Since her days on Bravo’s hit reality TV show "The Real Housewives of New York," multi-millionaire Bethenny Frankel has had her own successes. When the cocktail portion of her brand Skinnygirl sold for a nice $100 million -- and thanks to a term in her contract, Bravo didn’t see a dime of it.
Moving forward, reality TV networks adopted what was referred to as ‘the Bethenny clause’, entitling the network to a portion of any reality star’s non-TV profits. Years later, Frankel is leading the charge for a “reality TV reckoning” that would take the form of unionizing. And her namesake contract clause is just one in a series of mistreatment complaints, including food and sleep deprivation and denial of mental health treatment.
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Frankel’s lawyers on Aug. 21 made a move to give voice to the reported 80 reality stars who have expressed a desire to join Frankel’s cause. In a letter to Comcast (CMCSA) -) subsidiary NBC Universal and Bravo, attorney Bryan Freedman demanded that reality TV stars be released from their non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).
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According to Freeman’s letter, the NDAs violate a California law that says companies can’t make employees sign any documents that would deny them from reporting “unlawful acts in the workplace.”
In the letter, Freeman also alleges that the conduct that stars would be prevented from speaking about includes “racism, sexism, sexual violence, revenge porn, child labor, forced intoxication, and psychological, emotional, and physical abuse.”
The letter asks that stars be released from their NDAs entirely, but at the minimum, Frankel’s attorneys are asking that NBC Universal and Bravo acknowledge that the stars are allowed to discuss the alleged abuses during production.
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