Bethenny Frankel’s former assistant Julie Plake McMinn worked with the reality star for years.
Fans of The Real Housewives of New York may recall Julie and Bethenny working on her Skinnygirl margarita business in a small apartment in New York.
At the time, Bethenny was dating her now ex-husband Jason Hoppy while filming the show full-time.
Despite often being in the background, Julie has always been by Bethenny’s side, even after she stopped working for Frankel due to a personal relocation.
Now, Julie is speaking out about a story that landed Bethenny in hot water back in 2011.
Bethenny Frankel’s former assistant Julie Plake McMinn breaks her silence
At the time of the incident, Bethenny had exited The Real Housewives of New York and was filming her own reality show, Bethenny Ever After?. The show documented her struggles with her business and her turbulent marriage to Jason.
During one particular episode, Bethenny and Jason agreed to go on a boat with other couples so they could learn to work together. However, the boat got lost after their navigation system broke and the GPS malfunctioned.
Bethenny revealed that the whole trip was supposed to be about 8 hours at sea, but turned into 20 hours. They had to be escorted back to the shore and arrived at about 4 am.
At the time, Bethenny was accused of lying about it all for publicity. Julie spoke out about the incident on the Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino podcast, revealing that everything that happened was indeed true.
“That sh*t was not made up,” she explained about the lost-at-sea story. “No way. No, that was not made up.”
A television episode is edited down to the point where some storylines don’t match up with the timeline. But that doesn’t mean that the story wasn’t true.
“And I think that that’s where it is hard to … so much happens and so much happened because I was actually, quote, like working,” Julie explained of the situation. “This was work. Because of her, because of Bethenny.”
At the time, Julie was watching over the couple’s young daughter Bryn, who they decided not to bring onto the boat.
“She was like ‘F’ this sh*t if you are gonna put your life on television, yourself. It worked for me because I didn’t want to be the star of the show. So I just like floated along, there wasn’t any pressure of social media. Who knows what it would be like now,” Julie explained, adding, “I didn’t go work for her to be on TV.”
Julie did decide to exit the show before Bethenny returned to The Real Housewives of New York. She left Bethenny and Jason behind before their explosive divorce just a few months later. However, she and Bethenny continue to stay in touch, and Julie is a mom herself now.
Bethenny Frankel returned to RHONY but then decided to quit again
After her divorce from Jason, Bethenny decided to make a surprising return to The Real Housewives of New York. However, earlier this year, she announced she would not be returning for another season. After the shocking death of her on-and-off-again boyfriend Dennis Shields, Bethenny decided to focus on her family, her boyfriend Paul, and her daughter Bryn.
She has also spent time diving deep into charity work.
Luann de Lesseps claimed that this current season of The Real Housewives of New York is the best season yet because Bethenny isn’t on it.
She’s currently dating Boston businessman Paul Bernon and the two continue to travel together. They are currently spending time in quarantine together.
The Real Housewives of New York airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.