Felipe Ramales, PacificCoastNews.comIt's no secret that Bethenny Frankel and her business ventures have shot her into serious money-making territory, and now E! News learns that when it came to her marriage with soon-to-be former hubby Jason Hoppy, Frankel was the one bringing in the dough.
Forbes staff writer Meghan Casserly tells E! News that Bethenny was the definite money maker in the relationship.
"Jason had a modest career as a pharmaceutical salesman, so I don't think there is much a fortune there to be split up with," Casserly says of Hoppy's assets. "She was definitely the breadwinner."
The money mag ranked Bethenny No. 97 in its most recent Celebrity 100 issue, estimating the reality queen pulled in around $12 million in 2011. That is down from when she debuted on the chart in 2010 at No. 42 with $55 million. With their issue due out in May, Forbes says Bethenny should bring in an estimated $10 million in the past year.
"I think she is going to be around the same [in 2012]," Casserly tells us. "She is not going to see as much money from television this year, obviously Bethenny Ever After was off the air, but she had a pretty decent holding deal with Telepictures for the talk show, which was picked up so she will see money from that as well."
You might also recall that Frankel—who incidentally openly discussed her prenup with Hoppy during the second season of their Bravo reality show—had a deal with Jim Beam—she sold her SkinnyGirl cocktail to the whisky maker back in March of 2011 for a whopping $100 million.
"She didn't make the $100 in one chunk," Casserly added. "She made roughly $50 million in 2011 and she saw between $5-10 million last year and she will probably see the same this year." Casserly says it is an ongoing spaced out deal which depends on her involvement in the company.
However, the SkinnyGirl cocktails is just one part of Bethenny's business. Her brand also includes a shapewear line, cleanses, nutrition bars and non-alcoholic drink mixes, all of which she owns outright.
"She has always been a business woman, but her business has absolutely boomed since 2010-2011," Casserly said.
"What has worked for Bethenny time and time again is she does an amazing job tying her real life/personal life to her television/personal life to the branded products she is selling. When she was booming and single on the Real Housewives franchise, she was selling cocktails to Skinnygirl. When she got married and started having children, she started getting more into nutrition and weight loss products that were tied to her becoming a mother. I don't see her stopping any time soon. It will be interesting to see what type of product lines she starts putting out after this most recent development (divorce)."