As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I participated in a conference call with Bethenny Frankel earlier this week. I’m interested to see how the new season of her BRAVO show “Bethenny Ever After…” turns out. Yesterday, I covered her family relationships along with the deal on the “international weight loss scandal”. Today, I will share Bethenny (and Jason’s!) take on reality television; her thoughts on her fans and daily life; and (my favorite) Bethenny’s cooking tips.
Bethenny and Jason’s take on the various reality show seasons
Bethenny really didn’t know how difficult it would be. Filling an hour of television, camera crew logistics, and finding the balance between being honest/giving the audience everything and wanting hew own alone time were specific challenges that were mentioned. As she said, “I just hate when you watch these shows and, you know, someone’s, like, broken up with their boyfriend and you see them laying there in full makeup pretending that they’re sad.” (I agree!)
Jason really didn’t like the Housewives show and Bethenny is very clear that they would not have been able to stay on that particular show together. “He’s like – I don’t like these women. I don’t like what this represents. It’s nonsense and it’s just catty.” (Obviously, I agree with Jason.) What I found the most refreshing on this topic was that Bethenny has her priorities on straight. She was adamant that she would no longer do their current reality show if she and Jason became unhappy/there were problems as a result of it.
Bethenny talks about her fans
She thinks that her new show, BRAVO show “Bethenny Ever After…”, sends a great message to women. She values the strong relationship that she has developed with her fans and feels responsible to them to be open and honest as well as “own” her life. (Good for her!)
Bethenny’s daily life
She thinks that it’s pretty normal/only glamorous if she has to do something glamorous for work. As she said, “I’m not running around at Fashion Week or doing anything. I’m, you know, hanging with my family.” As a self-described perfectionist, Bethenny claims that she gives 100% to her husband, baby, dog and work. That doesn’t leave her with a lot of time for a social life. Right now, most of her social outings are usually for work. She’s not complaining though, because she enjoys going out and doing interesting things (like speaking to women on her tour). “I don’t like leaving the house. I like being home with the baby,” she said…spoken just like a new mom!
Bethenny’s cooking tips
She shared that everything from her book, The Skinnygirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life, is budget friendly because the ingredients are items that are already in your refrigerator. Every night, she makes what they call a “use-what-you-have” recipe. Basically, it’s using what you already have in your own refrigerator and only adding to it if needed. That’s basically the way that she cooks. (She gave the example of taking some frozen spinach, feta cheese and ground turkey in order to make a turkey spinach meatloaf. She also had a thing of mushrooms that she didn’t want to go bad and whole wheat pasta in the cabinet…so she used that to round out the meal.) Bethenny also posts recipes on her website at www.bethenny.com/food.
This was my favorite part of the call. I actually took her words to heart. I remembered that I had a thing of spinach that I needed to use up so I cooked my easy meatloaf recipe – and just added some spinach, fresh garlic and parmesan. It turned out really great. Michael and Reggie really enjoyed it. (Sean even ate a little bit of it.) I would have never thought of that combination if I had not been on the call, so thanks Bethenny!
In any event, I found the time that I spent on the call with Bethenny Frankel to be time well spent. I look forward to seeing the season premiere of “Bethenny Ever After…”. Let me know if you will you be watching, so that we can compare notes!
(Image: By Bravo)
