Bethenny Frankel cut her holiday vacation short. She explains why
Didn’t manage to make it to St. Barts over the holidays? Don’t feel bad, because you didn’t miss much, according to Bethenny Frankel.
The “Real Housewives of NYC” alum revealed she traveled to the fancy French island in the Caribbean with her 15-year-old daughter, Bryn, but decided to cut their trip short. There were a few reasons for this.
In an Instagram video on Monday, Frankel explained she’d never been to St. Barts during high season and this time “it hit different.”
Though she’s a big time reality star and entrepreneur, the scene was just too much for them.
It was “like the ‘Hunger Games’ of fashion and money,” Frankel cracked of the stunning destination, whose fellow vacationers included A-listers Jeff Bezos, Tom Brady, Glen Powell and Alix Earle. “No one is just dressed casually.”
Activities included going to the beach or a day club to attend “disco lunches” featuring celebrity DJs like Diplo and Calvin Harris.
“No one [is] really present, because they’re all just worried if they’re at the right place,” Frankel said, adding young people were spending thousands on bar tabs. “I didn’t like having my daughter there .... It felt like bad parenting. I just don’t want her to think that this is reality.”
The SkinnyGirl founder’s anxiety began to mount almost right away after she got swarmed by paparazzi coming out of the ocean looking like “a drowned rat.” To top it off, Frankel wasn’t wearing couture.
“I didn’t want to be there. I just had a bad feeling the whole entire time, I was trying to be present, but I wasn’t really,” complained the “Shark Tank” judge, 55. “It was just too much.”
Aside from the stress of trying to keep up with the Joneses, Frankel found out her friend, celebrity makeup artist Jasen Kaplan, had died on New Year’s Eve. The cause of death for the “Finding Prince Charming” star, 46, has not been disclosed.
At 4 a.m. Jan. 1, Frankel and Bryn packed up and set off to the airport.
No regrets. Back in Boca Raton, Frankel said they both agreed that the vibe was off and were so happy to be home.
The pièce de résistance? Frankel ends the video saying she got a bacterial infection.
“My entire face broke out in a rash.”
So, if Frankel’s followers had FOMO, hopefully they feel better.
The caption: “Don’t believe everything on social media.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2026 at 12:18 PM.
