[Music]
you can't live in this world today and
not be curious
in fact if ever there was a time to hear
from more than the usual suspects
it's now this is the carlos watson show
maybe we'll surprise you maybe you'll be
mad at us sometimes
or inspired not only do i hope people
will see more with the show
but i hope they'll do more and be more
people the good stuff starts now
[Music]
i grew up with the animals so like i'm
an animal
she put the b in building a
multi-million dollar brand
that title is so good that's worth a
billion dollars
i couldn't afford a taxi downtown in new
york so i had to sort of be
scrappy you use the word throw down so
you're clearly someone who likes to mix
it up a little bit
it doesn't matter where i am or what
happens i figure it out all right when
did you know
that real housewives was gonna be a hit
i suck at relationships so you don't
have to and my prediction
for bethany's next big shot you sound
like a fortune teller i'm liking this
you're like a psychic
yeah i got a little fortune teller man
hey bethany frankel thank you for
joining us on the show
thank you hey what have you been up to
amidst covid where
have you just been hunkered down have
you kind of changed your whole life and
the way you think about things like
what's covid done to you i have been
mostly in the hamptons
which it's becoming a lot of what people
really want to be doing or who they
authentically are because
for me it's not very dissimilar to what
i really
am like i mean i have a very
unconventional non-traditional way of
doing business
so i have been doing hsn from my home i
never loved
getting on a plane and being in the neon
lights to sell something
i think it's amazing to sell clothes
while being in my house for me i'm
always just on calls in pajamas and
slippers so that's not really that
different
so i'm just getting to be at home and
my daughter she never ate salad before
three weeks ago she's because she's
cutting
tomatoes she's cutting avocado she's
chopping
lettuce with these kids knives so she's
making salads she's cooking with me
you know that you can't learn that in a
classroom i i'm finding
but i'm a place of yes person i figure
it doesn't matter where i am or what
happens i figure it out so take me all
the way back what were you like if i had
met you in high school were you were you
quiet were you loud
i hear that i was exactly the same that
i've always been
opinionated and always comedy driven
like always just
the laugh is the most important even at
the risk of making a mistake or saying
something
foolish and drive too i was driven
and were your mom and dad had a good
sense of humor where did you get that
from
my father was a hall of fame
thoroughbred horse trainer and
he was very unapologetic
very opinionated very uh
just say whatever came to his mind and
he was extremely driven
driven driven in a crazy crazy way with
horse racing like he had he was
laser focused and my mother
was very smart and definitely a little
acerbic
and definitely got the joke she was more
like i am in that way certainly not
ozzy and harriet adventures of ozzie and
harriet
that's the most ridiculous thing i ever
heard of i i had a very
crazy tumultuous non-traditional
childhood so what were you like in your
20s and 30s i know you went to nyu
and originally i think wanted to be an
actor and moved out to l.a but but what
were you doing what were you up to
in your 20s and 30s i was hustling
always just trying to figure out what i
was going to do
because i didn't have parents supporting
me i don't have any
anything to fall back on i didn't have
any sort of clear path of what this
thing looked like
so i was always sort of scrappy and just
figuring it out but there was also a
time when i felt like it was time to not
be scrappy
and every time i've never said this
before
but every time i would get off of being
scrappy and go back to take some sort of
regular job that meant like you do this
and then you get there and then you move
up and you're a little corporate
it just didn't sit well with me it just
wasn't me
and were you bored in those moments or
or or what was it like when you tried to
go the safer
more conventional route it just wasn't
me i always had to find my way to punch
through the walls and get into some
other room like that was just different
so i was always using the environment
that i was in
in other ways so it just wasn't me to be
just
in some sort of a box i regularly hear
you
being very aware of the fact that that
you've been blessed
and that you're in a privileged place is
that something that you think about a
lot or where does that come from
your willingness to because you're more
open about it than most people i know
who are in a similar sort of situation i
work really hard so it's not like i feel
like anything's been handed to me or
that i'm lucky i mean
but i also can't believe this is my life
i still can remember which was only a
decade ago
when i couldn't afford a taxi downtown
in new york and i mean i really couldn't
afford a taxi downtown
and i'm not saying i was
poverty-stricken and and begging for
money but
that's a big difference from how i live
now and i would be worried if i would be
at a group dinner if it ended up having
to get split and people ordered a bunch
of drinks
or like appetizers and entrees and that
would give me massive anxiety i wouldn't
be able to if i paid for that i'd have
to charge it and it'd be on my credit
card and i couldn't really afford it
i would bounce checks and and and have
insufficient funds and so
i still remember that so i can't believe
that
even though i feel that i've worked for
it i can't believe that i have this life
all right when did you know that real
housewives was going to be a hit
oh my god when it was a hit i did not
know at all i didn't want to do it
because
i had been on the apprentice the martha
stewart apprentice
do you win congratulations the
opportunity came and they kept
approaching me and i said no for two
months to do housewives and i thought
this will be
a bunch of women getting wasted and a
train wreck and
i don't want to be on that i want to be
a real natural food chef
and i'd like to get a cooking show and
this will destroy any opportunities i
have
i checked in with the producers again
because i thought
if it's a failure no one will hear about
it but if it's a success
i can be an actual food chef and promote
that and so
um ignorance is bliss
i just started filming it and once we
filmed the first
season i thought that it would become a
cultural phenomenon i did say that in
the beginning i didn't but once
it got going i said this is going to be
a cultural phenomenon and it certainly
was
[Music]
people call me a fixologist because i
make cocktails skinny
it's so easy that everyone will be able
to do it by themselves
this company called skinny girl skinny
girl guinea girl can i talk a little
skinny girl we could talk a little
skinny girl
so many housewives started their own
launch their own um products
but your brand skinny girl seems to be
the only one that really exploded
i was the first person to ever create a
low-calorie cocktail marketed to women
in a in a world that is run by men
and marketed to men so you just sold
your company for over a hundred million
dollars but the truth of the matter is
business is really difficult and you
have to be passionate and driven
you have to have an idea that's
innovative you have to be able to
execute and you can't look to the left
or the right to what someone else is
doing
i thought skinny girl by itself is worth
a billion dollars that title is so good
that's worth a billion dollars where do
you get that from where are you how did
you become
good at that kind of packaging i have a
knack for i
used to want to be a copywriter in an
advertising agency i have a knack for
taglines names of things they come to me
in seconds i don't know why i i'm i'm an
amazing namer of things
i saw an event company and it just came
to me it should be called in any event
i was 14 and my friend's mother said
what do i name
a kid's shoe store and i said shoe
nannigans like i just it came out of my
mouth i'm good at naming things really
the best are you a good negotiator yeah
i'm a good negotiator because i'm
creative about negotiating
negotiating isn't really just about
money if you can't come to terms and
money what's the other
work around solution to finding some
other
creative way to get what everybody wants
so i'm excellent at concepts
skinny girl i own the name i own the
girl i own the logo what had never ever
been done before
is someone selling for the numbers that
i sold for to a public company
just one piece of the pie so just skinny
girl cocktails so
they can use her they can use the word
skinny girl only in cocktails they can
use the girl skinny girl
only in cocktails so when i was
negotiating
with them i was saying why you only do
liquor
you don't need skinny girl in jeans and
lip gloss and in bras and popcorn and
then
salad dressings you don't you won't use
it so why would i why would
i let you keep something that i can
actually make money off of that you
won't use
and i promise to be a good partner in
these ways and you have to promise to
protect the brand in these ways
because i'm still going to own it and so
take what the pc one
so that was unique because that's a
creative way to
do a deal versus being black and white
and work
focusing only on the money the money's
not the most important part of the deal
how much of that do you think is gender
related i've heard you talk before about
men and women
and i love that conversation you had
with sway on the radio
where he kind of initiated you into kind
of uh the bro
code yes i think that men have the
ability that we wish we had more
to work the burners men can be running
games you have your stove
you got one this is about women you have
six different women going you got one on
boiling one is simmering
one you might take off you're over that
one but you always got you're always
running game
and women because you could be loving a
woman and making her feel so great and
the next day say the same thing to
somebody else and she feels great and
women
don't have the capability to work the
burners as well and believe me
i'll die trying but but how much is your
ability to be creative about negotiating
and kind of think about the whole
picture not just part of the picture
so i don't think like that like i just
don't think like
what i got because i was a woman what i
didn't because i was a man i don't and i
know that women want to hear me say that
but i don't i literally i think i'm
tactical
and strategic and you usually don't know
why these things are it's just all
speculation
i think that i grew up in a really
fucked up household and
a childhood and grew up at the racetrack
and
me gambling and betting at 13 years old
at a craps table and me
gambling at a horse window a bedding
window at
aqueduct racetrack at five was not a big
deal
i grew up with animals so like i'm an
animal
[Music]
talk to me about be strong what is be
strong for for folks who don't know it
and what made you decide to go there
started out with hurricane harvey and
i've been all over the world from puerto
rico to guatemala
to mexico to north carolina we've worked
in the amazon
california fires australia it's a very
lean
operation 100 goes to uh
the relief effort but i've sent 53
planes
into puerto rico with all kinds of aid
and 53 planes out with
patients and desperate people to get out
of there
sent cargo ships build schools built
homes
distributed millions of dollars of cash
cards
i mean we've done a lot it's a new wave
in philanthropy because 100 goes to the
effort because i pay my own way for
expenses we are in immediately and we
are nimble
we don't have to wait for permission we
don't have to play any political games
we don't have to fill out any forms we
go rogue and we just go to where the aid
is needed
and we get in and we figure it out no
private relief effort has ever done
what we've done i mean that is factual
really it's crazy what we've done
i don't even know how it's magic but
it's not it's hard work but it's it's
once the ball gets rolling
if you keep all the balls in the air
like business you can do incredible
things and help
save and save thousands of lives bethany
do you ever get tired do you get
exhausted
but i do prioritize health and just
balance i would never be doing
all that work and then like going out
till two o'clock in the morning and
burning myself into the ground i'm just
i have a there is a balance and
i do yoga i meditate i walk on the beach
i go wakeboarding with my daughter
i lay in bed all day with my boyfriend i
balance it out
[Music]
all right now talk to me a little bit
about politics because there's so much
about you in terms of your willingness
to go rogue your willingness to throw
down your willingness to be creative
your willingness to be philanthropic
that could make somebody say
huh is she gonna run are you thinking
about running i don't know that much
about politics and i don't know that
much about foreign policy
and so i wonder why people ask me but i
think they mention it because i get
things done and i think that that's
basically what people want from
politicians based on the fact that
they've asked me
but by the same token i don't think if i
was a politician i would be able to get
the same
amount of things done because i don't
get involved in bullshit and i don't get
involved in politics
everything is bipartisan i'm a
bipartisan person i don't even
understand
how the world could be otherwise if you
had to guess
go forward whatever number you want to
go forward 10 years 20 years
any any sense of of either where you
could end up or what you would love to
be doing is there's something
out there i know the last 10 12 years
been pretty magical but is there
something else out there that you would
love to do that you haven't had a chance
to do yet
i would love to just host saturday night
live once in my life
but aside from that and stand up maybe
just because it's fun and it's an outlet
i'll tell you something
i really did look at my financial
situation when i decided to do a podcast
because i made the decision to go there
to not filter to not be afraid to not
give a shit about what i wanted to say
about anyone
if not being nasty for the sake of it
that's not who i am but if i have an
opinion about something and it's a weird
alternative opinion
i don't care i want to say it i want to
work in an outlet where
everybody's not so damn scared it's
annoying
everybody i know i can't say that i
can't say this it's the last thing i
want to do if i'm doing a podcast so
i'm excited to create a forum and have
an outlet
to do that tell me about this new tv
show you're doing are you excited about
it is it just something
that you're gonna do because folks asked
you to do it like where does this line
up in
in kind of who you are i'm excited about
the show
like the big shot with bethany is to
find my chief of staff or my successor
my person who can think like me
make decisions for me and it's not like
the apprentice in the sense that
these are my real businesses i really
have a relief effort i really have salad
dressings popcorn apparel
shapewear hsn speaking engagements all
these things i'm doing
a production company i need
a person a number two but the tasks are
you know will be so interesting because
it's based on something really happening
these are my real businesses so it's not
a manufactured task for delta
or some arbitrary thing and my personal
life is so
infiltrated with my business life that
that will make it
very different we're not just in a
staged boardroom or in my houses
and my life so i think it'll be a great
show i
i love it i have a feeling you're going
to find someone good i think you're
going to be surprised who you fine
you sound like a fortune teller yeah i
got a little fortune teller in me
no fear i got a little fortune teller
[Music]
if you've been following the tabloids or
drama owner hit reality show the real
housewives of new york city
you probably already knew that finding
love hasn't always been easy for bethany
frankel
my way to the top i can't even fuck my
way to the middle
never one to mince words she's always
been vocal about her struggles to meet
mr wright
she even wrote a book on the subject
she's also been candid about her very
messy divorce to businessman jason hoppy
with whom she shares a daughter friend
but it seems like these days the tides
might be turning from miss b
she appears to be striking at lucky in
both business
and in love um i'm doing okay and i'm
doing okay
i'm always doing okay pretend i'm
bethany's best friend
why is this woman who is beautiful smart
creative fun why is she
not like finding love long lasting love
forever what's
what's the story well i have a i have a
serious boyfriend
and um i did write the book i think
that's the title i suck at relationships
so you don't have to yes i did come up
with that title
it's harder if you don't have a good
example as a child of a great
relationship
there's a baseline to people who have a
foundation and they have parents and
their parents are together or they just
have
great solid parents and a solid family
unit those people
they don't think about doubt because
they don't they just know it's possible
so
if you are living in a home with solid
relationships and
family units that are multi-generational
it comes more naturally to you how did
you meet mr wonderful how did paul
come into your life online come on now
yup come on bethany yep
are you serious i know it's amazing but
yes we met online we both
we don't we talk about it but we forget
about it and then we mention it again
i'm like i met you online
we died because i'm old fat i'm not
that's not i was never going he was one
of the first
three people i met on there and i was
never going online my girlfriend said i
go what that's not me i would never do
it
and i did it and it was great but it's
that type of not
it's that type of different thinking
that i have that i do like and it takes
you on some other journey
i'll say some amazing idea to paul it's
like a great idea
and then he'll just take it in a
different direction because he's produce
a producer and he'll think of
a different way and i like that
uh favorite place you've ever visited
you've probably gotten to go to lots of
good places wherever you love
like where still stays with you ravello
italy
it's not far from like capri and
positano but it's a town where you walk
down these gorgeous stairs
and you're in the 1800s my boyfriend
talks about it
weekly he's just like we have to he
wants to live in ravello
what's the worst pitch anyone's ever
come at you with a skinny shirt
someone had a skinny shirt
[Applause]
[Music]
who's most interesting celeb you've met
or gotten to know you know mark cuban's
layered
he's polarizing and i know people are
opinionated about him
and his politics and so i would have
only known him before i met him i
thought he was just sort of some
arrogant billionaire
that's what i thought i didn't know much
about him he seemed smart but
he seemed like a hot shot last question
what's the best gift
you've ever received nobody does gifts
like my boyfriend nobody in the world i
mean i've never seen a flower game
like his flower game he always gives me
some
amazing thoughtful spectacular gifts i'm
a great gift giver too we're not talking
about me but
so we our gift game is pretty tight it's
time for something really great you know
we called spotlight
always got to show you something new and
different a little fresh this time it's
a comedian her name is sarah cooper
she's having so much fun
on tick-tock it's borderline illegal i
aced it
i aced the test and he should take the
same exact test a very standard test i
took
took it at walter reed medical center
you know what the crime is the crime is
very obvious to everybody all you have
to do is read the newspapers except
yours
i don't use insulin should i be huh
i never thought about it the european
union has ripped this country off so
much it's unbelievable
vanity fair by the way just dumped her
the voice of a nation without even
saying a word
[Music]
hey bethany thank you so much for being
here all right that's it for us
i hate to go but guess what we're going
to keep bringing you people that are
worth your time
so stay tuned tune in again keep
watching tell a good friend
[Music]
hey tune into the carlos watson show
it's like no other you're going to enjoy
it every weekday on youtube
you
