Bethenny Frankel Was Reportedly Fighting With Producers Before Leaving ‘RHONY’

Bethenny Frankel shocked and confused fans of The Real Housewives of New York when she announced earlier this week that she was leaving the show. But though she said she was leaving to focus on her family and side projects, an insider claimed that she had been battling with producers on the show.

According to Radar Online, Frankel announced that she was partnering up with Mark Burnett to make unscripted television shows. Producers at Bravo weren’t happy about it.

“They were very upset,” an insider said. “A Housewife can do a one-off show like Dancing With the Stars…not a regular series in reality TV. Everyone was pissed off.”

According to Variety, in her announcement that she was leaving the show, Frankel said that she hoped to make shows that were a “shift in the conversation for women.”

“With the changes in modern culture, I want to highlight the strength, confidence and unstoppable power that women have,” she said.

Apparently, as things with her new project with Burnett and MGM Television were developing, Bravo producers didn’t take the news well.

“For all the things the network has done for Bethenny, it was a slap in the face,” the insider said.

Still, they kept the reality star on the series because she had consistently created entertaining television during her multiple seasons on the show. That could be why it was all the more shocking when Frankel revealed that she wasn’t going to continue with the Housewives franchise any longer. Apparently, some people were further upset by Frankel’s statement that she was leaving the show.

“People are shocked, because she is the one who drove the show into all the drama and arguments,” the insider claimed. “Now she is saying she doesn’t want to be part of it.”

Fans can take comfort in the fact that Frankel has left before. She was part of The Real Housewives of New York from 2008 to 2010, at which point she took a break to pursue other projects. She also appeared in a spinoff called Bethenny Ever After, which focused on her marriage to Jason Hoppy and having a baby.

She returned to the Housewives in 2015, after which ratings for the show climbed, and stuck with the franchise until this year. In addition to her television projects, she helms the B Strong charity, which provides disaster relief to areas impacted by hurricanes. She also heads her successful Skinnygirl lifestyle brand.