Bethenny Frankel thinks reality TV stars should join the ongoing writers and actors’ strike because, they too, are being financially exploited.
Frankel, 52, noted that she was only paid $7,250 for her first “RHONY” season — and hasn’t seen a cent from it since.
“I myself have generated millions and millions of dollars in advertising and online impressions being on reality TV and have never made a single residual,” she explained.
“So, either I’m missing something or we’re getting screwed too.”
Frankel — who said reality TV stars are often looked down upon and considered the “losers” of Hollywood — noted that they were the ones who “provided all of the entertainment” during the last writers’ strike from 2007 to 2008.
She then pointed to stars from “The Bachelor” and “The Hills” who get “paid peanuts” despite the fact that people can — and still — watch old “episodes from years gone by.”
Frankel encouraged reality TV stars to unionize in order to “simply be treated fairly and valued.”
“Critics will say that actors have ‘talent’ which is what studios pay for: in fact, advertisers pay for the purchasers of the household aka women,” she wrote. “And what gets women? Reality tv.”
Bethenny Frankel urges reality TV stars to join actors’ strike. Bethenny Frankel urges reality TV stars to join actors’ strike