Bethenny Frankel thinks Erika Jayne, who is being sued for $25 million, is compelled to be on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” because she is so hard up for cash.
“She needs the money,” Frankel says on an upcoming episode of her podcast “Just B with Bethenny Frankel,” according to Us Weekly. “She’s on the show, which is not a great idea because they’re investigating the whole thing, but probably [is] something she needs or wants to do for her livelihood.”
She also said of Jayne: “I think she did the show because she likes fame and she wants to stay relevant.”
Frankel, 50, was referring to Jayne, 50, and her ex-husband, Tom Girardi, being accused of embezzling money meant for Lion Air Flight 610 victims through their “sham” divorce, which she has since denied on “RHOBH.”
Jayne filed to divorce Girardi in November 2020 after two decades of marriage.
Still, Frankel says she isn’t very familiar with what Jayne is going through and can’t really give answers.
“I don’t quote-unquote know Erika Jayne,” the SkinnyGirl CEO said. “I’ve met her and we’ve done this sort of Instagram thing and she was at my house doing the crossover ‘Housewives’ episode. I have no idea if she knew [about Tom’s actions]. I know nothing about their marriage, nothing about their life. … We’re not all experts on someone else’s lives.”
Frankel made headlines last week when she claimed that she had known about Jayne’s financial woes for years, calling their financial issues the “worst-kept secret.” She claimed Girardi, 82, allegedly owed Dennis Shields, who died in 2018, $500,000.
But Jayne’s attorney exclusively told Page Six that there would be no way for Frankel to know anything about her financial situation.
“Erika has no knowledge of the alleged loans or the conversations referred to by Ms. Frankel, which even per Ms. Frankel, didn’t involve Erika,” the trial lawyer had told us, adding, “To me, this is another example of people trying to throw dirt on Erika based on alleged conversations.”
Jayne has also been accused spending the millions — allegedly given to her company, EJ Global LLC, from her husband’s law firm, Girardi Keese — on her American Express bill, assistants and a glam squad, among other expenses.