Bethenny’s Rags to Riches Story

Bethenny’s Hollywood hustle started young. Before she was a star in front of the camera, she worked behind the scenes as a production assistant on Saved by the Bell on the season Screech and the gang worked at the Malibu Sands Beach Club.

Before New York was her stomping ground, Bethenny did odd jobs around Los Angeles, including working as a nanny for Paris and Nicky Hilton. And guess who hooked her up with the gig? RHOBH star Kyle Richards! Bethenny became pals with Kyle after dating the same guy, then eventually Kyle introduced Bethenny to her sister Kathy – Paris and Nicky’s mom.

Related: Bethenny Frankel through the years

Bethenny was made for reality TV, but before she discovered her calling she tried her hand at acting in a handful of low budget films, including a Beverly Hills 90210 inspired horror flick called Hollywood Hills 90028.

Related: Watch the trailer for Bethenny's campy acting debut

Remember Martha Stewart’s short-lived Apprentice spinoff? That’s where Bethenny got her first taste of fame. She made it to the final two on the show’s only season, but was eventually “fired” for being deemed too cold and a showoff.

Prior to fame, Bethenny was trying to make it as a chef-to-the-stars in New York and the Hamptons. She studied at the Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, but her credentials failed to impress her one-time RHONY co-star Kelly Bensimon, who famously declared Bethenny was not a “chef” but a “cook” (TBH, we still don’t understand the difference).

Who can forget Bethenny desperately trying to get shoppers at a grocery store to test her samples? Back in season one of RHONY, Bethenny was still hustling to launch her pre-Skinnygirl venture, a line of healthy baked goods called Bethenny Bakes. The brand was ultimately not a success, but it set the groundwork for her future empire.

The world was first introduced to the “Skinnygirl cocktail” in 2008, when Bethenny ordered her personal fave tequila drink on camera during season one of RHONY. The next year, the Housewife partnered with a former Skyy Vodka employee named David Kanbar on a pre-mixed version of the drink and Skinnygirl was born.

In 2009, Bethenny’s career started to really take off. Along with the Skinnygirl cocktail, she released her debut book, Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting , which went on to become a New York Times bestseller and served as a launching pad for her career as an author. Bethenny went on to release eight books, including a children’s book and a novel.

Bethenny’s ascent in the business world was swift. Skinnygirl was a near instant success. The year after its launch, Bethenny sold the cocktail brand for a price tag north of $100 million, according to the financial bible Forbes, which made her a cover star in 2011 and branded her a “new breed of celebrity entrepreneur” (others pegged it closer to $120 million).

Related: Ranking the Real Housewives by net worth

Despite the massive payday, Bethenny wasn’t content to sip on Skinnygirl’s fat return. Instead she turned her ‘skinny’ ethos into a brand that sold, well, everything. She now sells everything from salad dressing to shapewear. Seriously, if you can think of a product, Bethenny’s got a skinny version of it. The laundry list of products she’s brought to market includes, but is NOT limited to: wine, coffee, sweeteners, yoga pants, face scrubs, tinted moisturizer, chocolate-covered almonds, gummy bears, banana oatmeal bars, popcorn, sparkling water and uncured ham.

This Skinnygirl-red car isn’t for sale (that we know of), but we bet if you slid into her DMs and let her know you were in the market, she’d find a way to sell you one. (Hi Carole!)

We always knew Bethenny was a shark, but in 2017 she made it official by joining Shark Tank as a recurring guest judge. Fun fact: she became a Shark Tank ‘Shark’ at the same time as her former fling, Alex Rodriguez.

What’s next for Bethenny? Real estate. As we’ve seen on Bethenny and Fredrik, she’s joined forces with longtime pal – and Million Dollar Listing New York star – Fredrik Eklund to flip properties in New York City. With a season’s worth of real estate experience under her skinny belt, don’t be surprised if you see Skinnygirl condos and townhouses for sale soon in a neighbourhood near you.

Related: Fredrik Eklund through the years