This natural foods chef appeared on seasons one through four of The Real Housewives of New York City. She became known for her signature Skinny Girl margarita, a low calorie margarita mix, which she sold for a reported $120 million. Bethenny announced that she would not be returning for season five, but Bravo gave her a spinoff show, Bethenny Getting Married? (later renamed Bethenny Ever After). She is currently working with Ellen DeGeneres on a possible daytime talk show with Telepictures.
Adam Olszewski/BravoAfter nearly three years, reality TV stars Bethenny Frankel and Jason Hoppy have decided to end their marriage.
“It brings me great sadness to say that Jason and I are separating,” Frankel said in a statement. “This was an extremely difficult decision that as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family.”
“We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority,” the statement continued. “This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us.”
A stint on NBC’s The Apprentice in 2005 launched Frankel in front of the public eye, and the business womanhas been on reality television ever since. Frankel met Hoppy (“a regular guy with a regular salary,” according to Frankel) at a nightclub in 2008 while starring on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City. She landed her own spinoff in 2010, Bethenny Getting Married?, documenting her pregnancy 11 months into their relationship and their marriage when Bethenny was seven months pregnant. The show became Bravo’s highest-rated series premiere, drawing 2.1 million total viewers.
After the nuptials, the show was expanded into Bethenny Ever After, which documented the couple’s lives in New York City with their two-year-old daughter, Bryn, as well as Bethenny’s Skinnygirl business, a line of low-calorie cocktails, which she sold last year to Beam Global for a jaw-dropping $120 million. The series averaged 1.4 million viewers in season two, and 1.1 million viewers in season three, with the final episode airing in May.
Since then, Frankel and Hoppy have fought rumors that they were divorcing, but said at the time that they were working out their marriage.
I am heartbroken. I am sad. We will work through this as a family.
— Bethenny Frankel (@Bethenny) December 23, 2012
