But Nene was crazy! Anyway chile …..according to an exclusive with Variety Bethenny Frankel has enlisted two of the most high-profile attorneys in Hollywood to help in her self-proclaimed fight to help protect reality stars from what she says is exploitation by networks and studios.
Power players Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos are now working alongside Frankel to investigate the treatment of reality stars.
Freedman tells me that he has heard from roughly 50 reality show cast members from various docuseries and competition shows who believe that they were “used and unfairly” treated by television networks and streamers.
“Something has to change because the current system is broken,” Geragos says.
Frankel’s quest comes amid the writers and actors strike that has effectively shut down Hollywood. Reality TV can still be produced during the double strike, and most networks will be heavily relying on unscripted programming this fall. But Frankel — one of the most prominent personalities to come from Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise — has taken a stance that reality stars should unionize to fight for their rights, as well.
“Just because you can exploit young, doe-eyed talent desperate for the platform TV gives them, it doesn’t mean you should,” Frankel previously said.
“They don’t know what they don’t know. I was playing chess, but how do I help the people who may not know the game?”
Frankel first began speaking out on social media amid the strikes.
But now, with the support of two prominent attorneys, she’s hoping her fight to protect lesser-known reality stars may prove to be the beginning of a game-changing movement in Hollywood.
“I think this is going to be just the start of the truth telling about what’s really going on,” Freedman says.
“I’ve met with a lot of people who told me a lot of stories. This is going to end up being a war and I’m going to lead the war.”
Freedman has been on the frontlines of some of the most headline-making Hollywood talent battles in recent memory. He is currently representing Vanna White in her fight against Sony for a higher salary on “Wheel of Fortune.”
He negotiated longtime “The Bachelor” host Chris Harrison’s payout when he exited the ABC dating show after coming under fire for defending a contestant’s past racist behavior, and he won an undisclosed settlement in 2020 for Gabrielle Union after she alleged rampant workplace toxicity when she was a judge on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.”
He famously won Megyn Kelly’s $69 million payout from NBC News, and he’s currently working with the recently-terminated Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, after they were fired by Fox News and CNN, respectively.
