Bethenny Frankel (born November 4, 1970) is an American television personality and talk show host, author, and entrepreneur. A former natural foods chef, she is the founder of Skinnygirl Cocktails, the author of four self-help books and the host of the TV talk show, Bethenny. Frankel has appeared on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, The Real Housewives of New York City and was the subject of the TV shows Bethenny Getting Married? and Bethenny Ever After.

Early life and education

Frankel is the only child of horse trainer Robert J. Frankel and Bernadette Birk. Her father was Jewish and her mother was a Roman Catholic of Welsh descent who converted to Judaism when they married. Her father left her mother when Frankel was four years old and when she was five, her mother married another horse trainer, John Parisella. She describes her childhood as difficult. Her biological father stopped supporting the family and her mother, Frankel says, "was always drinking" and often argued violently with her stepfather.

Frankel graduated in 1988 from the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where she lived on campus. She attended the National Gourmet Institute for Healthy and Culinary Arts in New York City, and New York University.

Career

Bethenny worked as a production assistant on the set of Saved by the Bell. She appeared in the 1993 short film Soiree Sans Hors D'oeuvres, the 1994 movie Hollywood Hills 90028, and the 1995 movie Wish Me Luck.

In 2005, Frankel was a contestant on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart reality TV show and was one of two finalists. In 2008, Frankel was selected for the reality TV series The Real Housewives of New York City In March, Frankel's first book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, was published. In December 2009, her second book, The SkinnyGirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life, was released.

She also created an exercise DVD, Body by Bethenny, in spring 2010 and an audio book, The Skinnygirl Rules, which summarized her two SkinnyGirl books. In June, Frankel starred in the Bravo reality TV show Bethenny Getting Married?, which documented her engagement, marriage and the birth of their daughter. The show's premiere was the highest rated of any series in Bravo's history. In September, Frankel announced, that for personal reasons, she would not be returning to the The Real Housewives of New York City show. In February 2011, Frankel starred in a follow up series, Bethenny Ever After which documented her first year of marriage and motherhood. In November, Frankel appeared on the ABC reality series Skating with the Stars, and was runner-up to the champion.

In March 2011, Frankel released A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life which spent several weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. In April 2011, Frankel sold her Skinnygirl cocktail company to Fortune Brands' Beam Global for an estimated $100 million. In September 2011, Whole Foods Market stopped selling Skinnygirl products because they contained a preservative that did not meet their quality standards.

Mrs. Frankel created a TV talk show pilot and after a successful test run in 2012 the show was scheduled for Warner Bros. syndication sometime in 2013. In December 2012, Frankel published a novel called "Skinnydipping".

Personal life

Frankel married entertainment industry executive Peter Sussman in 1996 and divorced him in 1997. Frankel posed nude for a PETA billboard in September 2009. Frankel married businessman Jason Hoppy on March 28, 2010 in New York City. Her daughter, Bryn, was born in May 2010. Frankel separated from Hoppy in December 2012, and filed for divorce in January 2013.

Movie and Television history

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1993	Soiree Sans Hors D'oeuvres	Woman	Minor role
1994	Hollywood Hills 90028
1995	Wish Me Luck
2005	The Apprentice: Martha Stewart	Herself	13 episodes, runner-up, came in 2nd place.
2008–2010	The Real Housewives of New York City		42 episodes, left before Season 4 aired.
2010	Bethenny Getting Married?		10 episodes, turned into Bethenny Ever After...
2010–2012	Chelsea Lately		Various episodes, celebrity guest
2010	Skating with the Stars		6 episodes, runner-up, came in 2nd place.
2010–2013	The Ellen DeGeneres Show		Various episodes, celebrity guest
2011–2012	Bethenny Ever After...		26 episodes, originally named Bethenny Getting Married?
2012–present	Bethenny	Host	Test run aired in June 2012, Nation air in Fall 2013.
2013	The Neighbors	Jill	1 episode, "Mo Purses Mo Money Mo Problems"

Bibliography

• Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting (ISBN 1-41659-798-0, 2009)
• The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life (ISBN 1-41659-799-9, 2009)
• Body by Bethenny: Body-sculpting Workouts to Unleash Your SkinnyGirl (ISBN 978-1-59828-440-9, 2010)
• Skinny Dipping (ISBN 9781451667387, 2012)
• A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life (ISBN 1439186901, 2011)

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