Bethenny has got a lot to say following her sit down with NeNe Leakes. Find out what she expected going in, what she thought coming out and things that were said when the mics were off
On Nini. I want to talk about that interview because it was really so meaningful. I contacted Nini after a while of thinking about it. Before it was that she would have been a good guest, like that would be a good guest. I had no idea what was going on in her mind or inside her head. I had no idea that she hadn't worked in four years. I did not know that she wasn't getting callbacks from Ryan Murphy. Everyone's not always watching. Everyone else's bored. I had no idea. I mean, I've just watched Nini from Afar. She had a lounge, she's posting, Nini always survives. I didn't think she's making the same money as on the show because it's a different paycheck, and i'd heard about her lawsuit. But like, she's just a person that I've always found entertaining. I talked to her about doing a show a while ago, and I wanted to have her on, but I don't like to have someone on, and this is a really good reason. And just recently I just got the feeling that she should come on. It just felt like it's time for her to come on. I just got the feeling inside of my body within this reckoning. All of it just came to be, and I had the courage to really ask her, and I wanted her to come on because she commented on one of my posts and it was courageous of her to comment, and it was correct of me to hug her on that post. And it just was an interesting moment between us. And she was very nervous, very scared. She hasn't worked. She was scared it might not help her. And Rachel was very scared too. And if you call Rachel and ask her, she's very happy she came on because it gave her a new chapter. It was like a cleansing sorbet like she was stuck in the middle of the impact zone and couldn't go back to shore or get out to the big waves, and she needed to do something. And I recognized that. And now she's in a different space from headspace, and Nini is the same exact thing. She told me. She thanked me, her team thanked me. She trusted me. She was nervous. I was nervous. I took it very seriously. She wanted to make sure that I wasn't like sort of hanging her out to dry and just asking her a bunch of like fired off questions that I was going to explain my experience too, and I was going to hold her hand in what we've both been through. I definitely did not agree with everything she said, nor did she me that wasn't what it was about at all. I wasn't coming on to be a yes person, just meaning that I wasn't. There was no gotcha, which isn't what the show is about anyway, which you already know. And afterwards she asked me if I would manage her. I've already helped her with a couple of opportunities. She really is a workhorse, wants to work way harder than I actually want to work. My brain is always working and my strategy is always working. But physically Nini is a workhorse, and I think it'll have been good for her. I think already she said she was being seen and heard by different people. She was in Vegas, and she was a proached in a different way, you know, using your voice and being calm, and the way that she handled herself was people saw her in a different way. People who never even think about her thought about her. So I think it was very wise of both of us and we're both really happy we did it and more to come on our relationship. But again, I did not know Nini at all. I thought I did because of what I've seen in the press and on the Housewives, and I'll watching What Happens Live the ten thousand times she's done that show. But that's a character, Nini's. That's clickbait SoundBite Nani, not human woman, mother, daughter, person who's lost a husband, person whose son has gotten himself into trouble, person who danced to subbortive family. Like, you know, it's just not that just wasn't the real and whole Nini. And I just my eyes opened up, realizing, Wow, I don't know any of these women. So now my eyes, my eyes are open and thinking, maybe a lot of these women I would like. And I've thought that before on my show, Like there are people like Jewels that I could apologize to because we were on the battlefield and every quick comment of mine could hurt someone else's feelings. So I'm just seeing women as human beings instead of as characters on a show that I can spar with and say the funniest last line that the audience is going to laugh at. And again if I say a funny line that the audience laughs at, I'm winning, that person's losing, and that's how I lasted and that's how I succeeded. So I'm seeing things very differently now, And I think it's fascinating that the last thing that Ninie answered about her regrets was about her children, because what you don't think about are the children on these shows. They are exploited. As Dina Manzo her daughter, I saw her on TikTok saying that she said things at thirteen that she still has to regret. The people still hold against her Toda. Anyone ask Dina's thirteen year old daughter if she wanted to have a microphone on her and be working for free, or Anini's kids what they wanted when they have to do a scene with their parents, or any of these kids. You know, people kids don't get the choice, and they're exploited and not compensated. So the kids are really exploited. The reality reckoning is so massive and it's taking on a life way bigger than what I even started. It's a credit. It's waves after wave after wave, and it's going to be the fucking biggest tornado you've ever seen, So Andy, have as many housewives as you want on the show to get them to say that I'm unhinged or that I've gone off the rails. Whatever you want, Honey, I'm right here anytime you want. You don't have to use women to shield your patriarchal method of trashing me. I'm right here anytime. Take you on any day, and Andy Cohen, if you're going to take a shot at this bee, you better not miss so. In the wake of the Housewives storm, I've come to like Nini. I've come to enjoy Jill because for someone like Nani to sit on my show and say that she was canceled, to have the courage to say that she hasn't worked in four years, that takes pride that Nini that was on that show would never have said that because she would have been made fun of for it. It would have been a great poll question. I'll watching Rappins live. It would have been a great reason for someone else to trash her. But what happens on these shows is they beat you down to a point where then you go to the bottom, and then they want to build you back up because otherwise it becomes too dark for the audience, so there's a real dance and how all this is produced. And I now enjoyed Jill And we're not best friends. We speak a lot and we don't speak about the housewise. We speak about her dog, we speak about Ali, we speak about Gary, we talk about nonsense, we talk about stupidity. But it never really gets to that toxic point. It doesn't feel competitive, it doesn't feel like I'm wondering what the subtext of what she's saying on the phone. Because you can't hate the player. You have to hate the game. It's the game, and us not playing anymore is very scary.