Frankel’s frank for speech
BETHENNY Frankel gave a very, well, “Bethenny Frankel” speech while accepting an award for her humanitarian work. Receiving the honor from Delivering Good, the ebullient “Real Housewives of New York City” star and part-time aid worker scolded the audience for talking, boasted about her drinking prowess and railed against the insufficient recovery efforts in disasterstruck Puerto Rico, Houston and central Mexico — all within a few minutes. At one point in her, er, wideranging monologue on Thursday evening, Frankel stopped to address chatty guests, saying, “It’s distracting if you’re talking. It’s important, and if you came here just to eat . . . it’s delicious, but . . .” The interjection won her a round of applause from guests at the dinner at the American Museum of Natural History. She also predicted a population boom in Puerto Rico “in nine months” because many homes are still without light and power. “What else is there to do?” asked Frankel. The businesswoman also explained how she and her collaborators had quickly organized their hands-on mercy mission in the wake of the disasters, saying she told a colleague, “I have a plane. Now, what do I do? [People said,] ‘I know, a guy, I know a guy.’ This was all done with 25 people I’d never met in my life, just through [digital] chats.” She said they managed to raise millions of dollars and delivered millions of dollars worth of aid to the stricken areas. Frankel also gave shout-outs to fellow “Real Housewives” castmates Tinsley Mortimer and Sonja Morgan for giving generously to her relief efforts. She ended by saying that she had only ever received awards for “just drinking cocktails. I’ve got many awards for drinking people under the table.”