Bethenny Frankel Recalls Being 'Entirely Broke' in Her Mid-30s
She gave career advice to fans struggling financially.
Bethenny Frankel may be worth millions now, but the Real Housewives of New York alum had humble beginnings.
In a new TikTok, the Skinnygirl founder shared a message for young adults struggling in their careers. "If you're in your 20s and 30s and you haven't figured out what you want to do with your life yet and you're broke, don't worry about it," said Frankel.
She continued, "Can I just tell you that I was in my late 30s and still bouncing checks and still entirely broke—like, entirely broke. Not like fake broke, like real broke. Like, 'How am I going to pay my rent? What's going to happen to me?'"
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Frankel advised, "Don't worry, just get on the road. Be moving forward. Always be moving forward. You're in the car, you could hit a roadblock. You could run out of gas. But you are moving forward at all times. You may not even know where you're going. But you're bettering yourself, you're learning new things."
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She also told those who are struggling financially to not have the mentality of being above certain jobs.
"Don't be that person that is like, 'Ugh, I shouldn't be doing this. I'm so much better than this. I don't know why I have to do this.' Whatever the job is," said the business mogul. "I have done it all. I have licked envelopes, been a hostess, I have been a waitress, I have been a cocktail waitress. I always was working."
Frankel, now 52, ended the video saying, "If you're a worker, you're a worker—and you will succeed."
The former Bravo star became a self-made millionaire through her Skinnygirl brand, and recently disclosed in an Instagram reel how little she was paid when she started out on Real Housewives in 2008.
"The contract said $7,250, which I did not dispute," she recalled. "I was a nobody. That was a lot of money to me. All I had was time on my hands; no kids, no family, no problem. The only thing I did cross out was the thing that said Bravo would take a percentage of anything I made."
She had a gut feeling that was wrong and knew that she had potential to grow her career. "[I knew] nobody was going to own any part of [my business]," said Frankel.
Frankel said that once her Skinnygirl cocktails took off, the industry created what is known as the "Bethenny clause," where anyone who goes on reality TV has to give a percentage to the network.
"The reason I tell you that story is because you are smarter than you think," she explained. "I was a nobody. I was not a business person. I had no institutional knowledge or experience in any of this. I read a contract, something didn't feel right to me, and I took it out."
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