Adam Olszewski/Bravo
Much ado has already been made about season 3 of Bethenny Ever After (which premieres on Monday, Feb. 20, at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo). Now that the network has released the trailer, Bethenny Frankel's fans and detractors alike (and she has many of both) can get a sneak peek for themselves. Watch here:
After three seasons into this show, two years on Real Housewives of New York City and a stint on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Frankel certainly knows the formula for interesting reality TV -- drama is essential.
The clip shows Frankel going about her busy life as the businesswoman behind Skinnygirl Cocktails, the loving but preoccupied wife to Jason Hoppy and the doting mother to baby Brynn, who's now nearly 2. She's shown snowboarding, working out, dining with Today's Hoda Kotb, hanging in a green room with Ellen DeGeneres, vacationing with Hoppy, and well, quarreling quite a bit with him. While there are a lot of laughs and biting quips, there is a lot of crying.
"I'm having a rough time," says Frankel through tears over the way she's treated. Even though Hoppy is shown comforting her -- "Living in the public eye, you're going to continue to go through these things," he says -- he later seems to be a major source of stress in her life.
This season, the strains on Frankel's marriage can't be ignored -- especially when the sneak peek has her admitting, "Jason's penis has cobwebs on it." Later, the two are shown bickering before boarding a helicopter, leading Hoppy to walk away, saying, "I'm done."
While Frankel and Hoppy's second year of marriage may not be smooth sailing, the sneak peek also teases a controversial storyline. TV commentators and gossip columnists have already debated the veracity of a boating excursion involving Frankel and Hoppy that led to the couple being lost at sea for several hours. Frankel recounted that story to DeGeneres last October and shortly thereafter, the tow boat driver on the scene came forward to say that the ordeal had been staged.
This gave Frankel the opportunity to generate more ink about herself. (This woman's a living billboard for the mantra that no publicity is bad publicity.) In a swiftly orchestrated interview with Us Weekly, she denied the allegations. "The whole thing has been really upsetting," Frankel told the magazine. "You have to spend 24 hours of your life defending your honesty to your fans." Bravo also issued a statement: "When people see the episode, they will certainly see for themselves that this was very real."
Was that scene staged? Are she and Hoppy heading towards divorce? Who knows? Who cares? Her fans will continue to love her, and her critics will continue to hate her. It won't make much difference for Frankel, anyway. A source recently told Us Weekly that she has decided to end Bethenny Ever After after this season.
