Bethenny Frankel is forging ahead with her “reality reckoning” but insists she won’t go legal.
The “The Real Housewives of New York City” alum shared a lengthy statement Sunday doubling down on her fight for “systemic change” at Bravo, though she clarified that she is not suing the network.
In a three-slide Instagram post, Frankel reflected on how she succeeded in her years as a reality star by creating “conflict and judgment” with women she “pretended to know.”
“I’ve now spent time with and understand many of them — absent of cameras, publicists, media articles, and shows designed to bring out our worst. I adored many of them long before reality tv, and began to strongly dislike many of them,” she wrote.
The former Bravolebrity then wondered whether it was the people who “changed” or if the “toxic environment designed for ratings” had affected their friendships.
“To be successful in reality tv, you must kill or be killed. To not get dirty is to get fired. Someone is winning and someone is losing in this zero sum game where people like myself get rich and the less strategic go broke or get cancelled,” she continued.
Frankel, 52, boasted that she was “good at the game” because she was “broke and desperate and wanted ‘it’ so badly.”
“My one liners and quick wit (crafted and honed from a dysfunctional childhood) often at others’ expense, shot me through the ranks of this toxic cesspool. This medium preys on and profits from the emotionally flawed and damaged,” she told her followers.
The former “Housewife” also claimed she “did not know what” she was getting into when she joined Season 1 of “RHONY” in 2008, but she “would do it again to not be broke and afraid.”
However, she elaborated in the post’s caption, “To clarify, me saying I would do it again means I was scared & desperate and that is what is exploited in all of us.”
The former “Bethenny” talk show host rhetorically asked whether signing up for a reality TV show justifies “an environment designed to exploit women.”
“Should it create a society at large glorifying women trashing each other for profit? I wanted to be something and helped create this genre paving the road for those behind me,” she wrote.
Frankel also addressed criticism that she is “biting the hand that fed” her by arguing the “hand deserves to be bitten.”
“We have fed the machine ratings, ad dollars, catch phrases and content. We get filthy and they get filthy rich,” she wrote.
The Skinnygirl founder then addressed a previous letter in which NBCUniversal Entertainment stated that it would “monitor alcohol” intake more closely after she accused Bravo’s parent company of plying talent with “alcohol while depriving them of food and sleep, as well as denying mental health treatment.”
“A letter about an on set psychologist and a reduction of alcohol consumption is a nice step, but won’t suffice,” she added.
Frankel concluded her statement by expressing gratitude for the opportunities she got from her years on TV and apologizing to the people she has “judged and criticized.”
“The reality reckoning, is true, real, and I’ll lead by example and evolve for myself and for my daughter.
This is not only a reckoning within an industry but one within myself,” she shared.
The entrepreneur’s apparent about-face comes just days after she lashed out at Andy Cohen for asking “gross” and “problematic” questions on his Bravo late-night show, “Watch What Happens Live.”
