Bethenny 'Laying Low' After Emotional Season

The season finale of Bethenny Ever After was Monday night – and now Bethenny Frankel says it's time to take it easy.

"I love the show, I'm proud of it," Frankel told PEOPLE at the National Magazine Awards on Monday. "It's been a very emotional, intense season. But we're starting filming in July for season 3, and I need the hiatus."

She recouped with husband Jason Hoppy at the Viceroy Anguilla for two weeks after filming, she said, and since then has been trying to slow down. "I have really checked out of my own life a lot," the reality star, 40, said. "I'm laying low. I really hit the wall going 90 miles an hour."

Frankel celebrated her daughter Bryn Casey's first birthday a day early at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York Saturday with "a big celebration." Then she had a relaxing Mother's Day, which was exactly what she wanted.

Despite rumors that they might be moving to L.A,, Frankel says her family is staying put for now. "It's an ongoing conversation but I have a business opportunity that will keep me in New York, so I don't think that I can move to L.A."

She and Hoppy plan on spending a relaxing summer in New York exploring their neighborhood.

"We've only lived downtown for a year, so we keep finding new pockets," she said. "Jason and I like to walk around, find new restaurants, sit outside, have sangria or SkinnyGirl margaritas. We just like to venture out. New York is such an amazing place so we like to find new little outdoor cafes to hang out."

Credit: PEOPLE (Asher Fogel)

Bethenny & Andy: 2011 James Beard Awards

Bethenny Frankel and Andy Cohen attend the 2011 James Beard Foundation Awards at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center on May 9, 2011 in New York City.

Credit: Wire Image

Ramona Singer: Bethenny Didn't Make $120 Mill

Real Housewives of New York star Ramona Singer has just released her own wine, but isn't a fan of Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Margarita and doesn't believe for a second that the ex-wife really snagged $120 million for her company.

"Oh no, she likes to exaggerate," Ramona tells Rob Shuter on his HDNet show. "It's rumored, remember? It didn't say fact. Rumored."

Rumored as in the Hollywood Reporter citing insiders that have placed her deal to sell the Skinnygirl coctail line to Beam Global for a cool $120 mil.

"I was thinking before that figure came out she got about $30 million total," Ramona said. "And divided that between her and her partners David, and usually they do a pay out, they don't give you the money up front, they pay you out over time."

Ramona who likes to tell it like it is, says Jill Zarin has changed the most since the show started filming its fourth season on Bravo. "She's become quite full of herself. I'm the same. I'm a little unedited, a little bit of an unfiltered mouth. I don't talk behind your back, I talk about you right to your face."

Credit: Pop Eater (Rob Shuter)

Bethenny Frankel Spotted At LAX Airport

Bethenny Frankel was spotted chatting on her cell phone at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Wednesday, May 4, 2011.

Credit: Zimbio

Photos by Bauer Griffin

Kelly Bensimon Talks Bethenny & Cindy Barshop

Kelly Bensimon didn't exactly miss Bethenny Frankel while filming the new season of the Real Housewives of New York City.

You'd think it was because Bensimon was so over all their catfighting, but no...

"I only filmed with her a couple of times," Bensimon insisted to me earlier today. "I don't know her at all. I met her a couple of times. We create awesome television. But I wish her well. I don't know what else there is to say because I don't know her enough to say anything."

Frankel's replacement, hair removal queen Cindy Barshop, is a completely different story.

"Cindy's a rock star," Kelly gushed. "She really put the Housewives brand out of balance. She used to work at IBM. She's got 10 Completely Bare [hair removal spas] in New York alone. She's in her forties. She's got two unbelievable babies. She has an unbelievable family. She has set the bar so high."

Guess Bensimon really likes her.

"Who doesn't like a girl's girl who has it all, works her butt off and wears Martin Margiela?" she said. "She's hot, she's cool and she's easygoing."

Credit: E! Online (Marc Malkin)

Bethenny Frankel: Not Happy With Co-Workers

Bethenny Frankel has become very good at marketing herself. However, this kind of around-the-clock self-promotion can lead to problems, as revealed on Bethenny Ever After (Mon., 10PM ET on Bravo).

She sat down with husband Jason Hoppy to talk about why her business isn't producing product as quickly as she'd hoped and wasn't at all happy with what she was hearing.

"Everyone's freaking out because they can't get the product," she said. "And we're not producing it fast enough."

Jason explained to her that there wasn't sufficient demand during the early stages of production, and when demand peaked, they couldn't keep up.

Bethenny believed the demand would come all along, as she reminded him. "I told everyone this would happen," she reminded him. "Why can't everybody produce as fast as I can market?"

Credit: TV Squad ()

Bethenny Frankel Touches Down In Los Angeles

Bethenny Frankel, star of Bethenny Ever After, was spotted arriving to LAX Airport in Los Angeles looking happy to be there!

Credit: Zimbio

Photos by Photo Agency

Ramona Singer Disses Bethenny’s Actions

Although it seemed like Real Housewives of New York City star Ramona Singer was friends with Bethenny Frankel, she is now dissing her for her actions on her own reality TV show.

Singer admits that she is impressed with Frankel’s ability to handle all she is doing right now, but she doesn’t agree with her treatment of some others, states The Miami Herald.

“How could she not embrace her child’s grandparents?” Singer said about Frankel having a hard time spending a lot of time with her in-laws, “That was shocking to me.”

Credit: Hollywood News (Molly Sullivan)

Bethenny Frankel Doesn't Want To Talk RHONY

Bethenny Frankel isn’t the woman she was when America was introduced to her on the Real Housewives of New York three years ago. Back then, she was 37, single, always cracking wise about her cast-mates’ quirks and working as a chef. Now starring in Season 2 of her own show, Frankel is married with a baby and the kingpin of her SkinnyGirl brand.

Since she became a star and began touring the country giving talks, Frankel has been sought out as a sort of famous best girlfriend that fans will ask about anything.

“Everything from ‘I’m trying to find my way in college and I’m not sure what path I should take’ to ‘I’m single and 30 and my friends are pressuring me, but you’re an inspiration because I feel like I don’t have to do anything on any timeline.’ It’s every range of every women’s question and issue,” Frankel says.

On this season of Bethenny Ever After, we can expect to see her struggling to get the right work-life balance and adjusting to her new in-laws.

As for her past with the Real Housewives, we were curious if Frankel thought any of the other ladies in the franchise had the potential to do what she has accomplished.

“I’d rather talk about me than the other Housewives if that’s OK,” she suddenly snipped. “Thank you.”

Credit: Metro (HEIDI PATALANO)

Bethenny Frankel Talks Shapewear Line

She’s always looking for ways to expand her kingdom, and Bethenny Frankel has just introduced her new project, called shapeware.

The new line will offer several different categories- The Skinny, Secret Service, Glamouflage, and Show, Don’t Tell.

She explained, “I wear shapers once in a while, going on the red carpet, to smooth things out. I live in a tank top.…The line ranges from tank tops in black or beige to my signature color, red, which is a confidence color, and a little daring, but not white because it can make anyone look bigger…and what I call lazy lingerie — a black lace top that can be worn under a blazer that you can take off and your husband says ‘You’re sexy’ in a lacy top…and a sexy apron with a bra, a fun item with a little skirt you might wear for Valentine’s Day to wake up in and fix your husband breakfast in.”

As for Bethenny’s favorite pieces of the collection, she shared, “A playful item [control briefs] with a pad to make your butt look better.…I was holding my butt out so my husband could notice, and he said, ‘Oh, you look juicy’…and The Skinny, a pencil skirt that goes all the way up under your boobs to smooth all your lines. My favorites are the lace lingerie-looking bodysuit or camisole by Glamouflage.…I like items that look like comfortable underwear but look sexy like from Show, Don’t Tell that look like something sexy that Marilyn Monroe or Betty Boop would wear.”

Credit: Celebrity Gossip

Jill Zarin Doubts Her Friendship With Bethenny

Jill Zarin is having serious doubts her long-defunct friendship with former Real Housewives of New York City co-star Bethenny Frankel was ever real and tells Rob Shuter it was just a "TV romance" that went bad. Real bad.

"The truth is, I don't even remember being friends with her anymore," Jill tells him on his HDNet show. "You know, when I see her picture and when I see her on TV, I don't even remember our relationship. Which kinda says something."

The pair's friendship went down in flames during the third season of the hit show, with numerous on-air blowups leading to a full scale feud between the two. It probably didn't help that Jill accidentally broke the news of the birth of Bethenny's baby last year on Twitter.

But after many attempts to patch things up, it's pretty clear things are kaput for good for these ex-BFF's and Jill tells me she's fine with it because they didn't exactly have long history. "People thought we came into the show with that romance," she said. "We didn't. We fell in love on TV and we got a divorce on TV."

Now a year later, she's not even sure she and the Bethenny Ever After star were chums to begin with! "It was real! Well, I thought the friendship was real. Clearly, it was not."

Credit: Pop Eater (Rob Shuter)