Bethenny Frankel, while very open about allowing cameras to capture all the drama of her life, admits she draws a line at letting them film everything for Bethenny Ever After, her new Bravo reality show which premieres February 28 at 10PM ET/PT.
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"It's not that I want them to be in here every time I go to the bathroom. It's that if he and I in general have had the same argument six times over about marriage or money or life or an in-law or something, at some point I want to let the cameras catch that," Frankel told Reality TV World in a recent conference call.
"I just hate when you watch these shows and someone's like broken up with their boyfriend and you see them laying there in full makeup pretending that they're sad."
The former The Real Housewives of New York City and Bethenny's Getting Married? star insists she wants her show to be authentic, but cited her November birthday celebration with husband Jason Hoppy as an example of a situation that will remain behind closed doors.
"I just want it to be real and if we're going to do this at all, and we're going to portray our relationship, I want people to get the whole picture. So it's not that -- you know, on my birthday -- the actual day of my birthday, Jason and I just wanted to spend it together. I had a party the night before but we wanted to just do the day of -- going to get massages and going to dinner. We don't want that filmed because we just want to be able to enjoy it without filming," Frankel explained.
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"So it's not like that was the most exciting day. Nothing crazy even happened. I'm just saying that we take our private moments, but if something has become something that we go through, I want people to know it. If we're going to paint part of the picture, might as well paint the whole picture."
So far, Frankel's philosophy has extended to the filming of Bryn, the couple's new baby -- and if she wasn't included, the reality TV star feels the show "wouldn't be real and it wouldn't be a good show."
"Especially with her, no, she's just ah -- I will probably have a monster as my next child because she could sit through a three-hour lunch. She comes with me to get manicures and pedicures. She's just a nice, easy kid from what everyone says because I have no experience. I have never had a kid before," Frankel told reporters.
"But no, it's just been -- It's been great. I don't regret anything because... could you imagine if I just kept out everything that was embarrassing or my breakdown on my birthday or me uncomfortable with Jason's parents or whatever? Then it'd be a terrible show."
The Bethenny Ever After star is also unconcerned that the presence of reality TV cameras may have a negative impact on her marriage.
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"If Jason and I became unhappy as a result of the show or there were problems because -- we wouldn't do it. The least of our problems are my show. You know what I mean? It's just normal things like you'll see in the show that are happening that are [off-camera] that don't have to do with the show," Frankel told reporters.
"It's just us being so different and in-laws and money and the more busy I get and normal life. Those are the only problems that we have that everybody in the country has. We don't have problems because we're shooting my show. You know what I'm saying? That doesn't create problems."
Frankel acknowledged that since she serves as one of show's producers, she also has more control over Bethenny Ever After's editing than what was shown on The Real Housewives of New York City.
"I'm an executive producer. I'm involved in decisions. Nothing gets shot if I don't know it's getting shot," she said.
In addition, Frankel also explained that the fact that Bethenny Ever After features less drama than The Real Housewives of New York City is a big part of the reason why Hoppy -- who had previously been reluctant to participate in The Real Housewives -- was more willing to do a standalone show with Frankel.
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"If you want to be on this show and your husband has a problem with it and doesn't love it, it's going to be very difficult. It could be very annoying. It could be very annoying for someone who finds -- by the way, Jason and I could never have stayed on the Housewives together," Frankel said.
"He's like, 'I don't like these women. I don't like what this represents. It's nonsense and it's just catty.' He hated it. And he wasn't really on very much as you could see. He was embarrassed. He didn't want to be part of that."
Frankel also told reporters she has yet to reconcile with former The Real Housewives of New York City co-star Jill Zarin, nevermind introduce the housewife to her daughter.
"Jill has not met Bryn, no. That's not even a hard one. That's an easy one. No, no, no," Frankel said.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski