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Bethenny Frankel: Running On Empty

Celebrity Sightings In New York City September 17, 2014

Credit: Photo by Alessio Botticelli/GC Images

While shopping over Labor Day weekend in a large group that included her 4-year-old daughter, Bryn, and nanny, Bethenny Frankel tried to look like she was having the time of her life. But when Bryn knocked over a bottle in a liquor store, the reality star’s smile dissolved — and her carefree mask slipped away.

“Bethenny lost it,” an insider tells Star. “She started yelling at Bryn’s nanny, saying, ‘I pay you to watch her, not sit around and stare!'”

With her fame fast plummeting and her many business interests in the red, Bethenny is at her wits’ end — and for god reason. Friends fear that if her financial situation continues to worsen, she’ll be broke by this time next year. “She’s losing money by the minute,” the source adds. “The stress is really getting to her.”

Bethenny sold her cocktail line Skinnygirl to Beam in 2011 for $100 million (she herself received about $25 million), but from there, the tide turned. Her highly anticipated daytime talk show flopped, her upcoming children’s book generated so little interest that only a handful of people attended a May signing, and, most alarmingly, her once successful company is collapsing.

“Bethenny’s first brainchild was the cocktails, but ever since she started trying to venture out and build a bigger brand, things just haven’t gone her way,” the insider explains. In fact, her Skinnygirl beauty line was recently taken off Walmart shelves due to poor sales, and Skinnygirl shapers met a similar fate. Skinny girl snacks aren’t doing much better, with sales dropping 26 percent this year.

More than anything, Bethenny is desperate to be seen as a financial mind. She recently offered business-building tips to Charlotte Observer — one of which, ironically, was “don’t overextend yourself.” But sadly, she refuses to follow her own advice. “She’s rushed into building her brand too quickly and now none of it’s working,” the insider concludes. “She claims she’s in control, but she needs help.”

MORE LINKS

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