Bethenny Frankel vowed Joy Behar isn’t getting the last word after slamming her bikini body and commenting on her boobs.
Frankel, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly that Behar, 82, “has not” apologized to her after making a remark about her breasts on The View earlier this month.
The Real Housewives of New York City alum, however, isn’t worried about Behar. “It’s so much less important about her,” Frankel explained while promoting her partnership with Heluva Good! dips. “What’s important is that there is this deus — traditional media has this deus — of people that get to have the last word.”
Frankel claimed that since the “average person” or celebrity “needs” the media to “promote a product” or their business, they are “not going to clap back.”
That mentality, according to Frankel, makes it so the media — in this case Behar on The View — gets to “have the last word on everything.”
“It does sting,” she confessed.
The former Housewife, however, decided to take back her power after Behar seemingly belittled Frankel’s candor about walking in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit runway show in a cheeky bikini. (Frankel also donned a leopard one-piece in the show.)
During a June episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg brought up Frankel’s social media comments about how none of the models “looked the way that we looked two hours prior” to hitting the runway. Although Frankel attributed her glow-up to “a lot of work and glam teams,” Behar didn’t seem impressed by her honesty.
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“Joy’s response was, ‘I appreciate her candor, but she has fake boobs,’” Frankel recalled during a TikTok video shared on June 8. At the time, Frankel set the record straight, telling her followers, “These are a lift from, like, 20 years ago.”
She explained, “I had very large breasts in high school, they were just saggy floppy.” Frankel then quipped, “So this is actually a lift, Joy.”
Frankel noted in her TikTok video that she felt “sorry” for Behar after she took a “swipe” at her when she was keeping it real and poking fun at herself at the same time.
Frankel told Us that after learning about Behar’s slight, she decided to clap back and say, “Not today, not in the height of my supermodel era.” She quipped, “I was like, ‘No.’ I was just self-deprecating, I was punching myself down. [You] don’t need to help me out any.”
The reality star added that “for years” she’s allegedly been a punching bag for comments about her body and her lifestyle, but after Behar’s quip she said no more.
“[That] was the day that I was just like, ‘No.’ But [it was also] for people that can’t defend themselves, to be honest, and it’s like, ‘No,’” Frankel declared, revealing, “Once in a while you [are] going to slap me [so] make it good and it better land.”
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Although Behar seemed unimpressed about her appearance at Miami Swim Week — where she walked the runway in a thong bikini — Frankel told Us, she has received a lot of positive feedback.
“I do feel like everybody is inspired and feeling like they are [a supermodel] too. And that’s the point,” she said. “There should not be an exclusive club for people that have vacant stairs walking down a runway that don’t look like hangers, that have no soul. People should live and have fun and enjoy and people shouldn’t be mannequins.”
Frankel noted that people should “focus on their health” and “be inspired” by their choices. “I am as much of a supermodel as any other person that’s ever walked a runway,” she added. “And so is anyone watching my content.”
In addition to promoting body positivity, Frankel has recently teamed up with Heluva Good! to unveil The Host’s Hidden Heluva Good! vessel. The faux potted plant doubles as a host’s secret dip stash, so guests don’t drain their personal supply of Heluva Good! dip and chips.
Frankel told Us that using Heluva Good! dips at any party can make hosting “easy” and negate any stress that comes with throwing a summertime bash.
“We were doing a photo shoot today and we had all the mini vegetables, which are just my new personality, [so] I would like to have only small vegetables and the Heluva Good! dip in the middle,” Frankel said of her top picks. “The bacon horse radish in particular, but just the mini puffers, the mini cucumbers, the snap peas, the tomatoes. You don’t have to even take a knife out for any of that.”
She added that with Heluva Good! dips and simple snack items “there’s nothing to do but enjoy yourself and have fun.” Frankel teased that her team has been “obsessing over all the flavors” the brand has in their arsenal.
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“We were just five minutes ago talking about each dip and people were competing. [Saying], ‘No, I like the bodacious onion. No, I like the bacon horse radish. No, I like the French onion,’” Frankel said with a laugh. “So people were putting different ones on their sandwiches today, so that was good.”
Fans can get their hands on Heluva Good! dips on the brand’s website. They can also enter for a chance to win their own Host’s Hidden Heluva Good! vessel by visiting heluvagood.com/giveaway between now and Friday, June 27.
