>Iâd say B but I think she had wealthy backups lined up regardless
Bethenny absolutely had wealthy backups. She had barely started the major Skinnygirl manufacturing when she married Jason. In her divorce, she listed her premarital wealth as $22 million. She married Jason in March 2010. Her first Skinnygirl book came out in March 2009. The premixed ready to drink margarita was available for sale around May/June 2009. It really only started to be regularly available on east coast store shelves in the fall of 2009. Her dad, who was pretty wealthy, died November 2009. This kind of suggests that she likely inherited some money from her dad. She sold Skinnygirl ABC in March 2011.
Except for her premarital wealth (which was listed in filings for her endless divorce battle), everything else is EASILY verifiable public information.
Insane to me. She always references how she was broke when she started the show and only made $7,000 for her first season. I didnât realize $22M meant you were broke!
Right before she got offered RHONY, her dad finally cut her off and stopped paying her rent. He wanted her to just get a steady job. He wasn't saying a 9 - 5. He was a horse racing trainer. He understood that not everyone was cut out for a 9 - 5 or an office. He was also one of the most successful horse trainers of all time. Horse trainers get a percentage of what their winning horses earn. He collected $30 million just from his percentage. He also collected a regular salary and fees for day to day training.
Bobby Frankel actually left a good bit to charity for aid and assistance programs for individuals and families who worked in horse racing. He created scholarships for the kids of those families. I believe he also left some money for his second ex-wife. Bobby did reconcile with Bethenny and Bethenny's stepfather (Bobby's former best friend) shortly before his death.
He lived well. He had a nice house in Pacific Palisades. That's actually where he passed away. Joe Torre was a good friend of Bobby Frankel. Torre said that Bobby was a really generous and giving person.
If you couldn't find it, you weren't looking that hard.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Naturally-Thin/Bethenny-Frankel/9781416597988
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110321005697/en/Beam-Global-Acquires-Skinnygirl%C2%AE-Spirits-Brand
https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/02/24/bethenny-frankels-skinnygirl-family-expands-to-include-wine-and-vodka/?sh=410213da7a57
https://www.bravotv.com/bethenny-getting-married/photos/bethennys-wedding#9441416
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/sports/17frankel.html
https://www.espn.com/horse-racing/news/story?id=4659654
https://www.espn.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=4661154
https://ustrottingnews.com/robert-j-frankel-scholarship-winner-announced/
She married Jason well after the first season aired. Skinny Girl wasnât founded until 2009, and the show premiered in 2008. I assume it was filmed in 2007. Her net worth at marriage would have been way more than during the first season of the show.
Who knows but Bethenny especially since she started talking to her dad again who was a multi millionaire may have left her very decent inheritance and maybe even her step dad?
I do find Bethenny annoying af when she came back on the show but I feel like she has connections and runs in these circles and is very smart woman with a business hustler mind I feel she would have made it somehow but not on this level without the show and she would have likely inherited decent amount from her dad.
I feel like the threshold to be upper class is so much lower than we think. All of the ATL ladies probably were on the low end of upper class and then Housewives helped push them in like the top 5%. Still love this question but wanted to throw this out there! Semantics, I know.
Definitely Kathy. She had a really nice home at the beginning, but compared to the rest of the cast itâs considered a lot more middle class. Her new home that we saw on the show was beautiful. But they were doing well for themselves before the show, I think they own/owned gas stations?
Did you see Teresaâs house before they moved into the warehouse mansion? Itâs very middle class average, it makes the Wakileâs first home look like a mansion.
It was screaming from the rooftops. Nice house and tbh not a bad kitchen, but for her to act like she does and pretend sheâs this big bad maven of the haven with the wealth of the gods⊠be fr sis. Nothing wrong with her old kitchen, but if she had it like that it would not be so old.
That is true! I go to lots of estate sales and many of the homes have kitchens that are old, but Karenâs was ancient. It looked exactly like my grandmothers kitchen. Old money does not at all play by the rule of always needing the newest and best to show off, but Karenâs kitchen just was not fooling anybody. Also, her whole home situation whatever that was (moving, renting a way too big home with non-roportional furniture, moving back etc) was giving âim trying to look richer than I am.â The whole thing of âthe black bill gatesâ too.
Anywho, if youâre thinking about going to estate sales, pls gatekeep them. Donât put people on, I beg you. Itâs hard enough battling the old people in the early mornings on day one. We do not need more people discovering the holy land of estate sales!!! Thanks girlies âĄ
Sonja and Luann kindaâŠlike they were much more wealthy when the show started because of their husbandsâ money, but once they divorced I think theyâd have really been in trouble without Bravo/the spin-offs/the promotion for other endeavors to keep them floating
Kenya for sure, sheâs built a very nice income for herself through the show, UGT, launching and promoting her hair care line, spin off âcelebrityâ shows, and insta ads + buying a house at a great price and renovating it.
I think Leeann from Dallas was on her way to doing this, as she was definitely âjustâ middle class and seemed to not be overspending/was wise with her housewives checks, but then she got herself prematurely fired and then the show was prematurely canceled
I got the sense they could nowhere near afford that and the show came in just in time to increase their income and the fame she got allowed her to hold on to it
You havenât seen the house they were living in before it. Idk which came first⊠the show or the fraudulent loans but they did NOT have the income at the time to back up the loans they took out and they paid the price for it even if it did eventually put them in a higher tax bracket.
Edit to include link for [original Giudice home](https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/celebrity-homes/news/a8516/real-housewives-of-new-jersey-teresa-giudice-house/)
Nope loans taken out with fraudulent W2âs and pay stubs. Then it all came out when they tried to file bankruptcy to avoid paying for said fraudulent loans.
Ugh! Iâve waited for this question. Kathy Wakile on RHONJ. Gina on RHOC. Leanne on Dallas Some of them confuse me though. I genuinely donât understand some of where these woman get their income from but they seem to be âmiddle classâ. RHOP (Gizelle and Robyn) seem middle class to me. RHOSLC I canât figure out if any of them are that rich besides Lisa Barlow (but those are her words) also RHOA (Sheree, Kenya.)
HW made Delores upper middle class. Didnât she have a large but old, empty house? Was it herâs? Maybe it just heard Danielle say it but I was under the impression
Candiace RHOP. I always laugh when people call her mom a physician. She's a therapist - not even close. And although her dad is listed as a physician, military doctors DON'T bring in the kind of money civilian doctors do.
#
Vicki went from selling insurance in her den to a Coto empire (half joking, but she did!)
Kandi went from famous but upper middle class to FAMOUS and **RICH**
Heather Gay
Garcelle - again famous and upper middle class but now she has more income and a beach house
Gina went from her casita to her overpacked condo
With a notable break. She did not play the game well. She commited fraud and did time, while her daughters were young and depended on their mother. There are better ways to social climb.
I would say upper middle class at a minimum but top of mind for me is gizelle and Robyn, Brandi from dallas, Nene, Tre and Melissa G, the Wakiles and the one who managed the most incredible ascent, Laurie from early OC. Aside from her marriage Porsha also ascended as an individual income earner.
Literally Teresa was the OG of scamming her way into a better tax bracket. The house she lived in season 1 was extremely modest and they took out millions in fraudulent loans and tried to file bankruptcy. She takes the cake on this one.
I am homeless but not toothless by these standards
đ I canât
Robyn Dixon. Which I think was and continues to be (prenup story this season) an explicit part of her storyline.
whitney used rill housewives to launch wild rös beauty and now she is a rill successful woman
It helped her HILL!
heather not being rill about whitneyâs hilling journey was a rilly big dill
đ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł
ârösâ đ
I read that in Swedish and the pronunciation is very different than what Whitney would say...
German pronunciation is Wild Whitney Rose in my mind. How is it in Swedish
I love it! Rill housewives đ
rill women keeping it rill
A+ pronunciations here
đ
Whitney seems solidly upper middle class.
With some of these names here Iâm wondering what exactly people consider middle class đ
>Iâd say B but I think she had wealthy backups lined up regardless Bethenny absolutely had wealthy backups. She had barely started the major Skinnygirl manufacturing when she married Jason. In her divorce, she listed her premarital wealth as $22 million. She married Jason in March 2010. Her first Skinnygirl book came out in March 2009. The premixed ready to drink margarita was available for sale around May/June 2009. It really only started to be regularly available on east coast store shelves in the fall of 2009. Her dad, who was pretty wealthy, died November 2009. This kind of suggests that she likely inherited some money from her dad. She sold Skinnygirl ABC in March 2011.
Honestly how do you know this lol
Except for her premarital wealth (which was listed in filings for her endless divorce battle), everything else is EASILY verifiable public information.
~~Donât look a gift ..horse ..in the mouth.~~ I know a few things, the sun rises in the east and u/HunterHunted9 will always have B receipts.
Haha I am grateful but curious
Yes!!! I appreciate this too!!! đđđ
Insane to me. She always references how she was broke when she started the show and only made $7,000 for her first season. I didnât realize $22M meant you were broke!
She must have inherited that when her dad passed because no way would she be in that 1 bedroom apartment season 1-3 if she had $22M sitting around.
Right before she got offered RHONY, her dad finally cut her off and stopped paying her rent. He wanted her to just get a steady job. He wasn't saying a 9 - 5. He was a horse racing trainer. He understood that not everyone was cut out for a 9 - 5 or an office. He was also one of the most successful horse trainers of all time. Horse trainers get a percentage of what their winning horses earn. He collected $30 million just from his percentage. He also collected a regular salary and fees for day to day training.
Reminder that horse racing is known as "the sport of kings".
Damn and of his money the majority went to the daughter trashing him publicly?
Bobby Frankel actually left a good bit to charity for aid and assistance programs for individuals and families who worked in horse racing. He created scholarships for the kids of those families. I believe he also left some money for his second ex-wife. Bobby did reconcile with Bethenny and Bethenny's stepfather (Bobby's former best friend) shortly before his death.
Thanks for sharing. It sounds like he didnât spend on himself.
He lived well. He had a nice house in Pacific Palisades. That's actually where he passed away. Joe Torre was a good friend of Bobby Frankel. Torre said that Bobby was a really generous and giving person.
>nice house in Pacific Palisades The *only* kind of house in the Palisades lol.
Source for all this info? I know you say âpublic infoâ but literally none of this is found online.
If you couldn't find it, you weren't looking that hard. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Naturally-Thin/Bethenny-Frankel/9781416597988 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110321005697/en/Beam-Global-Acquires-Skinnygirl%C2%AE-Spirits-Brand https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2012/02/24/bethenny-frankels-skinnygirl-family-expands-to-include-wine-and-vodka/?sh=410213da7a57 https://www.bravotv.com/bethenny-getting-married/photos/bethennys-wedding#9441416 https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/sports/17frankel.html https://www.espn.com/horse-racing/news/story?id=4659654 https://www.espn.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=4661154 https://ustrottingnews.com/robert-j-frankel-scholarship-winner-announced/
Or hawking her stuff in random grocery stores. I donât think she had much in the early days of NY.
She married Jason well after the first season aired. Skinny Girl wasnât founded until 2009, and the show premiered in 2008. I assume it was filmed in 2007. Her net worth at marriage would have been way more than during the first season of the show.
Not to mention contacts she made as Paris Hilton's nanny. She's a phony.
Who knows but Bethenny especially since she started talking to her dad again who was a multi millionaire may have left her very decent inheritance and maybe even her step dad? I do find Bethenny annoying af when she came back on the show but I feel like she has connections and runs in these circles and is very smart woman with a business hustler mind I feel she would have made it somehow but not on this level without the show and she would have likely inherited decent amount from her dad.
So⊠not middle class
No lol doesnt seem like it but Bethenny and alot of these woman are good at creating their own false narratives when it suits them.
The casts of OC and NJ, with a few exceptions.
gina?!!!
As much as I like her, I donât think her middle class status has changed.
She went from broke to middle class.
Agree. Iâm glad she doesnât live beyond her means for the sake of the cameras though.
ia
I feel like the threshold to be upper class is so much lower than we think. All of the ATL ladies probably were on the low end of upper class and then Housewives helped push them in like the top 5%. Still love this question but wanted to throw this out there! Semantics, I know.
Definitely Kathy. She had a really nice home at the beginning, but compared to the rest of the cast itâs considered a lot more middle class. Her new home that we saw on the show was beautiful. But they were doing well for themselves before the show, I think they own/owned gas stations?
They sold their McMansion.
They did have a Ferrari in their first season so idk ?
Did you see Teresaâs house before they moved into the warehouse mansion? Itâs very middle class average, it makes the Wakileâs first home look like a mansion.
Warehouse mansion đ No I havenât! Iâm gonna Google it
I added the link in another comment but itâs easy to find!!!
Richie has a bunch of gas stations. I think they live well beneath their means tbh
Melissa gorga but I truly think they are still more middle class just faking wealth at this point
Agreed and I feel like itâs a lot easier to fake that with instagram sponsorships and checks from the show
Karen Huger. Her old kitchen told all.
They owed 5 million in taxes. They made millions of dollars and lived in wealthy Potomac. That's more than middle class.
You gotta make millions to owe millions!
Karen was rich but not polished. Her wigs, clothes and makeup needed some updating - same goes for the kitchen.
It was screaming from the rooftops. Nice house and tbh not a bad kitchen, but for her to act like she does and pretend sheâs this big bad maven of the haven with the wealth of the gods⊠be fr sis. Nothing wrong with her old kitchen, but if she had it like that it would not be so old.
A lot of older wealthy people have outdated kitchens honestly. Established money doesnât fee the need to constantly renovate and update everything.
That is true! I go to lots of estate sales and many of the homes have kitchens that are old, but Karenâs was ancient. It looked exactly like my grandmothers kitchen. Old money does not at all play by the rule of always needing the newest and best to show off, but Karenâs kitchen just was not fooling anybody. Also, her whole home situation whatever that was (moving, renting a way too big home with non-roportional furniture, moving back etc) was giving âim trying to look richer than I am.â The whole thing of âthe black bill gatesâ too. Anywho, if youâre thinking about going to estate sales, pls gatekeep them. Donât put people on, I beg you. Itâs hard enough battling the old people in the early mornings on day one. We do not need more people discovering the holy land of estate sales!!! Thanks girlies âĄ
Sonja and Luann kindaâŠlike they were much more wealthy when the show started because of their husbandsâ money, but once they divorced I think theyâd have really been in trouble without Bravo/the spin-offs/the promotion for other endeavors to keep them floating Kenya for sure, sheâs built a very nice income for herself through the show, UGT, launching and promoting her hair care line, spin off âcelebrityâ shows, and insta ads + buying a house at a great price and renovating it. I think Leeann from Dallas was on her way to doing this, as she was definitely âjustâ middle class and seemed to not be overspending/was wise with her housewives checks, but then she got herself prematurely fired and then the show was prematurely canceled
Leannâs fiancĂ© (now husband) was a retired detective. She did charity work.
I don't think T in her Beauty and the Beats castle house was "Middle Class?"
I got the sense they could nowhere near afford that and the show came in just in time to increase their income and the fame she got allowed her to hold on to it
You havenât seen the house they were living in before it. Idk which came first⊠the show or the fraudulent loans but they did NOT have the income at the time to back up the loans they took out and they paid the price for it even if it did eventually put them in a higher tax bracket. Edit to include link for [original Giudice home](https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/celebrity-homes/news/a8516/real-housewives-of-new-jersey-teresa-giudice-house/)
Yeah, they built a massive house in an expensive area. The house was hideous and tacky, yes, but that land wouldâve cost them a fortune alone.
First season they werenât even moved in yet though
They used fraudulent loans for all of it, remember the whole prison thing?
I honestly donât remember. I thought they were arrested for tax evasion, but I guess Iâm wrong.
Nope loans taken out with fraudulent W2âs and pay stubs. Then it all came out when they tried to file bankruptcy to avoid paying for said fraudulent loans.
Ugh! Iâve waited for this question. Kathy Wakile on RHONJ. Gina on RHOC. Leanne on Dallas Some of them confuse me though. I genuinely donât understand some of where these woman get their income from but they seem to be âmiddle classâ. RHOP (Gizelle and Robyn) seem middle class to me. RHOSLC I canât figure out if any of them are that rich besides Lisa Barlow (but those are her words) also RHOA (Sheree, Kenya.)
All of Jersey Bethenny All of Atlanta except Kandi Everyone in OC except Heather/Shannon Everyone on Salt Lake
DeShawn from Atlanta was wealthy. She had staff đ
Geurdy is arguably upper middle class in her basic McMansion
HW made Delores upper middle class. Didnât she have a large but old, empty house? Was it herâs? Maybe it just heard Danielle say it but I was under the impression
Gorgas, Margaret, Dolores, Brandi
Kyle and Mo were middle class and became wealthy
Their house on S1 was in Beverly Hills. At a minimum, they were upper middle class. The Agency skyrocketed then to wealth.
>Beverly Hills Bel Air
Candiace RHOP. I always laugh when people call her mom a physician. She's a therapist - not even close. And although her dad is listed as a physician, military doctors DON'T bring in the kind of money civilian doctors do. #
I never understood where Candice's money pre-Bravo came from. Like, therapists don't make THAT much.
Vicki went from selling insurance in her den to a Coto empire (half joking, but she did!) Kandi went from famous but upper middle class to FAMOUS and **RICH** Heather Gay Garcelle - again famous and upper middle class but now she has more income and a beach house Gina went from her casita to her overpacked condo
Heather Gayâs ex is loaded and fully supported her and the kids prior to her making her own money with beauty lab
imo that is like Ashley and Michael except Ashley hasnât been able to use the show to move up/earn more
Wtf are you talking about, Teresa went to prison.
But she bounced back and went from -$11M debt to making some bank now and has been living in McMansions since like 2010
With a notable break. She did not play the game well. She commited fraud and did time, while her daughters were young and depended on their mother. There are better ways to social climb.
Thank you!! There are so many posts about poor innocent Teresa losing time with her parents and daughters but âplaying the gameâ is a new one.
Meredith
I would say upper middle class at a minimum but top of mind for me is gizelle and Robyn, Brandi from dallas, Nene, Tre and Melissa G, the Wakiles and the one who managed the most incredible ascent, Laurie from early OC. Aside from her marriage Porsha also ascended as an individual income earner.
I think pretty much everyone in the early seasons (for the median income of the areas they lived in).
Literally Teresa was the OG of scamming her way into a better tax bracket. The house she lived in season 1 was extremely modest and they took out millions in fraudulent loans and tried to file bankruptcy. She takes the cake on this one.
Gina for sure and Shannon to an extent but she went through a fucked divorce and basically had to start over