Bethenny Frankel Tells Imus How to Get to "A Place of Yes," and Why She Did What She Did in a Bucket That One Time
Bethenny Frankel, an original New York City housewife on the Bravo series, had initially turned down the offer to appear on the program, afraid it would ruin her reputation as a natural food chef. Fast-forward a few years, and not only is Frankel now a wife and a mother, but she stars in her own reality television show, Bethenny Ever After; created an expanding line of health-conscious cocktails called Skinnygirl; and wrote the New York Times bestselling book, A Place of Yes.
“I’m not one of those people who has the big picture plan,” Frankel said today, adding, “I don’t think I want to conquer the world.”
All evidence to the contrary. Since leaving the cast of The Real Housewives of New York City at the end of last season, Frankel’s fame has skyrocketed, something she attributes to her truthful nature.
“People choose who they like,” she said. “I have a really strong fan base. I do think that by being completely honest and straightforward, I did develop a really good relationship with my fans.”
Unlike, say, her now former friend Jill Zarin, who still appears on The Real Housewives of NYC and was a guest on this program not long ago. “Jill and I had a great relationship, it just ended kind of poorly on television,” Frankel said, diplomatically. She’s not interested in trashing Zarin, she claimed, “because nothing good is going to come out of that.”
Other than maybe a successful, long-standing career as the host of a nationally syndicated radio program with a television simulcast?
During the previous iteration of her show, Bethenny Getting Married, Frankel notoriously urinated in a champagne bucket at her wedding, an incident Imus wasted no time addressing with her this morning.
“I was pregnant,” she said, and explained that “when you’re pregnant, you have to pee while you’re peeing.” About to head down the aisle, Frankel opted to go to the bathroom in a bucket rather than on her white dress.
Sensing a kindred spirit, Imus shared that he had once peed in a phone booth, but not because he was pregnant or about to get married. Or, as Frankel learned, because he was making a phone call at the time. “That would be using your time wisely,” she remarked.
So would reading Frankel’s tome A Place of Yes, in which she instructs readers how to get the most out of life by turning “nos” into “yeses,” advice she has followed for much of her professional life.
“Skinnygirl Margarita was an idea that I took to all the major liquor companies in the world—run by men,” she said. “They all said no, and I turned it into a brand.” And not just because, as Imus pointed out, nobody likes a fat drunk.
Now, she told Imus, all those men have either copied her simple recipe of clear tequila, agave nectar and lime, or want to buy it. “I definitely have changed the entire liquor industry, because it has created an entire category for cocktails marketed to women,” she said.
The pearls of wisdom in A Place of Yes speak for themselves: Frankel recently sold Skinnygirl Cocktails to Jim Beam for an undisclosed sum, and demand for her brand and personality are rapidly increasing. She’s made no specific plans for the future, but surmised a talk show could be a nice next step. “I do want my conversation with my fans to be more than 140 characters on Twitter,” she said.
With A Place of Yes already on the New York Times Bestsellers list and everything else thriving, Frankel admitted there was no reason for her appearance with Imus today. “I heard you were fun to talk to,” she quipped, then added, “But what the heck do I need you for?”
-Julie Kanfer
Reader Comments (1)
Loved this interview! It's nice to see such a strong and self-confident woman accomplishing the things that she's doing in the business world. I never thought that anyone off of a Whatever Whatever Housewives Show could be a role model, but we could all take a lesson from her drive and initiative. She is also always grateful and thankful to those that have supported her along the way, which is so refreshing. Please have her on again, because the girl can TALK and fast! :)