Lisa Vanderpump questions Bethenny Frankel’s call to unionize reality TV stars

After RHONY’s Bethenny Frankel urged reality TV stars to fight for their compensation, Lisa Vanderpump has opened up about why it doesn’t make sense to do so.

Lisa Vanderpump has been the matriarch behind Vanderpump Rules since its inception into reality TV in 2013. Not only is she featured on the BravoTV show, she’s also an executive producer.

Vanderpump was also on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills from 2010 until 2019. However, she left the show after cast mates accused her of leaking a story about housewife Dorit Kemsley. 

Though Vanderpump left RHOBH, she’s always been in favor of making an ‘everyday person’ into a star, as her show VPR has hosted a plethora of personalities to date.

So when RHONY’s Bethenny Frankel began calling reality TV stars to unionize against their distributing company, Vanderpump spoke out against the idea, as she doesn’t quite see a reason for it.

Lisa Vanderpump says unionizing reality TV would “change the business” 

With the actor’s strike going on in Hollywood, BravoTV and RHONY star Bethenny Frankel has called upon her fellow reality TV personalities to unionize and fight for higher pay as well as their residuals from both high ratings and shows that are still airing despite the Season being over.

Though Frankel already has a list of names of reality TV stars that would like to follow her lead, Vanderpump has thoughts as to why unionizing wouldn’t work in the reality TV realm.

This week, Vanderpump was on The Envelope podcast and shared that Bethenny’s idea to unionize reality TV would “change the business,” but not for the betterment.

Vanderpump continued, “One of the greatest things about reality shows is that they’ve always been able to be produced for less money than scripted shows. And I don’t really understand how you can have a union for people that are normally plucked out of obscurity.”

Vanderpump then shared her gratitude towards BravoTV, as they’ve been loyal to her over the years, saying, “I’ve been a producer now for 11 years. I’m thankful to the network, thankful for the opportunities and chances that they’ve given me. So, I don’t know, advocating for a reality star union — I’m not sure about that. I’m really not.”

Though Vanderpump has no intentions of joining Frankel in her fight against BravoTV and other reality platforms, the unionization continues to be pushed by Frankel. Vanderpump, however, is busy filming Season 11 of VPR, as the cast has been seen together on multiple occasions over the last two months.