On TODAY Monday, reality TV star and Skinnygirl entrepreneur Bethenny Frankel blamed jealousy and irresponsible journalism for recent reports about the sale of Skinnygirl cocktails.
“I think my recent success has polarized people,” she told Matt Lauer. “All I ever wanted to do was be able to pay my rent. They say mo’ money, mo’ problems; I never had problems like this.”
Forbes magazine and others estimated the price of acquisition of Skinnygirl cocktails by Bean Global at upwards of $100 million, but a Huffington Post blogger said that number was inflated – the deal was only worth $8.1 million. After a follow-up article in Forbes pointing out errors in the HuffPo story, the site ran a correction admitting that its number was wrong.
Though given a chance to set the record straight, Frankel stayed mum on the exact figure. She was, however, emphatic about the success of her brand.
“The number is irrelevant to me … when fans are wondering whether I said it was 10 times more than it was, I’m left to defend myself,” she said. “The bottom line is the public believes irresponsible bloggers who write anything they want … Skinnygirl Cocktails is about to sell a million cases in nine months. It’s remarkable. The money is irrelevant, but it’s a success.”
The star also discussed the controversy around her claims that she was lost at sea. Check out the video and head over to our friends at Clicker for more!