Aspire with Emma Grede - Bethenny Frankel: The Business Model Nobody Else Will Share

Episode Date: May 19, 2026

Bethenny Frankel turned a TikTok account into a $20-million-a-year business without a plan or a brand of her own. She had a vision and a set of deal terms that no one in the industry has been able to replicate, or get her to explain, until now.  In this conversation, Emma gets Bethenny to do the thing she never does: open her playbook. Bethenny shows the work behind it all—the deal structures, the dollar amounts, the model she built that agencies keep trying to reverse-engineer and she keeps refusing to share.  Bethenny shares: The Skinny Girl carve-out that started everything and the difference between licensing and ownership that determines whether you walk away rich or walk away with nothing How she built her business with zero exclusivity, equity in nearly every partnership, and why brands agree to terms no one else can get Why she says trust and attention are the only two assets that matter and what that means for anyone trying to build an audience into a business The true cost of building an entire business on yourself and what freedom looks like when you’re more successful in your fifties than you’ve ever been If you’ve ever been put in a box or told your vision doesn’t fit the playbook, let us know in the comments. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next. We want to hear from you! Take our audience survey and help us shape what comes next for Aspire: https://form.typeform.com/to/eNPvwUY4 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My debut book, Start With Yourself, is available now. You may have seen the headlines or the clips on social media, but this book is exactly what I intended it to be, a conversation that will make you think, and it's a blueprint for anyone pursuing success without the toxic positivity. Everywhere I go, women ask me how I got to where I am. But what they're really asking is how can they get there to? Start with yourself is my answer, and it will be your answer to.

So they don't call Bethany Frankel the converter for nothing, And today's conversation even surprised me. Today, Bethany came with the numbers. She came with the deal structures. And she really is open about how to make a deal uniquely work for you. Bethany never thinks about herself as talent. She thinks about herself as a partner. And my God, is she one of the best ones out there?

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visit drinkag1.com slash aspire to get a free AG1 flavor sampler and a bottle of vitamin D3K2 in your AG1 welcome kit when you first subscribe a 72 dollar value that's drink AG1.com slash aspire drink AG1.com slash aspire. Bethany Spankel, welcome to Aspire. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be here. As am I, I am so happy you're here because if there's one person we can rely on right now to tell that's the truth in the world. It is you, my dear. Sadly, yes, but today, hopefully it works out. It's going to make me happy. And I have to say, I feel like I have known of you for like the longest time, but it feels like right now at the age of, what, 55, you are more relevant than ever before. And I give you so much credit for that because I think when you look at everything that you've

done, starting businesses to this kind of reinvention that you've done of yourself, you clearly are like a marketing and business genius. I wonder if you feel like you get enough props for how brilliant you are. I don't know. I'm so sort of in it and I'm not out a lot and I'm not at events enough to know like what I'm perceived as.

I'm perceived by women like the moms and their teenage daughters very well. I mean, I'm the woman of that people. But I don't know overall. I wasn't expecting to be relevant now. I was leaving and I was living in Connecticut and I was very lonely. and my daughter had a couple more years in school there,

and I was feeling hopeless and just like in this big house. And I just was playing around with my makeup. And I never knew how to do makeup. So I thought I would like to learn the skill of doing basic makeup if I were in Ohio to do an appearance. So I just was playing around with the videos, and I didn't even really know how to do them. I didn't have to post on TikTok.

I certainly didn't know how to edit. I just was like, okay, film in and post it. I learned that. But there was this much room over my head and there was a light right above me. I didn't realize you're not supposed to have overhead lighting. I never knew you were supposed to clean a camera. Oh.

I had no idea you're supposed to clean your lens. People were like, what's wrong with her lens? Like, there was always food on my face because I was just posting. I never looked at the videos. It started to go viral, but I didn't even know what that was. So I am a person, if there are more than, if there's more than one fish, I'm going to start thinking. So once, you know what I mean?

If I see a bunch of fish, like, I'm going to be like, wait, I'm never going to not have the net again. So how much was deliberate strategy versus you, being in survival mode and trying to think about like your relevancy curve versus you actually being like very strategic. I never thought of the skinny girl margarita. I just literally made a drink and then was like, wait, I just execute ideas. There's no strategy. I just execute ideas and I'm addicted to the idea. The CMO of Beam Global when they were buying me said you're an idea hamster. I have to control myself because then it's just too much noise. If I'm doing something, I do it well. So no matter what it is, it can be making a snack, it doesn't matter.

So once this started, I was enjoying it. And then once I saw people be interested in it, then I was like, wait, am I like an influencer now? And it just took this whole life onto itself. But there was no playbook because I've done it in a way that no one else has done it because I'm very secretive and gatekeeping. That's the last thing I would say about you that you're gatekeeping. It's the agencies that I'll want my model and I'm not sharing how I'm doing it because I watch how other talent is doing it. it and I'm not giving that away. I'll give away all the makeup tips you want. But listen, every single person has a ready to drink cocktail now and a low calorie cocktail and people will

come in. I've heard you say so much about how much hate you receive and how much people hate you. Do you look at it as something that is ultimately like really good for business? Because at the end of the day, there's an attention economy and you have our attention pretty constantly. I believe that trust and attention are the two most valuable assets right now in media. I think. that if you can have both, it's unbelievable. People don't have to like me, but they do trust me, and I do have their attention. I mean, there's, like, data to prove that.

I don't, like, try to be hated. I don't want to be hated, but I am aware that the people that hated Howard Stern were tuning in for twice as long. I'm aware that the haters live for me. So, you know, they're a currency. And so I'll just clap back. I'll be like, well, you're right here.

So thank you for being here and get your popcorn out, because you're going to hate me even more in a bad moment. Here we go. Do you feel pressure to actually have an opinion on everything? Are there times when you're just like, this is out of my realm and I don't need to have an opinion? I don't feel pressure to have opinions on everything. My team will sometimes send me something that they think is interesting

and everyone's talking about and then I'll watch the video or the thing. And I'll be like, wait, I have a take. I don't always have a take. And I sometimes have to get to the point where I will have a take, but it's only if there's a different take. I don't like just saying something that everyone else has been saying. And maybe it's wrong or people don't agree with it. But that's when I'll share if it's different.

How do you know the difference between what is good attention and you actually like making trouble? Like is there any distinction for you? Like when you're like, actually this is bad. This is cross the line. I don't need this right now. Oh, yeah. I mean, I've, you know, I've had the moments when you're holding the steering wheel.

You can't hold it too tight and you can't let go because you're on the verge of cancellation. and you really, the way you act could really make the difference in being canceled or not. I mean, of course, cancellation has been canceled, but yet still, no, there are moments when you have to pay particular attention and we're the same thing that worked yesterday, won't work today, but it might work tomorrow. So you have to be smart and instinctive and have good gut, and it's not for the faint of heart. No, and I feel like that's what you have. Like, when I look at some of your decisions, like one of my favorite things that I love to say is

you make a decision and move on. And it feels like, to me, in so many of your, your business moves and dealings, you've been super decisive. It's like, and you almost like do things at, I'm not saying the wrong time because they're right for you, but you do things at a counterintuitive time. It's like you leave at like the height of you being on the housewives. You sell your company for $100 million when actually people are saying maybe you should hold.

You seem to have this kind of zeitgeisty feeling for when is the right time. And so I wonder like how you calculate those moments and how you, actually know that you're going to be right? What a great question and observation and no one has had. I do have a sense. Like, I feel it. It's almost like you're playing chess in your mind

and you're just like seeing the way it's going to go and pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. I also don't do anything that doesn't feel right. I don't do anything that I can't be totally honest about because it won't work. And so I don't write checks. I can't cash. Like, if I don't want to be somewhere, I don't want to be there.

And I don't really care what kind of money's coming in. I'm really curious to understand. When a deal comes your way or an opportunity comes way, what is your thought process for whether or not you're going to take something and whether or not it's right for you? So here's what it goes on. The whole social media and brand world, it's basically like a chicken for me. And there's a breast and then there's the, you're making broth.

And I really don't waste one bit of the chicken. I love this chicken analogy. No one's ever said that to me. So if somebody comes in and you have a tiny brand and you want my influence in some way, you will not leave the store without being able to buy something from this store. You will not be a dissatisfied customer and you'll be excited to be part of it. And someone else is spending millions of dollars and you could be spending thousands of dollars. And this is the model that no one else understands and that like I'm going to share some,

but not fully because it really is what is my secret sauce. It's why I don't create my own brand. Like the reason I don't create. Oh, this is one of my questions. Yeah, I don't, listen, I don't, I haven't created my own skims or my own, and everyone's asked me to, because I can't be honest and I can't say that there's one, this is, oh, just kidding, my skincare line, the seven steps, this is the worst. Every single thing is perfect. No. You're like, no, I'm going to have one hit. I'm going to have a bunch of misses and you wouldn't be out, that wouldn't be authentic to you. And I'm not going to put it on my back and I'm not going to go on the Today Show and the rest of the things and pretend that. It's just like, I would never compromise my authenticity for anything. But I have another way of peace. it all together with all of the different brands.

I'm not exclusive to them, which would never happen. Which, by the way, this is one thing we have to get into. I need you to come back to this question. For years, I worked in celebrity brand partnerships for 15 years. Never, ever, ever did I see a contract? And I'm talking, we are doing the biggest A-listers on the planet down to brand-new influencers with 25,000 followers. There's always a level of exclusivity.

How on earth have you got away with that? Because I'm very trusted and partners come to, me for their marketing budgets. Like billion dollar, multi-billion-dollar companies come to me to figure how they're going to spend their marketing. So you have no exclusivity? Zero. So you can talk about any other products. Anything I want. And they want that because they know that I'm smart and I'm not going to jeopardize what we're discussing together and the products that I've truthfully loved and endorsed of theirs because I truly love them, which is how we got here. It's Uber, it's Verizon, it's L'Oreal, it's MCO, it's food, it's travel, it's restaurants. I mean, it's everything.

because I speak to many things, and I'm just brutally honest, and I'll say something sucks, and I'll say something from a company that I'm working with that's paying me millions of dollars that something sucks because it sucks and you have to change it. And I'll tell them what they have to change, and I'll tell them how to spend their marketing budget, and I'll tell them, I will not read the sheet of what you're telling me to say

because you won't do well, you won't move product. I can only say what I feel about it. You shouldn't be coming to me to read a boring script. That's not what I'm here for. So how is this working out for you? Because it looks like it's going real well. And I just wonder, like, is the money crashing on in right now? It's tens of millions of dollars.

Tens of millions of dollars in the brand and influences sphere for you right now. Yeah, not including my other businesses, my real estate, my license. We're talking $10 million? $20 million? No, we're talking like $20 plus million. So let me just go back a second. So it's very clear that you're not going to do something unless you really believe in it. But what other lenses and what other questions do you ask to yourself when you're making a

decision about whether or not to go into a partnership. Tell me the thought process for you. Okay, so I'll give you a model that I'm creating now. Why I'm not starting my own line, but a new model that is good for me. Yeah. A brand, a hair care brand came to me, okay, by a very, very wealthy woman, like you wealthy woman. And it is very successful, but it hasn't fully popped off.

So it is pregnant, but it might not go to term, okay? Just add me, because the product is excellent. There's another company that is the guy under Howard Schenberg. Shultz created this coffee concept. I'm obsessed with. They didn't give me enough in the beginning. They first, I popped it off, just like I popped off other brands. They come back. They want to taste. I'm like, no, no, no. I already made your, I already, you're where you are because of me and I never made any money the first time. I'll give you a taste. I'm the drug dealer. Do you do that deliberately? Do you go, wait a minute, here's a brand over here. There's the potential partnership. All shapes and sizes.

What in this, I don't know what anything is. I'm blind. Cars shop in my house, coffee makers, thousands of dollars, diamonds. A coffee maker came. I tried it. I'm like, this is the richest bitches of coffee makers. It's this technology and it tasted like it was from Australia. I give every product a chance. If it's in my house and I know that costs that brand money, I'm going to try it at some point. It could be three months from now. So I was like I'm obsessed. They wanted to just pay me a fee, a fine to use the content. That's nothing. They want more. I'm like, no, you got your taste. I blew up your brand. You said it was more influential than any other big time celebrity. Now I need a piece. So they gave me...

measure in this yourself? My team. I have a team. Yes. Well, I have a team. Yes. So you have an awareness of how much like value you're delivering to the brand so that you're actually saying to them, look, I can see that this happened. Not as granular at that point for everyone. I know that 20 people have said to me, oh my God, I'm obsessed with that product because you and I know, if I've heard about that, there are a lot more mice under the floorboards. So then this company gives me a certain amount in the beginning. And that's enough to talk about it. It's not enough to be my baby. Equity or a cash deal? Equity and cash.

What gives you the idea that you're like, this is a company that's worth taking equity versus this is just like a cash up front of it? How oversubscribed they are, where the value still is, can I make a difference? So this coffee company, for example, called Cumulus Coffee, they didn't give me enough for me to be fully like giving birth to it. And I've seen them now two years later. This is where I'm getting to the model about the hair care. Two years later, I'm watching, they didn't pop off yet. And I'm like, because you did this, that and the other thing wrong. Put me in, coach.

Hurt yourself and give me a big piece because I'll take it into the end zone. This is the Just Ed Bethany. They're already a major company. The guy was under Howard Schultz. They've spent millions of dollars. The technology is there. Put me in. I don't need it to be the Bethany brand.

Nor do I need the hair care company to be the Bethany brand. You're already 80% there. So you'd rather come in and shortcut. Someone's done all the development. And you're taking 30% of a company. And you're taking that much. 30% of a company in some cases. Shut up.

I'm not, I don't think I can say that. All right. You're taking 30% of a company. But you're taking that. We're not talking like 2%, 3%. You're taking a meaningful chance. of an already fully funded entity that's out there and now because before the little 2% you're not going to get what you wanted to me because I'm not going to pretend I'm not going to

every day talk about it you're getting a bigger value than I am talk to me about a deal that you would walk away from so I've read that you said you're not a contract person you are a concept person right yes if I don't like the founder if I don't see the moves that the founder is making that are smart and I have one that gave me a big percentage of their company but they're not going into the end zone. And I really just don't want to bet. There are too many great founders to sit around with someone who is in their own head and who they want to be famous more than make their brand famous. Like, people have to just understand what's most important. That's a big, big problem with founders right now. They want more of their own press than to worry about the brand. I'm a marketer.

I'm a brand builder. I'm a messenger, a connector. I am only interested in things that I'm obsessed with that I really think I can affect the change because that's the passion. I don't want you to just give me free money. I don't care about money that much. I really don't. So what's the motivation? The idea, the execution of the idea, like the creativity. I'm a very creative person, but I'm a very creative business person. And I love like the craftiness of the contract. Well, okay, then work it out that way. Then fine. Give me nothing. Give me all the upside. Give me the back points on the movie. How involved are you in these negotiations? Very. So what's the team look like? The team looks like I have a C-O who worked with a Jubary Moore before and Reese Witherspoon before.

I have a woman that I taught how to pretty much do this. I just said, just start taking all the incoming calls. And now we've crafted this. That's why it's different because she didn't come from some other place doing this. We created this model on her own. So this is my right hand. She's like my, you know, my Huma Abidon, my Cheryl Sandberg. She's my right hand.

And she and I talk about everything and like the craftiest way possible. Like, you know, not leaving no crumbs. Everyone's in-house. And what's the social media team look like? Social media team is four. One is just interfacing with brands all day long, like what they need, what they don't need, keeping the brands happy.

I'm really the in the wild. I really do the social media myself, which is crazy. No, no, I, it's, you can tell. It's homemade and I want it that way. It's not overproduced, but you have to have people feeding the bakery. So I have three other people. Do you have like an agent, a manager, a publicist,

like that whole situation? I have agencies that I work with. I would not say that I have an agent. I'm not an exclusive. I'm not an exclusive girl. I sleep with everybody, Emma. You sleep with everybody. sleep with everybody.

Don't you just. She gets about and she makes the money. And I tell them all right before we sleep together that I sleep with everybody. And what about, I heard that you recently fired a social media agency. Like what made you make that decision when you're really like so popping off in social right now? Someone told me when I was already making probably a couple of million dollars a year. Someone said this was several years ago, you have to go with this company because then this is the company that everybody goes with, everybody.

And because they're going to bring you millions and millions of dollars of deals. And I walked in and I said, great. Well, I have to carve out these 25 companies that I'm already working with, whether it's Mabelene and Cover Girl and Newtachina and I get to carve out a lot of companies. Every agent only focuses on the 25 things you've carved out. They only focus on the toy you told them not to play with. So I'd work with Amazon every day. They'd be like, oh, we could help you. I'm like, we're good with Amazon. You don't need it. To the tops of Amazon. Okay. We're okay. So I had this agency and I said, great, here are the

keys to the kingdom. Let's see what you could do. And they and all the other agencies were bringing in probably 2% of deals. Agents will say because there's confusion in the marketplace. And it's not true. There's no confusion in the marketplace. They just don't bring in the deals. We bring in the deals. We talk directly to the CMOs of a billion-dollar companies.

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Choose Activia. Feel good from the inside out. Visitactivia.ca for more details. Hey y'all. Poodle and Maddie here from Reality Gaze. Grab your favorite thorn because for the first time, we're heading to the villa for the new season of Love Island, USA. Maddie, I can't wait to watch Ariana babysit these shiny, oiled up adults, so I'm pretty sure aren't there for the right reasons. From the homewrecking bombshells and the Casa Amort.

trauma to the absolute wreckage of movie night. We're judging it all. Pull up a daybed and join us every Wednesday for all the Love Island USA drama. Find reality gaze wherever you get your podcasts. Take a step back to me and talk to me about how you see and categorize yourself as a business right now because you're doing so many different things. I wonder, and I hear you saying there is no strategy, but there is a strategy to like Bethany overall. I am a very decisive person to what you said. I am a chess player. It's not a strategy

like, I want to be a billionaire. I need to do this. It's a strategy in the machinations of how it's working every day and that they interface with each other. I won't do one thing if it doesn't work with something else. I won't do anything that disturbs my piece. I don't work that much. I'm always thinking, I will only ever shoot content for any of the products on a day that I am a ready in hair and makeup and somewhere like this. So if I were to leave the shoot, we would say, can I use one of your offices? And my team would come in and we'd be doing all the products. Because I like my free time.

I like my daughter, my dogs, the man I'm seeing. I am very happy. How much are you working? Like physically working? Probably, I don't know, like 20% of a week, 10% of a week. Not a lot. I don't like to work. I like to just get things done.

But this is creative. If I don't want to do it, I don't do it. If I'm in a restaurant, I decide to talk about it, it's going to go viral. And that's going to be great for them. And I only know that because Eugene from Corner Store told me, that you are what happened to our restaurant. It was you.

Wow, that was you? Yeah, he said you posted about it and then Taylor Swift came in and then it changed our lives. He just said that this week. So I was just in CVS today because my makeup was screwed up. That'll turn into some kind of a deal.

Like it just will because I was telling the people that this product, this elf powder, happens to be better than what I just got done by the makeup artist. It just does. So that'll probably turn into a deal because it's true. Back to the question, though,

how are you looking at yourself and your business? What are you trying to build? Well, the thing is that a lot of this is on my back, so that's not viable business model. If you're a massage therapist, you have to have a massage therapy business because it's all on your back. There's only so many things you can do. So I have the list, which is the place where people go to find all of the products. And it's very editorial and it's very like own magazine or a group or it's a world.

And what is that? That is like an affiliate network. It's like an affiliate network, but also some of our partners and whatever I do on my podcast. Like everybody's sort of in the business of me. So everybody plays in all these spaces. So all of the brands end up being in the list. And it's good. Everybody wins.

The person wins because it's Mother's Day and I'm helping you with what the best gift is. And you know what's crap and what's not crap. The brand wins because they're moving product or I've said it's bad and they need to work on this. And I'm giving them free constructive criticism. I win because I make a lot of money. What I see myself is is a person that really is directly connecting to humans. It's all about connection. What's the end game?

The end game is when I get tired, I'll stop doing it. The Bethany Seal is now something that we're putting on different things and retailers want to pay into it. Stores want to have Bethany approved products in. But that's not an end game. It's just a good idea. And yes, I'll make a lot of money off. I don't have an end game. You don't have an end game?

No, because I'm not motivated by like money. Like I'm not. It's just, if I'm going to turn your business, of course I'm going to make money and I'm not stupid. I'm not going to, but it's not, I really don't. I want my end game is to be on the beach, hanging out and doing what I want and making money and what I want. And I just keep charging people more because I keep saying no. So the reason I make so much money is I just say no all the time. I won't do things for like any normal amount of money because I don't, I want to enjoy my life or make a lot of money doing it.

I'm literally like dead. I was so expecting a totally different answer. Do you believe me though? I completely believe you. I mean, there's nothing not to believe with you. But it's really interesting because I think that so many. people have such a giant vision for themselves and when you have options, right? Because you have a lot of options. You could really be thinking about this as like, what is Bethany the media company? How do you

make a million more Bethany's? I could have 100 people under me and manage their businesses like this. I could have an agency. Totally. Totally. I value my life. I value my daughter. Like I want to be, I want to live. I want to be healthy. Where does that come from? I know what it means to be like, what it means to feel unhealthy. And I want to feel. This is fun for me. Like, these, it's fun. It's fun that I spilled tomato soup all over myself, go into Talbitts, and found clothes and was like,

wait, they have cute jeans. And then Talbitt's called, it's all real. Like, I just want to live. And if I don't want to do it, I don't do it. So if I don't want to go to the restaurant, if I don't want to go to Paris and walk in fashion week and talk about products for different brands, I won't go.

I'm only doing exactly what I want to do. And so if I don't like it, you'd probably have to pay me a ton, and I probably would still say no. But like, if it was a ton, maybe I wouldn't because it would be too much to turn down. But I like to have fun. I like to laugh. I like to dance. I like to have sex. I like to be with my dogs. I like to date. I like to cook. And I just like to be at the beach. So whatever gets in the way of that, I will not do.

And what makes you emotional? The risk of that. Feeling shackled, feeling trapped, feeling controlled, feeling like my light is dimmed, feeling put in a box, feeling like I'm giving words that I have to do, feeling like a partner with something that are going to make me do something I don't want to do. like I really just don't like doing what I don't want to do because it's just not authentic. How much of that is linked to things that have happened in your past? Like I just wonder where that dread and that feeling comes from because seemingly you have so much options at the moment.

Like that's not going to happen. Is that just so much about where you've been in your private and personal life in the past? I mean, I don't know. I just think like, why does everybody have to be a billionaire? Like, I could be a billionaire. Like, what is that? It's just like a flex now. It's all these, like, dushy guys and girls.

I have a dating concept, and every girl who has, and they say, what do you bring to the table? A lot of these girls don't have a lot to bring to the table. They're, like, sort of cute. And, like, they just come in with their hands out. Yeah. And the only thing they know is they want someone with a big program and a billionaire. And I'm like, who the fuck do you think you are? You are preaching to the convert.

I spoke about this so much in my book because I feel like we've gone crazy, like that everything needs to be a unicorn, everything needs to be a billion dollar opportunity. It's not just, and it also has no value. Like at the end of it, it's like, yeah, you might have like a giant thing, but do you want everything that goes along with that? And I think that there is so much to be said for somebody that actually has a lot of options and chooses what is right for them. Like that is actually the definition of having a vision and a strategy for yourself. You know exactly what is right for you and you are choosing the things that are going to make your life meaningful, not taking every opportunity that

you have to build the biggest thing. Because time, we're not getting time back. Facts. There's nothing a billionaire can do that I can't do. And I don't want, I don't care. I like to, being, there's no price on being happy and laughing. I am funny because I am like an idiot. And I love to be like stupid and laugh. And I like to make people laugh and bring them in with me.

And I like to like, you know, show women that like you can turn it out when you need to turn it out. You can be successful. That you can have fun. You can dance to stupid dances. And like, it's not that deep. When do you think you learned that? I've been silly my whole life.

I've always really like to. laugh. It's the number one. Sleep and laughter, I would say, would be my top priorities, except for my daughter, obviously. So, yeah, everyone's always been trying to figure out, like, what the plan is and did I plan all of this? And I'm always like, I've overshot the mark. I never planned any of this. I just wanted to be able to pay my rent. I just wanted to not be, like, suffocating from feeling like I was going to be broke and no one who was going to take care of me. I had no family. Yeah. Well, you had a lot of foresight, because if I go back to those original housewife Bravo days, the idea that you had so much foresight to

carve out of your deal any business opportunities so that that could be 100% yours. I mean, that led to your first success, but you were the first person to do that. And I think that that's so interesting that you were even thinking about and had the foresight to think about yourself as a brand before you were anything. I had nothing. You know what it is? I think this is all linked and I will try to think about where that comes from. Everything that we've said is about having freedom, locked into a deal, agent, someone telling

you shackled, you take a piece of my thing, the brand agency where there's no there there. Like, I just want to be able to do it myself and talk directly to the person that I'm doing it with or for or just talk to the people. That's why people think I want to be back on television. I don't at all. Do you see me wanting to be sitting and talking to suits and telling them, pitching them what would work to then shoot it for all this time and then edit to then wait? You have no interest?

Zero. Unless it were just about in my house, like about this. Like, no, I don't, because again, I don't want to be shackled. I don't want cruise in my house. I left twice. I don't want that life. How important was it for you that you were able to create that carve out for yourself from your original Bravo contracts?

Oh, it's a flex. It's a flex. It's smart. It's good, like, case law for other people. It shows to just believe in yourself. It shows to never assume anyone's smarter than you and to just, like, understand. I didn't know the difference between the word licensing and equity when I did my skinny girl, I didn't know. I just, but I always asked. You didn't? I had no idea what either word

meant. And I asked the lawyer and he said, this is licensing means you'll start taking money now. Equity is like, it's yours. And I said, well, this, I feel like is my ace in the whole. So I like the equity choice. But I don't understand a lot. And I always ask. I'm a crowdsourcer. And then I do decide. I'm a very great decider. Decider. Yes. And when you exited that company, it was a hundred million dollar exit, right? I can't say exactly. I mean, I never have said exactly what it is. But it also was like I had a big back end and I had a big multimillion dollar kicker and I also triple dipped because two other creative concepts in that deal were that I said that I would only promote things that we had discussed. And then they decided to do something else. And I said,

well, you can do it. And they said, well, we need you to promote it. And I said, you have to pay me per case. So they paid me per case. And then there was another, I said to them, well, how do I know you're going to market it? How do I know you're going to market the product so I can earn my back end. And I said, you have to put in writing that you'll market 18% of the budget. And they didn't spend it that one year. And I ended up being 100,000 cases short, but I still got the, I think it was like $10 million kicker. So there were a lot of different ways to make money. I kept making money. I made a 10 year endorsement deal too. So they paid me seven figures a year. You actually ended up with an endorsement. Yes. But that's really smart. That's about you really

understanding the business that you were in and your value to that business and finding ways that you can kind of, you know, get more milk from the same cow, as we say. I mean, that's it. That's the chicken. You've got a chicken. I've got a cow. I love it. Well, and also many people only look at the one number. And you have to look many different ways. What are the other things you can do if you sign the contract this way at a little bit less than you want to take? What are the other ways to structure? What about taking more upside? What about, you know, there are many ways to work deals and you can't only think about

the one way, which is what most people do. So if you can't get the deal that you want, find your way in. I want to talk to you a little bit about your attitude to money because you've spoken so much about not needing money, not like having to do this job for money. But your relationship with money is interesting. And we spoke a little bit about you growing up around the racetracks and gambling, which was similar to me. But that means that you grow up around a lot of financial chaos. And I read beyond, right? It always, it always is. I've read somewhere that you said that your mother had tremendous money noise. And I wonder how that kind of impacted your relationship. with money? Well, her relationship with the men created my money noise. So it was that I have had the

noise because she would be with, she would tell me that she gave up her life for me and that she was with all of these men for money for me. And it was gambling and drugs and, you know, you'd be paying back like bookmakers and we'd have the whole house. There was no furniture in a card table and in my room would have furniture in it. Like, we'd have six cars in the driveway. They made up nothing. I was in 13 schools. We moved from one house to another house. We had no financial stability. It was highs and lows. It was racetrack. You want a race. You want a couple of races. You're up for a second. Yeah. Yeah. So it was very gambler mentality. And it took me a while to crack open a mini bar to spend the money for a private plane, but not every time. I'm not wasteful. I don't waste money, time or food. I don't waste.

So I like it, want it, need it, and don't, and like the freedom it provides for experiences. for medical, for things like that. But enough is enough. You know what I mean? Enough is enough. I'm home safe now. I have four homes. I don't like big, giant, showy places or things like that.

So I'm happy. Do you think your kind of obsession, though, around ownership and equity has stemmed from that instability? Yes. There's a lot of instability that has informed where I am now and how I have that relationship to money. And even with men, I've thought at this stage I needed to be with someone who had more than I do or the same, and I no longer think that.

I think that's the worst thing. And I've learned that through the dating community because everybody, all these women wanting to come in and money is their biggest priority. And mine is happiness and love. I was reading so much about your divorce, which kind of pained and irked me in a way to imagine that a woman could be in a two-year relationship

with a 10-year divorce. And I wonder how you think about, like, your own money in relationship to the relationships that you get into because you have a daughter. And I wonder if that experience, has just made you shut down and be so overly protective around what you have and how you make it right now. I was very flippant about my pre-up then, but I didn't really trust my partner at that time the whole time. And it wasn't just because I had money and he didn't.

It was just because I just didn't trust. And that that served, that became true. I won't be probably that trusting with money, but I just don't want money to be a character in any relationship. The one thing that should not be a problem in any relationship that I'm in is money. There's something wrong with you if you are as successful as I am and you're thinking about money. And by the way, I know a lot of very successful, like very successful people that are in the dating community that hundreds of millions of dollars and they still want a man who has more money than them. You'll give them a great guy who has money and is successful and good looking. It's like a sickness.

And I'm like, what is wrong with you? Like there's something wrong. So you don't need to date a man that has equal money to you. Because that's how I think a lot of women feel. Like I don't want a man who makes less money than me. And that's what does that mean? Why? What does that mean? Can we go out to dinner? I have houses. What do I need you to buy me another house? I have bags, watches. What do we need? What do we need? Well, I feel like the fear is that

that that person would be using you or, you know, it's like it's a, if somebody has less than you, that perhaps they're not on equal foot in, that that creates a dynamic in the relationship. Like, I understand why women would feel like that. No, I understand that, but assuming that that other person seems motivated by money, if they don't seem motivated by money. Yeah, they don't seem like they care about money. If they don't seem interested in it, then you can't penalize them for not having been as hungry as you are. Yeah, I think someone has to be successful to be with me. Someone has to be able to take me on vacation, buy me a present, and go out to dinner.

But I've had men buy me diamonds and Hermes bags and watches and cars and all the stuff. And it hasn't filled the void. So I'm certainly not going to make that mistake. And actually, I think many women feed themselves with stuff to make up for what they're not getting emotionally because they better get something. They're leaving the game show. they better walk out with something. The thing that separates a business that actually scales from one that doesn't is often

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I feel like there's so much, just to your earlier point, people seem to want so much out of significant other and he's got a, you know, it's like everyone's looking for a man in finance, like whatever it might be. What's your dating advice? Well, I'm always around 20 and 30 year old influencers for these beauty brands and one is more stunning than the next and the nails and the extensions and the lashes and they all are saying they can't find a man. Now, I'm in my 50s and I find always, always have had great game with men beyond, like to want to marry me and like amazing because I don't focus on the things I shouldn't be focused on. Don't want to be the hottest woman in the room, be the most interesting woman in the room, have something going on, that your own

purpose, something that drives you, somewhere you need to be. Be interesting. Have a personality. Be funny. Know something. Have experience something. Bring something to the table, literally. Like, it's not, because what happens is I've met many men who now have full custody of their children. Why? Because the women signed up for that deal. They focus on the lashes and the hair and the Chanel bags. The man wanted that deal. Now we get older. Our kids graduate. What are we supposed to do? More shopping to go shopping, to get makeup, to go shopping, to go to lunch.

I'm bored half the time. And I have a business. I'm like, what do people do with their day? And men are getting smarter and more interesting and their businesses and they're looking good and longevity. And now the disparity, the woman is sitting home, popping pills and drinking and she has no purpose. And he's sitting thriving. And in many cases, even the men, they end up feeling like they need purpose. Like, purpose is a big word.

But for the women, they lose the customer. of their kids because they get into like boredom and into drinking and and doing things they shouldn't be doing. I think it's a really familiar story that you're telling, like the outward facing stuff. It's like an empty calorie. Like it's just, it's nothing. Everybody was excited in their 20s to have something, to make something, to build something. Now the men are talking, creating and women are sitting here worrying about what bag and how

how much nicer they're ringing? Like, who gives a shit? And the men are like, you're gross. Like, I don't respect this at all because I would. want to be interested. I want to be engaged in a conversation. 30 women don't need to be worried about their eyelashes, worried about your personality and your intellect and you're being fun and being alive and just, you know, yeah, being alive. Be alive. Be alive. Live. I want to talk about your recent move because you've moved yourself and your daughter to Florida. It feels like you have this whole new,

beautiful life. How purposeful was that for you? Was that like, I need to move away. I want a change of pace. I want something different now. The reason I ask you because I feel like you've been in build mode your entire life. And it feels like fairly obvious that now you want a different pace in your life. Full on. And that's part of the stuff thing. We spend the first half of our lives acquiring the stuff and now it doesn't mean anything anymore. And that is the gift that all the stuff that I get sent has given to me. It's amazing to tell people what's good and what's not. My shoes are Amazon. My watch is a very rare, rare automobile. It's not cosplaying anything. It's a fact. Literally high low. But it's literally high low. Okay.

It's that I can't believe how lucky I get. Like, I get to go be on the beach every day. I go into the ocean every day and walk on the beach. Like, what cares about like being? I'm not a plane. What do you mean? I don't want to go anywhere. I'm so happy.

I live on the beach. My daughter's happy. We have a great life. And it's a great base. I think where you have is a base is important. I think finding out what you connect to, whether it's the mountains, whether it's a lake, whether it's nice little walks, whether it's a charming little space, feng shui, whatever it is.

have that. For me, it's a place that is like very minimally designed. Are you getting spiritual on us, Bethany? Like all of this like connection to nature and less and like, I feel like I've always been fairly spiritual. I just don't like perform it. I just am it. But I am very into being connected and I'm into the ocean is healing and I, it's very present and I'm very, it's the time when I'm grateful. I don't usually, I'll be excited and be like, wow, this is amazing. But the time that I'll stop down to like, wow, I'm really grateful. It's like after snowboarding or surfing or going into the ocean, taking a beachwalk. I never say how grateful I am after I make millions of dollars on a deal. I never say how present and grateful I am. What do you want your daughter to learn from what you've done,

the way you've moved, all of the things that you've created for both of you? I wanted to be happy and that is it. Like, for example, she gets straight age. She gets like hundreds on tests and 4.4. And she could go to any school she wants. probably. She wants to go to school in Miami. She wants to be near the dogs and go to University of Miami. I don't care if she goes to Harvard. Like, I don't want to, we don't want to be at Harvard. We want to be near the beach. Swimming. I mean, she's like a free, cool, earthy spirit. She's like, got it. She's natural style. She's like a shining sprinkle, like a light. She's the nepo baby. I mean, she happens to be the nepo baby. We can't take it

away from her. You know, she gave me her air wand list. She gave you an air one list. And I bought a cooler. Yeah, you're about to be $1,500 down. I just bought a cooler at CVS because I'm going to schlep a pink cooler on the plane with the Nepo Baby's airw on list. Full of your air one goodies. Yeah, when I literally couldn't afford a taxi at 39 years old. It's so crazy to me that you literally couldn't afford to take a taxi at 39.

Like late 30s, maybe it was a little early whenever I laid 30s. I mean, but still, I mean like you didn't have any money. No, I didn't have any money. I definitely didn't. I went on the housewives and I think I had $8,000 in my bank. I did have $8,000 in my bank account. My rent was, I think, $20 something, $100. Did you know that it was going to turn out?

Like, were you like, unmade for this? The housewives? I didn't even know what this was. But I became very good at it very quickly. Do you have any regrets? No, I don't think so. No. I mean, I had, obviously, you can't regret a marriage because you have a daughter from it.

It was the worst. experience of my whole entire life by every stretch of the imagination. But I was able to help so many women because of it. And I was able to survive something like that, continuing to prove that, like, if you really do work hard at something, it's old school hard work that would get you through anything. And like you just treat things like a marathon, like one, one mile at a time. So I think that's important information. I mean, a decade is a long time to sort of burn being losing hair and being miserable and abused. It was bad. Stephanie, why was it 10 years?

What happened to make it that dragged out? Well, there was fraud. There was forgery. There were arrests. There was TRO. There was stalking and harassment. There was multiple trials. There were multiple custody trials.

I mean, there was a parenting coordinator that fired us. I mean, there was a guardian ad litem hired, which means a child has their own lawyer. Oh, fuck. There was a lot. was torture, actual torture. There's the stuff that you're not supposed to do in a divorce that you have to break some rules and know what rules to break. You're not supposed to buy anything on your own, so yet you're supposed to stay in a house

with someone that, okay, so you break the rule and then you go buy a house. You're not supposed to leave the marital residence. You break the rule and you do that. You're not supposed to get a therapist unless there's approval on the other side, but you have to take care of something. So this just dragged and dragged and dragged. Who were you in those 10 years? in that 10 years where you were going through this,

what sounds like a horrific divorce, were you somebody other than who we see today? And there was a lot of housewives. There was a lot of that, like that, a lot of intensity, a lot of, like, being frayed and, like, very much on edge. Yeah, I was tweaking. I mean, it was stuff going on underneath. And it was really a bad time.

And you have cameras on you, and you're supposed to perform, and you've got this whole other life that you can't talk about and you're being stalked by the press and you can't go back to your house. So you're like in your full talk show outfit at Barnes & Noble just to not have to go back to your house with your kid. Like every day there was like a new babysitter,

which one day it was like the cupcake making place. The next day it was Barnes & Noble. The next day it was the park. And you're like in something like this and full makeup because you just don't want to go home until it's time to go to sleep. It was really bad. Like there's no way to explain what women go through

and a bad divorce. It was interesting for me because there was from the outside, even though I think that it was fairly well known that you were going through something horrendous, you were also kind of bawling out during that period. Like there was a lot happening for you in your career at the same time. There was a lot happening, but it does feel like I was white knuckling. It wasn't like a free space like now. And I do think that's important for entrepreneurs to give themselves creative freedom. I am the best when I've just come off of a very long summer in the Hamptons or vacation or something. sleep into wake the next morning. Like, people are too much into the grind.

And you need, if you're a creative person, you need the space to create and have ideas. And so that was a very crowded time. And I feel like, I'm always going to be able to be entertaining and make money now. But that wasn't my freest time. Now is my happiest freeest time.

Say more about that just in terms of, like, what you see and the way, like, entrepreneurs are kind of like made to feel like there needs to be a constant grind. You know, it's great that there are shows like shark tank and that people have become billionaires in their garage, but it's made it that every young person thinks that they're supposed to know exactly what they want to do with their lives and they have to be on that road. And I did everything. I was hostess at a restaurant. I was Linda and

Jerry Brookheimer's assistant. I was Paris and Nikki's nanny. I worked for Lauren Michaels. I had every job because I didn't know we were supposed to be like focused on being something. I thought we're supposed to like live and just get jobs and see where the road took us. Everybody doesn't need to think that they're supposed to be a mogul. at a certain age, be free. Be free, live a life, experience things. You're going to miss so much. I mean, I've had such an incredible life. Not because of brand deals I've done. Not because I invented the skinny margarita. Because I've been, I've traveled by myself. I've had credit card debt. I've bounced multiple checks. I've dated all kinds of people without any goal of what they need

to do for a living. You're saying something that really chimes with me. Not everybody needs to be a mogul. Not everybody needs to have a billion dollar, you know, business. The reason that we we even understand and have absorbed all of those ideas in the culture is largely because social media has ushered them in. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like, I feel the difference for like young people now is that they don't remember life before that. Like, they don't know to look up because they never had to. They live their lives like that. They do, but there's a lot of fun stuff in there. There's a lot of humor in there. There's a lot of cooking in there. There's a lot of inspiration in there. Like, it's not all bad. There's a lot in there. I mean, I think I've learned a lot in there.

So there's nothing in you that feels like the drag of social media, like that part that like pulls you down that you need a little hiatus, you've got to come off. Then you take a break. Just like working in an office in a cubicle with your head down. Have you ever done now? I can't, could never do that. No, but I've worked as a whole, any job that you hate, you're like in a trapped in a bad lighting like, you know, cubicle. That's bad too. Just self-regulation is important, intervening and knowing if you don't feel good, if your soul is being crushed, you could feel when your soul is being crushed day by day.

You feel like where you live is taking a piece of you, if a relationship is dimming your light stealing your energy, if a job is crushing your soul. And you can feel the difference to you being inspired and not. I'd rather be bartending, listening to amazing music than be in some, like, mobile office with my soul dying. Like, live. You have to live. You have to feel free. It will come. The money will come. The business will come. The ideas will come. If you're being true to yourself and you're living and you're being smart and you have ideas and you're executing them, if you're like really living and experiencing, it will come. If you're a true entrepreneur, you'll find your way. You feel

a $20 million business off of yourself. Like, I wonder if there's ever a time and ever any part of you that's like, I'm almost like, I don't want to be Bethany today because so, like, your brand is just so much anchored in you and your personality and you saying these things. Like, are you someone else when the camera goes off? I am someone else in certain areas of my life. I am very much someone else in relationship. I do give a little, some Easter eggs, but a relationship.

but a relationship is really important to me. And so that is totally private. I am a very private person. That is the thing people don't really understand. I am a very insular person. I am a home body. Now, that is very difficult to understand because people are seeing me when I'm decked,

but they're also seeing me a lot in pajamas, more in pajamas. We see you a lot in pajamas. Yeah, a lot, a lot. But I am very private. Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets? Yes?

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And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. What is your future when you think about every opportunity that you've got right now and the type of life that you've created for yourself,

what do you even want and what's in the future for Bethany? I want to be in a relationship, a successful relationship for myself and my daughter, because we're rolling very light. And it comes up during holidays. It comes up just in different ways

with our unit. There are a lot of personal things going on within her family dynamic, let's just say, that have made it that I want her to be more part of a community. And so I, the relationship that I want for myself also includes her. And I know it's possible. And I want it for us. You want a family. You want a unit. I want a unit. I want a family. I want to be part of a team. I want to work for sure because

I believe in the power of purpose. And I believe being connected to something. I just want enough of the vehicle that I can still connect with an audience in the way that I do now and laugh. It doesn't have to be, obviously as often and it wouldn't be. But I like the laughter. I like, so when you said, is it all just on Bethany? Is it too much of just Bethany? I do have a private life, but like, I think it's fun to do all this. I feel so grateful that I get just like, oh my God, they're going to laugh so hard. I need to be expressing myself through laughter, through dance, through connecting to an audience. Like, I really just need to express because that's stifling to me to not be able to creatively express myself. How close to you? How close to you? How close

are you to have the family unit that you really aspire to? Not as far away as you would think. Good. How much longer do you think you can keep up with the $20 million years? Oh, well, I can't because it was probably 15 last year and it'll be 40 next year. So I can't keep up with that because it'll be much bigger. I don't know. Maybe like at this clip, like five more years. Five more years.

Yeah, but every year the numbers increase exponentially. It's increasing. It's pretty good. And also a lot of these brands that I've invested in, they'll turn. When the tables go cold, I will walk out. Or if I don't like it anymore, I'll walk out. I always leave at the peak of the party. Hello, I love housewives twice, at the peak of the party.

Your timing is impeccable. I know I keep going back to money, but it's because it is one of those subjects that really fascinates me. Why are you so comfortable talking about money? We were having a conversation about how hard it is for people to actually dig into that subject. What makes you so comfortable to, like, just put the number out there? I have never put the number out there until today. So I'm not that comfortable with it.

I know that Inc. Magazine wrote about it. So now I'm saying it. I'm not that comfortable with it just because it'll make people mad at me. So I don't... I don't think people are going to be mad at you because I think people see who you are in it. I think people know your journey. I think people get mad when we're like, what does she deserve that for? I think it's very clear why you make what you make.

And I believe that the truth is, I believe that people shouldn't work for free. Interns I pay. I don't believe in anybody working for free. And if you're moving product and you're affecting an outcome, honestly, then I believe you should be compensated. So I don't feel guilty about it. But I'm comfortable talking about it because this is a business show because you've talked about it because you're running a business because you want to inspire people and them to aspire to what we're talking about because it's important that the industry knows what's going on because we're informing a culture because people think I'm sitting around like this crazy woman who's had a nervous breakdown talking about chicken salad.

No, I never did. I always, like, it's not actually that I completely understood your strategy, but I was 100% sure that there was some secret source under what you were doing in social. A thousand percent, because you don't have that much virality by accident. Nobody does. Right. So there has to be something. There has to be something that we are not fully grasping and understanding because

you're funny. Like, you're shifting products, but it's like there are lots of people that are funny in shifting product. There's something else there. that is actually propelling you over and over and over again. And that's what I was like, what that? What is it? Well, here's another thing.

I live inside of TikTok with 15-year-olds. Now, there are a lot of moms there, and I'm in Montauk, too, but I'm saying I have peers that walk up to me on the street, and they're kids and college students. So it's very unusual to connect with a 55-year-old woman and a 15-year-old, literally. And so I'm speaking a language that really nobody, my age is really speaking, but I'm in there with institutional business knowledge. So I live, it's like being, I'm Tom Hanks and big. I've gone back and I get to play with all the little toys as a

kid and tell the grownups what the hell everybody wants. Oh, that, it's the straddle. It's the, do you understand? Yes. No, no, no, no, no. It's the straddle. I have a home on Instagram too. I have a primary residence there and that's where the cross-body latte drinking moms are. But in TikTok, it's different. So I'm living in YouTube. I live in a lot of different worlds with every age. So would you be as successful if you weren't 55? Like, would you be as appealing to all of those brands if you didn't, like, cross that demographic? I don't know. I don't fit into, and I'm not saying I'm so great, I just don't fit into any singular mold. So people are not understanding what it is, because it's strange that I walk sports illustrated with 25-year-olds, you know? There's nobody in my age there.

But it's not like they're giving me the token grandma role. Like, it's landing because moms are saying, thank you for like, thank you for A, not disqualifying us as a group. I could be alienating moms, but I'm not because they're like, thank you for not disqualifying us as a group, but also for being out there and being happy and confident. And my thing is we can all look like crap a lot of the time. That's okay. I'm a mom too. I get it.

When it's your high school reunion, when it's your Saturday night, turn it out. So on this day, I'm going to turn it up. But this isn't me every day. I'm going to tell you all the things I did today and that everybody took three hours to get ready. and that, you know, so I feel like it's the connectivity to anybody, all anybody wants is honesty. So am I going to be able to convince you to do your own Bethany brand or is that just off the table for you? The Bethany brand, listen, someone came to me with a cookware brand and I had an idea that could be branded as Bethany. That's not, there's a couple of food items. There's a hair care company.

But are you like starting a company from scratch, Bethany? That takes too much work. I don't want to do that. I have no interest in doing that. I really do. Then I have to be here for five days a week with you. You do? Yeah, literally. Yeah, I don't want to be in an... If it means I have to be in a place for five days a week, zero point zero. No way.

Zero point zero. It's going to interrupt with my beach walk, period, the end. Yeah, I mean, totally. No. I'll tell everybody else what to do and it could still land, so you have any wonderful ideas, but I'll tell you exactly what I will and won't do. I'm not doing the blood, sweat, and tears, Bethany program.

So what's next for Bethany? These things that I've sort of sprinkled in, the Bethany seal is something we're talking about. Retailers are going to have sections with my stuff. The list is growing. Like the Bethany Seal of Approval? Yeah, that, you know, the Bethany Seal of Approval. And like I said, the equity deals that I've invested in, the coffee maker example,

like things like that, things that I'm passionate about, there's something in the cannabis space that I find interesting that I love, things that I'm obsessed with. That's just it. Yeah. What do you still aspire to? Like one thing I could do like a bucket Saturday Night Live. Oh, I mean, what? That's just a no-brainer.

No, they're like me. I don't know. I mean, they've talked about it. at me a bunch of times, but Saturday Live. It's just like that. And I'd be, I'd be nervous. But like... You would be nervous, but you would be good.

I can't see that. I imagine. I was an intern. Years ago, I got an internship in NYU. Well, you said you worked for Lord Michaels. Well, no, I worked, yes, a Broadway video and pictures. But I was an intern. I got an internship at NYU at SNL and SNL said they couldn't give me credit.

And NYU said they wouldn't let me do it. Oh, what a nightmare. And I should have just... Yeah, you should have just fucked out. I should have pushed through. Should have down a Bethany. You should have started ranting. someone something. I know. I didn't. So anyway, I was almost in those. You live and learn.

Because I care about humor. But you maybe, you know what? Like, I still feel like this is going to, this is coming for you. That feels to me like, no-brainer. Well, anyway, that, but that's just a fun thing. But I love that. It's a fun-cut thing. It's a fun cute thing. It's a fun cute. But we've got to have fun cute things. You're full of fun cute things. Yeah, it's a fun cute thing. What about you? What do you so want to do? I mean, so many things. But actually, I just like want to get good at the things that I'm doing right now. I just wrote a book. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done. Really? Really? It's so hard for me, Bethany, I can't even tell you.

So I actually enjoy that process of, like, being in a space that I feel less good at, because I learned a lot about myself in that process. Wow. Yeah. All right, we're going to do rapid fire. Okay, great. Okay, let's go rapid fire. What's the most money you've ever spent on something stupid?

Define stupid. I mean, everything that's not totally necessary. I've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars and watches. I have a major watch collection. Oh, no. I have a crazy bag collection and watches. but I've called it. Bags and watches is your thing.

Yeah, and cars. Bags, cars and watches. And houses. But I'm still, they're not crazy. Like the houses aren't like $50 million houses. Like bags, cars, watches and houses. But I don't buy anything. It's not an investment.

That's why it's not stupid. A bag is not an investment. No, no. That's what my husband will tell me. No, it doesn't matter if it's a mess. No, doesn't matter if it's a mere one, then it is an investment. If it's rare to fuck. No.

But it's got to be right. We've got to exotic, skins, things. No, yeah. And even those. No. All right. If it's super rare, fine. We'll let you have it.

What is a rant that you've gone on or a tirade that you've gone on that you regretted? Saying, cry me a river about Megan Markle, I regret. You do? Yeah. It wasn't necessary to say. It wasn't just talking about like what do people think and exploring a conversation? It just became so pointed that it lost the plot. Like I have talked about decisions that people have made that I've been okay with because it informs.

I've talked about the Kardashians. Like decisions. As parents, but I've talked about myself and things that I've done and mistakes that I've made are things that I think are bad ideas. Like there are just things that I've said about people that I regret that didn't need to be said because it wasn't really moving a conversation forward. It just felt like a personal slight and I don't want that to be what anything I say is because it's actually not. It's actually not. It's about like moments in history where things are happening and choices that people have made. That's really what it is. What is totally off limits for you? Now relationship and who I'm dating.

I'm not going to, I will not jeopardize someone else's privacy, which will ultimately ruin my life. I just want to be happy. And I've never, ever been in a relationship with someone who's a public person. So I'm not going to find someone who's, I've never been with someone who's on social media, really. So I am only attracted to people that are private people. So I have to, real, I'm on reality TV. And I have to make sure that they understand that this is a clown show over here, but that my life is different over here.

It's separate. What's the most unhinged business people? pitch that's ever been presented to you? It was something with horses, with Secretariat, like the rights to the name of Secretariat, the greatest horse of all time. But there was really no great execution plan. There was really no great execution plan. What is the pettiest reason that you've ever turned a deal down? I don't think I would turn a deal down for a petty reason. I really just don't. It's always for a good reason. It's a business reason. Yes. I'm not really petty. I'm not really petty. If you come for me, I'll cut you, but that's not really that petty. That's more cunty.

Do you know what I mean? It's more like, yeah, if you, I don't, I don't mess with anyone who's not coming from me. But when they do, it's not going to be good. God help them. Yeah. There you go, babe. Literally love you. Thank you, Bethany. You're so good. I love you. If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click follow on your favorite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review and a five-star rating and share an episode you loved with a friend who will be so grateful. Aspire with Emagreed is presented by Odyssey.

I'm your host, Emma Greed. Executive producer, Ashley McShan, Derek Brown and me. Our executive producers from Odyssey, Leah Reese Dennis, Asha Saluja, Lauren Lagrosso, producer, KK Sublime, Stephen Key is our senior producer. Sound Design and Engineering by Bill Shorts. Angela Paluso is our Booker,

original music by Charles Black, video production by Evan Cox, Kurt Courtney, Andrew Steele, and Carlos Delgado, social media by Olivia Homan, Catherine Bale. Special thanks to Brittany Smith, Sydney Ford, my teams at the lead company and WME. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hillary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson Rose, Tim Meecole, Sean Cherry, and Lauren Vieira. If you have questions for me, you could DM me at Aspire with Emma Greed. Greed is spelled G-R-E-D-E. That's Aspire, A-S-P-I-R-E with Emma Greed.

Or you can submit a question to me on my website, emmaGreed.me.