Bravo's Bethenny Frankel Sells Skinnygirl to Beam Global for $120 Million

I learned last night on Watch What Happens Live that Bethenny Frankel sold her Skinnygirl concoction to the Jim Beam distillery people.

At Andy's prodding, Bethenny said she was contractually forbidden to say how much she was paid for Skinnygirl.

Andy Cohen said the rumor was the amount was in the $120-150 million range.

Googling for info about Bethenny's Skinnygirl sale I found multiple articles about it, including mention made about the sale in Wikipedia's article about Bethenny Frankel.

From Wikipedia...

In April 2011, Frankel sold her Skinnygirl cocktail line to Fortune Brands' Beam Global for an estimated $120 million.

WWHL had a clip from this season's finale of Bethenny Ever After, in which Bethenny's husband, Jason Hoppy, informs a tearful Bethenny that she is now a very rich woman.

Take that Jill Zarin.

When The Real Housewives of New York City started up, several years ago, was the first time I met Bethenny Frankel. She was a perplexing housewife, due to not being married. When the series started Bethenny was a bit forlorn. Unhappy about her love life. Wondering if she'd ever get married and have kids. Worrying if she'd ever get past struggling to make a living.

We saw the progression of Bethenny's Skinnygirl empire, first with hit best sellers like Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting, followed by The SkinnyGirl Dish: Easy Recipes for Your Naturally Thin Life followed by an exercise DVD called Body by Bethenny, followed by an audio book called The Skinnygirl Rules.

And while publishing a lot of material, Bethenny was working on and marketting her Skinnygirl line of ready-made cocktails, retailing for $14 to $15 a bottle, leading to sales over 100,000 cases a year.

It is rather impressive that in such a short time we have gotten to watch Bethenny pretty much get everything she wanted, career success, a husband and a baby. And millions of dollars.

Bethenny Getting Married? With Bethenny's St. Barts Boob Baring

Last week we saw Bethenny Frankel marry Jason Hoppy on Bethenny's Getting Married? making Bethenny Mrs. Hoppy and the title of her show no longer making sense.

This week we saw Bethenny and Jason on their honeymoon on St. Barts.

I've heard the term "St. Barts" over and over again, not knowing much about it except for knowing it was somewhere in the Caribbean.

So, I had to look it up. Named after a French guy named Saint Bartholomew, the French usually shorten the name of the islands to Saint-Barth, while the Americans call it St. Barts. St. Barts is one of 4 territories in the Leeward Islands in the northeastern part of the Caribbean Sea that make up the French West Indies along with Saint Martin, Martinique and Guadeloupe. Apparently it is a popular playground for rich people. Which explains why I was unfamiliar with it.

Now, back to the show.

So, Bethenny and Jason arrive in St. Barts. A French lady leads them to their ultra-deluxe accommodations, complete with private pool and an in-house iguana.

Jason is quite thrilled at how private their place is, including the pool. Now, I'm thinking to myself, is there not a camera aimed at you?

Then Jason can't wait to go swimming. Jumps in the private pool. Bethenny soon follows. But not before she takes off her top to jump in the pool topless.

Now, Bravo politely slightly fuzzied Bethenny's boobies. Why? I do not know. To me that bit of censorship just makes the boobies look weird, you can still tell you are looking at naked boobies.

So, Bethenny jumps in the pool. Jason takes off his swimming suit, then Bethenny loses her bottom. Jason them remarks again about how private the place is, that it is so private they can make love in the pool.

Again, I'm thinking, is there not a camera aimed at them? Or two?

After an indeterminate amount of time was spent romping in the pool the pair gets out, naked, but we don't really see that. But, I'm sure the cameraman/men/woman/women/persons did.

So, with Jason we have gone from first meeting him when he was a bit offput at Bethenny baring it all for PETA to now Jason has become quite the free-spirited boy.

After the skinny-dipping they went to a beach. Jason windsurfed while Bethenny had an emotional crisis. Jason handled that well. Then it was off to a food foraging expedition. Then dinner, alone, out on an island in a pool. Seems like we'd just arrived at St. Barts and they were already talking about this being the end of their honeymoon, time to go back to the New York City rat race and we were only half way through the episode.

Well, I was a bit bored, so I decided I'd watch the second half later, if I remember.

Oh, I forgot to mention the reality TV first on this episode. We had drama over random iguana feces appearing on the floor of their luxury accommodations. Then there was a lot of hunting for the rogue iguana invader. And a lot of yelling at Jason over his iguana feces disposal method.

Did their deluxe luxury accommodations not come with a toilet, I could not help but wonder?

Bethenny Got Married After Peeing in a Bucket With Jill Zarin Going Crazier

That is Bethenny Frankel in her wedding dress, with one person helping her get off her underwear and her wedding planner, Buster Bluth, helping hold up the dress so that Bethenny could urinate in a bucket.

It was only minutes to go before her wedding. No modern facilities were available, hence the bucket.

After an awful lot of fussing by perfectionist Bethenny, in the end, the wedding planner did his job well and to Bethenny's grateful satisfaction. Actually doing anything to make the wedding come off, including helping facilitate the makeshift restroom.

And coming through with the Red Velvet cake, which was the thing that seemed to be worrying Bethenny the most.

I can't remember the actual name of the Buster Bluth lookalike. I'm thinking he is funny enough to have his own Bravo show.

I am not a big fan of watching a wedding, either in person or on TV. But, Bethenny's wedding was funny and touching.

Of Bethenny's fellow Real New York Housewives, only Ramona and Alex and their husbands were at the wedding. When the cake got cut Simon shouted out something that I didn't understand. Bethenny said he was wasted.

The new Mrs. Jason Hoppy was worried that some of Jason's fratboy friends might act up. She strictly forbade anyone getting in the pool. Of course, a couple boys did. Bethenny pretended to be upset, but said she was not in reality, saying something like how can she get uppity about boys in the pool when just minutes ago she'd been peeing in a bucket.

Gossip in the Internet forums has Jill Zarin spiraling deeper into madness, distraught over the mess she has made of her reputation, jealous of Bethenny's continued success, including the highest rated Bravo premiere ever.

Supposedly Jill is so unsettled that her inept advice book, Secrets of a Jewish Mother, is not selling, that she had husband Bobby buy a huge number of the books from Amazon, shipped to Zarin Fabrics, where Jill then tries to re-sell them as autographed copies.

With no one buying them.

Rumor has Jill then buying her own books, autographing them and mailing them. To whom? It's all become very Norma Desmondesque.

Has Jill caused Zarin Fabrics to hit the skids? The Zarin's sold their Hamptons house and their apartment is for sale. One rumor has them living in the attic above their store.

I wonder if there is any advice in Jill's book about how to say I'm sorry? And mean it.

Bethenny Getting Married? Buster Bluth Wedding Planner

I am not 2 episodes in to Bethenny Getting Married? and I am surprised I am finding it way more entertaining and amusing than I thought I likely would.

I thought that maybe too much Bethenny might be, well, too much.

Instead, it seems Bethenny manages to remain amusing and interesting for an entire hour.

Somewhere I read someone opine that Bethenny is sort of a young, female Woody Allen. That sounds right to me.

Bethenny has a lot of neurotic issues, handled with Woody Allenish humor. And by visiting a therapist.

I like how Bethenny and husband to be, Jason, get along. Or don't get along. They have their conflicts, but they handle them well. Sort of not in a Jill Zarin conflict type mode, or a Crazy Kelly Bensimon insane conflict type mode. Instead, Bethenny and Jason reasonably talk out their conflicts.

Jason is a people person, he wants a lot of friends and family at his wedding. Bethenny has no family. I think she'd prefer to elope.

Bethenny reluctantly agrees to a housewarming party, because it's important to Jason. But, Jason gets snowbound and can't make it back to New York City, leaving Bethenny to do the dreaded entertaining alone.

The guests arrive, including Simon and Alex from RHONY. Bethenny makes a couple of slightly snarky comments about Simon and Alex, that she likely later regretted. Alex told Bethenny she wants to give her a shower of some sort, bridal, baby, or both.

I forget when we met the Wedding Planner, Buster Bluth from Arrested Development. He seemed competent at first.

But, by episode 2 Buster can't seem to remember that Bethenny has no family, and wants to have her wedding at the 4 Seasons, or some similar place in downtown New York, not out in the boonies in an empty warehouse.

In the first episode Bethenny hired an assistant, a young male named Max. Jason was not happily onboard with Bethenny having a young, straight, male assistant, due, supposedly, to Bethenny's tendency to wander around in states of undress.

But, Jason soon came to accept Max. In the 2nd episode we saw Max learning to be an assistant. At one point, during wedding planning, the subject of the wedding dance came up. Max asked Bethenny if her generation grinds. I don't think Bethenny was sure what this meant, nor did I, with both of us feeling the generation gap.

At another point Max and Bethenny are at a book signing cocktail type party, somewhere in New Jersey, I think. Max did not do his assisting job too well, failing to summon the driver, making Bethenny stand outside in a mingling type situation she prefers to avoid. However, it was amusing. Which is what truly mattters.

As for Max. He seems to be a nice guy. But he is so tiny. Bethenny seems to tower over him. And I know Bethenny is not a very tall girl.

Buster the Wedding Planner is already worried about Bethenny doing ball damage to him. With good reason. How can this guy be successful at this wedding planning thing? I think he's simply comic fodder.

I forgot to mention, while Jason was snowbound, his mom and dad showed up to stay with Bethenny. Ma Hoppy is real happy to finally have a daughter. Pa Hoppy seems like a real nice guy. Ma Hoppy was really happy to go with Bethenny on the wedding dress shopping ordeal. And, I think Bethenny is being real happy to be part of a happy Hoppy family for the first time in her life.

Bethenny Getting Married? was the top-rated premiere in Bravo history. Helped, I'm sure, by following Part 3 of the highly watched Real Housewives of New York City Reunion. But, I suspect Bethenny Getting Married? will continue to have a lot of viewers.

I think I'll keep watching to see what happens.

Bethenny Getting Married? Again?

Tonight, after the Real Housewives of New York City Reunion Show airs its fireworks, Bethenny Frankel's new solo show Bethenny Getting Married? airs its first episode.

This morning I was surprised to learn that Bethenny Getting Married? should be more properly titled Bethenny Getting Married Again?

That's right, Bethenny has been previously married. The previous engagements we knew about, but not mention had been made on RHONY of a previous marriage.

It was way back in 1996 that Bethenny married a guy named Peter Sussman. That's the husband that pre-dated new husband, Jason Hoppy, in the picture, next to Bethenny.

Bethenny and Peter had been best friends for 5 years before becoming husband and wife. Peter persistently tried to be more than friends with Bethenny, which led to the pair dating for 2 years before Bethenny agreed to become Mrs. Sussman.

Apparently getting married, the first time, made Bethenny feel real secure, but, according to Bethenny, the marriage was totally lacking in passion. Bethenny is quoted as saying "You can't go to bed with a piece of 8 by 10 paper."

Regarding being married to Peter, Bethenny said, "I felt like, 'This is really it? This is the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with?'"

And so Bethenny's first marriage came to an end after 8 months.

Let's hope Bethenny's latest marriage lasts a lifetime.