Housewife Hardball! NeNe Leakes 'Forced' To Go On Bethenny Frankel's Talk Show, If She Wanted Future 'Ellen' Appearances
Oct. 3 2013, Published 8:31 p.m. ET
NeNe Leakes was coerced to appear on Bethenny Frankel's fledgling talk show after she appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' chat fest, which produces the Skinnygirl's mogul's show, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta star was told in no uncertain terms, "If NeNe wanted to go on Ellen in the future, she had to agree to appear on Bethenny's talk show. NeNe wasn't happy that she was being forced to go on Bethenny's talk show.
"The booker for Bethenny's show used to work for Ellen, and this was made clear to NeNe that this order was coming directly from Ellen. NeNe didn't want to ruffle any feathers, so she did it," a source told RadarOnline.com exclusively.
On Monday, Sept. 16, Leakes appeared on Ellen's Emmy-award winning show, and on Sept. 19, she appeared on Bethenny's to promote her Bravo spin-off show, I Dream Of NeNe: The Wedding.
Frankel has had trouble booking guests, and was recently turned down by former Real Housewives of New York City, Jill Zarin, and Alex McCord for a reunion of the Bravo cast.
Over the last two weeks, a booker for Bethenny's talk show personally called both ladies to "explore the possibility of Jill and Alex appearing as part of a reunion from the Real Housewives of New York City Season 1 or 2," a show insider revealed.
"Bethenny is feeling pressure from network executives because ratings from her talk show have been less than stellar. Both ladies turned down the invitation to appear on the talk show."
According to Deadline Hollywood, ratings for Frankel's talk show have been "soft."
Sources close to Frankel tell Radar, "She didn't want to invite Jill and Alex to come on, but she really needs a ratings boost, and thought having them come on would generate a ton of publicity.
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"Bethenny was stunned that they both said no, she really thought they would agree to come on the show. Bethenny's bosses suggested she call Jill and Alex personally, but she absolutely refused."
