Despite the ‘Bethenny Clause,” These Black Real Housewives Are Running Their Businesses

Former Real Housewives Nene Leakes and Bethenny Frankel have recently been outspoken about their issues with Bravo. Frankel who created the brand Skinnygirl while she was on The Real Housewives of New York City, refused to allow NBC to take a percentage of her earnings for presenting her business on the show. After that, “the Bethenny Clause,” was created in contracts, which means that the network has the right to take a percentage of a star’s earnings from their business. Now, Frankel is working to create a union for reality stars and wants to eliminate “the Bethenny Clause,” so that other stars will not have to give networks any money. That’s for Bravo to hammer, but we wanted to show you all of the Black housewives who have presented a business on their franchises! Will the proposed union greatly impact these businesses? Nobody knows. But let’s check out what our Black Housewives are selling…

Ubah Hassan is one of the newest members of the Housewives family. She is a model and entrepreneur, creating a hot sauce company called Ubah Hot. This week, she stopped by The Root to give us the scoop about her business! The hot sauce is a reminder of her African roots. She brought the sauce to the other ladies on The Real Housewives of New York City, and they loved it! Yum.

Xscape’s Kandi Burruss is known for constantly keeping a check! The Grammy winner has launched several businesses on The Real Housewives of Atlanta including her show Kandi Koated Nights, the Bedroom Kandi sex toy line, and her restaurants Old Lady Gang and Blaze Steak and Seafood. She also starred in and created musicals and plays!

Nene Leakes became one of the most famous people in Real Housewives’ history and used that fame to venture into more television endeavors. She starred in the hit TV shows, Glee, The New Normal, Celebrity Apprentice, and Dancing with the Stars. She also opened SWAGG Boutique while she was a housewife.

Kenya Moore hilariously competed with Phaedra Parks to create a workout video in the early seasons of Atlanta called Kenya Moore: Booty Boot Camp. However, she started her biggest business venture in 2014, Kenya Moore Hair Care. In the latest season of Atlanta, she shows the progress of opening a hair salon!

September, spring, summer! Shereé Whitfield struggled to launch her clothing brand She by Shereé after a decade of telling fans it was happening. She finally revealed it in the fall of 2022, but fans were unfortunately underwhelmed with the products and price point.

Robyn Dixon of The Real Housewives of Potomac started her online shop, Embellished, while on the show. Primarily she sold satin-lined hats, but now she also sells shirts and hoodies.

In 2011, Cynthia Bailey opened a modeling school called Bailey Agency School of Fashion in Atlanta while on the show and filmed a few scenes teaching women how to do catwalks and casting calls. Although closed now, she also opened a winery called The Bailey Wine Cellar in Atlanta, filming the launch with the other housewives.

Porsha Williams always had her hair laid while on Housewives of Atlanta, and decided to launch Go Naked Hair to give other people a chance to have some bomb wigs as well!

Dr. Wendy Osefo from The Real Housewives of Potomac wanted to branch out from her career as a professor and political commentator and decided to launch a four-wick candle company called Onyi.

Sai De Silva is a housewife in the reboot of The Real Housewives of New York City. She is a fashion content creator and gives the audience a glimpse into her career on the show by constantly taking pictures, opening packages from brands, and scheduling social media posts.

Phaedra Parks was famous for being a celebrity attorney prior to being on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but while she was on the show she became a mortician!

Actress and singer Drew Sidora has been open about her weight loss journey on the show and decided to start her own weight loss program called Drop It with Drew. However, it was made fun of by her costars due to the lack of advertising, and organization, and them not believing Drew truly exercises.

Candiace Dillard-Bassett fulfilled her dreams of being a musician while on the show, from writing a song for her wedding to now being at the BET Awards as an established artist! On the show, she gives fans behind the scenes of filming music videos and recording in the studio.

After being constantly made fun of for her edges, Marlo Hampton launched her own wig line called HER. Kenya Moore’s famous scene where she brought a marching band to shout “Kenya Moore Hair Care” was at Marlo’s wig launch party.

Olympian and housewife of Atlanta Sanya Richards-Ross launched MommiNation in 2019. MommiNation is a resource to help mothers with anything they need advice with from cooking to self-care. This season of the show, Sanya had a fundraiser for mothers in need.