Bethenny Frankel claims that Bravo and Andy Cohen are NOT happy with her over her efforts to create a union for reality TV stars.
The Real Housewives of New York alum said her attempts to create a reality TV union have caused Bravo executives to “despise” her.
“I can tell you with great certainty that everyone at Bravo likely despises me, including Andy Cohen, because it’s very personal and because they have to protect the realm,” Bethenny Frankel said on Monday’s episode of “Literally! With Rob Lowe” podcast.
This statement from Bethenny comes one month after the former Bravo star announced her plans to create a reality TV union amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
Bethenny’s lawyers then sent Bravo and NBCUniversal a legal letter outlining all of the network’s “grotesque and depraved mistreatment.”
“As a result, the sordid and dark underbelly of NBC’s widely consumed reality TV universe has remained under wraps for far too long,” the letter read. “Please be advised that the day of reckoning has arrived.”
The allegations include:
— Deliberate attempts to manufacture mental instability by plying cast members with alcohol while depriving them of food and sleep
— Denying mental health treatment to cast members displaying obvious and alarming signs of mental deterioration
— Exploiting minors for uncompensated and sometimes long-term appearances on NBC reality TV shows
— Distributing and/or condoning the distribution of non-consensual pornography
— Covering up acts of sexual violence
— Refusing to allow cast members the freedom to leave their shows, even under dire circumstances
“I have come out on top, made all this money, been the shining example of being successful on reality TV with all these other casualties whose lives have been destroyed,” the Skinnygirl founder explained.
“And instead of just counting my money and not pissing anybody off, I chose to, you know, shake that whole thing up and burn bridges and torch the kingdom Khaleesi style,” she continued.
Bethenny Frankel went on to claim that reality stars will be exploited for “cheap labor” amid the Hollywood strikes.
“SAG AFTRA reached out to me. And while we’re talking about a union and what that would look like, they also want to know in the short term what they could do to help,” the Bravoleb said.
“And I was saying there should be some language, some contract language that goes into these contracts that everybody in reality knows to include. Like they can’t just exploit people with these unrealistic NDAs,” she continued. “So it’s a very complicated thing I walked myself into whilst also burning bridges and seeming like I’m biting the hand that fed me, but I fed myself. There are a lot of people who didn’t get fed.”
The 52-year-old also insists that she’s not a “disgruntled” employee trying to seek revenge amid her attempts to unionize.
“As a person who’s been on more reality television than anyone who could speak on this topic, that’s what’s the most scary about me; I’m not disgruntled,” she said. “I wasn’t fired. I was asked back multiple times. I made millions of dollars. I left twice. So I am allowed to speak on this.”
