Bethenny Frankel Reveals Her Exact ‘Real Housewives’ Salary for Season 1, The 1 Thing She Crossed Out in Her Contract & Explains Bravo’s ‘Bethenny Clause’ [Video]

Bethenny Frankel is getting ‘real’ about how much money she made during her first season on Bravo’s ‘The Real Housewives of New York.’

“The contract said $7,250 which I did not dispute. I was a nobody. That was a lot of money to me,” she began to explain.

“All I had was time on my hands. No kids, no family, no problem.”

Despite taking a small amount of money, Bethenny was smart enough to cross out a line in her contract that would let Bravo take a percentage of anything she made while on the show.

“The only thing I did cross out was the thing that said Bravo would take a percentage of anything I make. I was a nobody…but somewhere down deep inside of me, I understood conceptually that was wrong. I was going places, and nobody was going to own any part of it,” she continued.

As we know, Bethenny went on to create SkinnyGirl and several other successful business ventures and is now worth an estimated $80 million — and that’s why Bravo now has what they call a ‘Bethenny Clause’ in all Housewives contracts.

“They created what is now referred to as the Bethenny Clause, which means that anybody going on reality TV has to give a percentage to the powers that be,” she said.

“You are smarter than you think. I was a nobody, I was not a businessperson, I had no institutional knowledge or experience in any of this. I read a contract. Something didn’t feel right to me, and I took it out. And it changed my entire life, and it changed the entertainment industry and their practices. Never assume anyone is smarter than you.”

Listen — we’re with her when she’s right. In this instance, Bethenny is absolutely correct.

@bethennyfrankel When negotiating a contract, look at the big picture… play the long game-in life and in housewives. #thebethennyclause #RHONY #housewives #realhousewives #bravotv #bravo #bravoshow #realitytv #truestory #housewivesofnewyork #storytime #mentionitall #spillthetea ? original sound – Bethenny Frankel