth [Greenberg] created this wine. He's traveled to St. Tropez for years, and when I worked for him as a cocktail waitress, I was saving up to be able to live in Paris. So I then went on to live in Paris and know the land of the rosé lifestyle. And then he asked me if I wanted to partner with him on a rosé brand called Forever Young, so I got involved."
RELATED CONTENT:
