Is Bethenny Frankel leaving "The Real Housewives of New York" again?
Back in season 7, the Skinnygirl mogul made her return to the Bravo show after several seasons as she turned her focus to her growing empire and her talk show called "Bethenny." The talk show was cancelled eight months after its premiere in September 2013, but now, Bethenny is back with a new show as she announced last week that she has signed a deal with Leftfield Entertainment to produce her own shows.
The first show, a reality series about food, premiered on FYI on Thursday, Dec. 3, and though the star won't be in front of cameras, she serves as its executive producer, which means that she will be busier than ever.
A report claims that because of her new projects, Bethenny allegedly told Bravo that she would be leaving the network to focus on her new show — that is, if she didn't get a raise.
A source told Radar Online that Bethenny is "ready to take over television" and that before filming for season 8 of "RHONY" began, she demanded a pay increase. Bethenny is believed to be one of the highest earning Housewives as last season, she was reportedly making $1 million.
"She had initially asked for $2 million which would have been double her salary from last season," said the source.
The source said that Bravo recoiled at this, but eventually both sides allegedly agreed at $1.5 million, for "essentially three months of work" for the star.
The insider said that the other cast members are "furious" about Bethenny's pay raise. Last month, it was reported that Bravo decided not to give LuAnn de Lesseps, Ramona Singer, and Sonja Morgan new contracts after their tactics while negotiating with the network backfired, and their contracts have been reduced to a pay-per-scene system. Page Six reported that the ladies refused to sign contracts until they were paid almost as much as Bethenny.
