Of all the cast members who appeared on the Real Housewives of New York City, many fans consider Bethenny Frankel to be one of the best. It was sad to hear that she wanted to leave the show once the eleventh season wrapped up, and Bethenny has shared that she felt it was time to go.
Fans who have been following Bethenny for a long time know that she recently got engaged and that Bethenny and Paul Bernon have a sweet relationship. It's fun to look back on Bethenny's days on RHONY, since she was a cast member for such a long time. Let's take a look.
The First Season
Fans recall Bethenny's friendship-ending fight with Carole Radziwill, which happened in season 10, but back in the very first season, the focus was on getting to know Bethenny as a businesswoman.
The first season of RHONY saw Bethenny as the cast member without a husband and kids, as she wasn't technically a "housewife." But her life was fascinating and this definitely set her apart from the others and helped fans connect with her.
Bethenny had a boyfriend named Jason (not to be confused with ex-husband Jason Hoppy) and was working as a chef, trying to get her business off the ground. Her taglines from seasons 1 to 3 said, "New York City is my playground."
Bethenny has said that she was paid less than $8,000 for season 1, according to Cheat Sheet, so it's worth noting that she made much more money as time went on.
It's interesting to look back and think about Bethenny's first season, as she wasn't at the helm of her SkinnyGirl empire just yet. Bethenny explained that she felt "financially independent" with her 2011 Skinnygirl deal. In an interview with InStyle she said, "But you have to save a lot more money than you think to make a real dent and have security. You have to either be very diligent in saving or investing, or have what I call an event, like a transaction, which is what my Skinnygirl deal was."
It is truly incredible to think about everything Bethenny has accomplished since the first season. According to Women's Health, Beam Global bought Skinnygirl Cocktail in 2011 for $100 million, and the star told People that she needed to lessen her load as she had been working so hard and dealing with so much for so long.
Bethenny And Jason's Tough Divorce
When Bethenny Frankel came back to RHONY in season 7, it was a huge deal, since it had been a few years since had left the show. This season was all about Bethenny starting over while still going through her divorce from Jason Hoppy.
Bethenny sometimes talked about being a mom or trying to find a home, since she had to move out of the apartment that she shared with Jason, but fans saw the same tough Bethenny that they had when she was on the show previously. Bethenny didn't always open up or talk about what was going on, particularly when it came to her divorce.
According to Nicki Swift, Bethenny was the one to file for divorce, and while that happened in 2013, it did drag on for several years. Bethenny said in the fall of 2020 that they weren't technically divorced yet.
The publication notes that Bethenny said she could tell she shouldn't have married Jason, but she did. She said, "I think my instinct and gut going into my marriage [knew] it would turn out the way it did. I could feel it, but I intellectualized it." She also said, "I wasn't making a decision out of truth, I was making a decision out of fear," according to Nicki Swift.
Casting Bethenny
It's also fascinating to hear that Bethenny might not have been chosen for RHONY. When Bethenny was interviewed by the Bobby Bones Show, she said that she almost wasn't picked because she didn't have a nice apartment and because she had appeared on The Apprentice with Martha Stewart.
When told that her "hustle" is what was interesting about Bethenny on RHONY, she said it was a compliment and that she has pride about her time on the show. She said, "I lived in a crappy studio apartment, I was poor, and I was honest about it." She continued, "I was honest about being broke."
For many fans of the Real Housewives of New York City, Bethenny has always felt so "real" and her seasons have always been easy to watch because of it. Whether she's running her businesses, getting honest about divorce, raising her adorable daughter, or dealing with some friendship conflict, people love Bethenny and appreciate all the years that she spent filming the popular reality show.
