Bethenny Frankel thinks reality TV stars should join the ongoing writers and actors’ strike because, they too, are being financially exploited.
“Hollywood is on strike. Entertainers are fighting for residuals, and no one will promote anything. Why isn’t reality TV on strike?” the former “Real Housewives of New York” star asked on Instagram Wednesday.
Frankel, 52, noted that she was only paid $7,250 for her first “RHONY” season — and hasn’t seen a cent from it since.
“I myself have generated millions and millions of dollars in advertising and online impressions being on reality TV and have never made a single residual,” she explained. “So, either I’m missing something or we’re getting screwed too.”
Frankel — who said reality TV stars are often looked down upon and considered the “losers” of Hollywood — noted that they were the ones who “provided all of the entertainment” during the last writers’ strike from 2007 to 2008.
She then pointed to stars from “The Bachelor” and “The Hills” who get “paid peanuts” despite the fact that people can — and still — watch old “episodes from years gone by.”
“It’s complete and total bulls—t,” she added. “It just occurred to me, everyone is talking about actors and we don’t get paid s—t.”
In her caption, Frankel encouraged reality TV stars to unionize in order to “simply be treated fairly and valued.”
“Critics will say that actors have ‘talent’ which is what studios pay for: in fact, studios pay for advertisers and advertisers pay for the purchasers of the household aka women,” she wrote. “And what gets women? Reality tv.”
After facing some backlash in her comments section, the former reality TV star made a follow-up video to further drive home her point.
“To the person who said that it’s already fair because I get to monetize it: Yeah. I got the same opportunity that hundreds of other people have had to monetize it and failed,” she quipped.
“So through blood sweat and tears I worked my a— off to justify the $7,250 paycheck for multiple episodes in 2008 — episodes that are still being used for monetization in 2023 — where two entities are profiting and I am not.”
While Frankel didn’t make much during her first season on the hit Bravo series, the Skinnygirl founder was reportedly making a cool $1 million per season by the time she left.
The opinionated Bravolebrity left the series in 2011 following her feud with Jill Zarin. She ultimately decided to return in 2015 but ended up leaving the show for good four years later.
Since then, Frankel has delved into numerous other business ventures — from her Skinnygirl food brand to her Forever Young Rosé and numerous different podcasts.
