Jackie Goldschneider, who has been open about her lifelong struggles with an eating disorder, is calling out Bethenny Frankel for creating a brand marketed after a thin female physique.
“Bethenny has Skinnygirl, and I’ve got a very strong opinion on this one because I say, ‘F–k marketing skinny,'” the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star, 46, told Page Six’s Evan Real and Danny Murphy during a live taping of the “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast at City Winery in New York City on Monday.
“I’m sick of f–king marketing skinny. I don’t want to drink something because it’s going to keep me skinny, so f–k you, Bethenny. F–k your skinny brand. That’s how I really feel.”
Frankel’s rep Jill Fritzo exclusively tells Page Six in response, “Bethenny has personal experience with this topic and speaks about it in detail in her book ‘Naturally Thin’ and ‘Business Is Personal.’
“Jackie has reached out to Bethenny and corresponded several times, so it’s interesting that she didn’t reach out there. She is very engaged and connected to her audience. Bethenny wishes Jackie well on her personal and business journey!”
Goldschneider previously revealed on “RHONJ” that she battles anorexia and documented her recovery journey on Season 12 of the Bravo show.
“I have expanded to a team, instead of just the one therapist,” the “Housewife” told Page Six exclusively in April. “So I speak to my therapist twice a week, I speak to a medical nutritionist once a week and I have a women’s wellness physician.”
Goldschneider also shared with us at the time that she had “put on weight” and was “out of the danger zone in terms of health problems.”
However, the reality star later told Page Six in a separate interview that although her recovery was “going well,” it was “not as easy” as she had hoped that it would be.
“I thought I would just start eating more and everything would come together, but there’s been a lot of hurdles for me, so I’m definitely, like, well on my way, a thousand times better than I was last year, but I do have issues,” she said in June.
Goldschneider is not the first person bring to light the backlash surrounding Frankel’s Skinnygirl brand, which she founded in 2009.
In 2018, the “Real Housewives of New York City” alum, 52, explained at the NCA State of the Industry Conference why she intentionally put the words “skinny” and “girl” together.
“It’s sort of indulgent and flirtatious, and she’s very aspirational,” she said at the time, adding that her brand’s name “hasn’t really been an issue” among consumers.
“[Skinnygirl] is about how you feel, and it accentuates a positive state of mind,” Frankel said. “Women of all ages, races and sizes do love that.”
In 2011, the former Bravo star sold Skinnygirl Cocktails for more than $100 million but maintained the intellectual property so she’s been able to expand her Skinnygirl empire into a line of jeans, dressings and a host of other products.
New episodes of Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast are released Thursdays.