Bethenny Frankel opened up about why she won’t be starring on E!’s Real Housewives of New York City spinoff.
“It wouldn’t be good for my business,” Frankel, 55, explained via Instagram on Tuesday, March 3. “It used to be good for business when I was promoting my own business, but now that I work with a lot of other brands and have different types of equity deals and different types of partners, they don’t look highly upon that genre. They kind of like that it’s in the rear view.”
The Bravo star added, “Despite some of the women asking me if I would come back, the amount of money that it would take for me to come back, that E! could presumably never pay, would make the other Housewives resent me so much, which did happen before.”
So far, E! has shared that the spinoff, titled The Golden Life, will star Dorinda Medley, Ramona Singer, Luann de Lesseps, Kelly Bensimon and Sonja Morgan. Jill Zarin was supposed to star in the reality show as well, but got fired from the reunion after slamming Bad Bunny‘s Super Bowl halftime show.
Frankel added that her former costars asked her to return for the spinoff but she declined because of compensation issues.
“They were trying to renegotiate their contracts, and one of their big points was, ‘Give me a dollar more than Bethenny Frankel gets,’” she claimed, noting that it was creating “resentment” between the cast. “I’m really happy for these women, and I want them to thrive, succeed and I want the show to do well,” Frankel added.
She also praised the spinoff for being an “amazing move” by E! but didn’t feel like it was the right move for her.
“I like my life now,” Frankel said. “I like not having to do anything anyone else tells me to do or be anywhere anyone else tells me to be. Protecting my peace and this stage of life is very important to me.”
Her followers supported her decision to stay away from the show in the comments section.
“The power! Deserved,” one wrote. A second added, “Smart move. You don’t need that.” A third commented, “Protect your peace!”
Frankel first made her debut on the Real Housewives of New York City on season 1 of the show. Following season 3, she took a break from the series before rejoining the cast from seasons 7 through 11, which aired in 2019. Since, she’s stayed in the spotlight with her social media presence and even modeled for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit in the brand’s fashion show in 2025.
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