Bethenny Frankel was accused of stealing her Skinnygirl brand name from Joy Behar on Wednesday’s episode of The View.
Years after she and Sunny Hostin, 57, engaged in a public feud due to Sunny’s suggestion that the 55-year-old Real Housewives of New York City alum had yelled at one of her kids on a beach, Joy, 83, claimed that Bethenny “stole” Skinnygirl, explaining that she dubbed Debbie Matenopoulos, 51, a “skinny b*tch” years before the launch of Bethenny’s brand.
“Joining us back at the table is The View’s original young one, Debbie Matenopoulos,” Joy announced on the September 30 episode of The View, via Entertainment Weekly.
As fans may know, Debbie, who was filling in for Whoopi Goldberg, 70, joined the cast of The View when she was 21.
“You are forever young, darling, and forever a skinny b*tch,” Joy continued. “She’s always been the skinny b*tch of the show.”
Joy then said that she came up with the title for Debbie.
“And then somebody stole that idea and made a whole diet book about it,” she alleged.
Bethenny launched her Skinnygirl brand in 2009, over a decade after Debbie joined the show, but as Entertainment Weekly noted, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin released a book titled Skinny B*tch in 2005.
“Joy has a real bone of contention with her. You always say something!” Debbie responded to Joy’s accusation.
Alyssa Farah Griffin, 37, a former White House staffer, also got in on the action, noting that the women of The View have “had some beef with Bethenny at this table,” as Joy pointed to Sunny’s feud with Bethenny.
On an episode of The View in 2019, Sunny had spoken about her drama with Bethenny on the beach.
“It was in the middle of the day, and my child was about seven, playing with other children at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and she said that her child was napping inside with the window open and that our children were being too loud on the beach,” Sunny recalled. “I went out there and stood in front of my child, and I yelled at her and told her adults speak to adults, and she knows I’m telling the truth.”
But after her claim was made, Bethenny appeared on Watch What Happens Live, where she suggested that Sunny had “been drinking or taking some drugs” when she made the accusations and clarified that she “[didn’t] know” Sunny.
In response, Sunny took to X to suggest she had “witnesses” and “receipts,” and to accuse Bethenny of “defamation.”