Bethenny Frankel Reveals She’s Not Threatened By Teresa Giudice’s Success
Bethenny Frankel has managed to build a very successful brand from her Skinnygirl Margarita idea. On The Real Housewives of New York, Frankel revealed that she had come up with a recipe for a margarita that didn’t contain the calorie-packed margarita mix. Over the following years, Bethenny bottled the drink, and it started selling like hotcakes. Within a few years, she had sold the company to Jim Beam for a reported $100 million. Since Frankel lost her cool when she learned that Sonja Morgan was creating a prosecco line with the name Tipsy Girl, fans are now wondering how she feels about Teresa Giudice’s Skinny Italian cookbook from a few years ago.
According to a new tweet, Bethenny Frankel is now revealing that she’s not worried about Teresa’s book. Of course, the drama between Frankel and Sonja had to do with Bethenny already selling prosecco under the Skinnygirl brand and Morgan creating a similar product with a similar name.
Beautiful night celebrating the launch of @skinnygirl watermelon lime margarita. #cheers pic.twitter.com/YZwGWwgI98
— Bethenny Frankel (@Bethenny) August 19, 2016
“I don’t recall, did this upset you or no?” one person wrote to Bethenny on Twitter with a picture of Teresa Giudice’s Skinny Italian cookbook from a few yeas ago, to which Frankel replied, “No. I have been very successful & flattered to have inspired other women & housewives.”
“I saw the title Tipsy GIRL upsetting u so when I saw SKINNY Italian I thought it was same premise,” the person wrote back, asking about the comparisons between Teresa’s cookbook and Sonja Morgan’s Tipsy Girl brand.
The comparison between Bethenny Frankel’s Skinnygirl and Sonja’s Tipsy Girl has to do with two things: both the name and the fact that it’s a liquor line. Frankel was very vocal on this season of The Real Housewives of New York about Morgan doing a cheater brand. Rather than discuss this business idea with Frankel, Sonja pushed forward without her knowing about it, and their friendship was troubled. In the case of Teresa’s cookbook, she wrote it while Bethenny was still building her brand. Plus, Giudice’s alcoholic drink, the Fabellini, wasn’t associated with the Skinny Italian cookbook. And on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa was very vocal about her drink not tasting like that skinny girl drink.
When Frankel learned about the Tipsy Girl business in the press, she was furious her friend and co-star would go behind her back to start a business that was a clear cheater brand of her famous and wildly successful Skinnygirl brand.
Have you tried my girl @bethenny‘s @Skinnygirl treats!? YUM! #Skinnygirlhasgoodtaste! #ad https://t.co/C6sPgkQtrS pic.twitter.com/ERBPBRFkwz
— Liz & Chanelle (@eatmovemake) August 22, 2016
“The Sonja situation was just kind of sad. Obviously, her idea can’t touch my brand. There is no product or distribution. It is a made-for-television idea, and I have over 20 varieties of wine, vodka and ready to drink. You can’t find a city of the Housewives where several women haven’t followed in my footsteps and attempted booze. Bring it on. The more the merrier. It is a brutal business, and it may look easy, but as you see, it isn’t,” Bethenny Frankel revealed on her blog for Bravo after their dramatic fight on The Real Housewives of New York.
“This was just an unoriginal name and idea, and it gives a false impression to the audience–that you just go on tv, and poof a brand is born. That isn’t how it works,” Bethenny continues on her blog, adding, “I also know this industry fairly well, and the TTB, the liquor governing board that approves labels, would doubtfully name a cocktail ‘half drunk’ girl. They take drinking responsibly as seriously as do I.”
Do you understand where Bethenny Frankel is coming from? Do you see that there isn’t a connection between Frankel’s business and Teresa’s cookbook?
[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]
