Bethenny Frankel Accused Of Manipulating Raquel Leviss In Podcast Interview! Whoa!

L. F.

Bethenny Frankel is taking heat for hosting Raquel Leviss’ tell-all on her podcast! We guess there’s enough frustration to go around!

On Wednesday, the Real Housewives of New York City alum surprised fans with a candid interview with the Vanderpump Rules star, which she teased is just part one of an unspecified number of episodes. It marked the 28-year-old’s first interview since the Season 10 reunion, so it was a big get! But now listeners of Just B are calling out Bethenny for being a hypocrite and having an ulterior motive behind the interview!

Many fans have taken to the comment section of Bethenny’s Instagram to call her out for exploiting the Scandoval — while at the same time bashing Bravo and others for doing the same in the episode! They think the convo was so bad, she’s also being dubbed Howie Mandel 2.0! Uh-oh!!

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One thing that frustrated fans was the fact Bethenny tried to promote the explosive episode as a chance to uplift women, writing on the ‘gram:

“A woman’s voice is very powerful. Now Rachel is using hers to tell her own story…for the first time.”

Obviously there’s a lot of issues with Bethenny treating a spicy reality TV interview as some noble cause. What, she’s trying to be salacious and saintly at the same time?

But plenty of critics more specifically tore into the notion that Raquel’s voice deserved to be uplifted at all, arguing:

“Yeah this isn’t one woman rising to reclaim her voice or story. This is the wrong horse to hitch your cart to. This isn’t like Raquel had a drunken one night stand and production egged it one for a storyline. She had a calculated, months long affair with her best friend partner of 10 years.”

“It’s sad to promote this woman who betrays women.”

“I understand what you’re trying to do here. But she has failed to support a single female. She has used male attention as her only sense of motivation. Never female. Make sure you make her admit that s**t.”

“I am for women supporting women. However, she stepped over a line and slept with her best friend’s man – not once but for months while smiling to her face. How are we supposed to support that?”

We get where they’re coming from! It’s not like Raquel was innocent in all of this. She did have an affair with Tom Sandoval — one that caused her to betray and lie to her friend Ariana Madix for months! She may want to tell her story now that she’s been made out to be the villain, but she can’t completely change the narrative she helped create!

Regardless, Bethenny wasn’t willing to hear this criticism! The Skinnygirl CEO had enough of the negative commentary on Wednesday morning and actually clapped back at some of the hate! When one person said “no one cares about anything” the SUR waitress has to say, Bethenny replied:

“Then don’t listen.”

The 52-year-old went on to tell another commenter it’s their “choice” to hate on the reality star for having an affair. Still, many people were fed up with Bethenny’s decision to give “Rachel” a platform — especially considering what she did with it — complaining on IG and X (Twitter):

“Sorry Bethenny … It seems very opportunistic of you to do this and I can’t help but think you are using Rachel in the same way you are criticising Bravo for its actions. I also recall you speaking very unkindly of her when the whole Scandoval story unfolded. It just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Bethenny admitted she didn’t even watch VPR. Rachel admitted her mom loves Bethenny and what she says on Tiktok. This wasn’t the right move for Rachel considering her complaints are of a network using her for money. That’s exactly what Bethenny is doing. #PumpRules”

Another person suggested “Bethenny is literally using Raquel to boost her flop podcast” when “Scandoval was over.” Someone else insisted this was Bethenny’s latest move in her campaign to get reality stars to unionize, noting:

“I’ve always been a fan but c’mon! Complaining Bravo exploited her and using her on your own podcast to further your own narrative around the pitfalls of reality tv and unionizing. This isn’t about her- it’s highly opportunistic. She’s a pawn in this game! You clearly have a vendetta- but a la Elsa and Frozen, let it go!”

Yeah, so, we think you get the point. This podcast has caused a stir, to say the least! And that’s not even mentioning what was SAID on it!

That said, there was a small — and we do mean small — section of the internet that supported the tell-all, and Bethenny sure seemed grateful for them! Someone argued:

“Whether you agree with what she did or not or her treatment over it @bethennyfrankel has clearly invited her to do this podcast in a safe, comfortable environment where she is able to give an account of what happened & how she feels. It’s a choice to listen or not regardless of your views on her & the subject matter, isn’t it?”

The businesswoman commented hands up emojis in response to the fan (above), seemingly sending love for their positive feedback. No matter the reactions, it’s clear this podcast is getting her lots of buzz — and ultimately, that’s what she wanted! But is all attention good attention? We’ll have to wait and see how this podcast drama plays out. In the meantime, catch up on more reactions (below)!

Do you think she was being shady when giving Raquel a platform to share her story? SOUND OFF (below)!

[Image via MEGA/WENN/Avalon]

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