The Real Housewives franchise is a moneymaker for Bravo, but salaries of the stars range
from high to low.
Here's how these women actually earn their cash.
Bethenny Frankel is a fire-starter on The Real Housewives of New York.
"I need to start drinking alcohol.
Gimme one of those bottles."
But while cameras capture her sometimes turbulent personal life, this Big Apple native earns
big bucks off-screen.
Forbes reported that Frankel stacked $100 million for selling Skinnygirl liquor in 2011.
And to sweeten the deal, Frankel also retained the rights to the name.
"Skinnygirl would not be the huge success that it is, without you"
On top of this, Frankel is also a prolific author, a nearly constant presence on TV,
and the owner of an impressive real estate portfolio.
Oh yeah, and Forbes also suggests Frankel could be earning anywhere from $10,000 to
$30,000 a pop for sponsored social media posts.
So why even bother with TV anymore?
Frankel once told the mag,
"What's the point of being on TV if you don't have something to sell?"
Before Lisa Vanderpump landed on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, she and her husband,
Ken Todd, owned and operated upwards of 32 restaurants, according to AdWeek.
"Trust me, it's going to go brilliantly"
Their eatery empire grew to include Villa Blanca, Pump Lounge, and of course Sur, which
is the focus of her spin-off reality show, Vanderpump Rules.
Although Glamour reported in January 2018 that her restaurant empire had shrunk to just
26 establishments, Vanderpump is pursuing other endeavors.
She enjoyed a gig as editor-in-chief of Beverly Hills magazine, released a documentary about
the Chinese dog meat trade, and formed a canine rescue center.
"I'm a big girl too, and a bigger person.
So there, uh f—- you."
This all adds up to a jaw-dropping estimated net worth of $75 million dollars for the British
import who took Beverly Hills by storm.
"Did you like sharing your closet with everybody?
Are you hungry?
I think it's time for his lunch"
NeNe Leakes is the fire that kept The Real Housewives of Atlanta hot for years.
"I'm here to talk about-"
"What you wanna talk about"
"No, no I'm here to talk about everything"
But when she wasn't stirring up the drama with her fellow Georgia peaches, she was busy
building a mini empire.
Leakes will be the first one to tell you she's rich, but where did her money come from?
Well, for starters, Leakes parlayed her reality fame into a starring role on The New Normal,
and then a recurring role on Glee.
She also became a successful fashionista with her Home Shopping Network clothing line in
2014.
"I love fashion, I shop everyday, I love fashion it's easy for me"
Rounding out her side hustle line-up with the obligatory book deal, production company,
and a plethora of other TV appearances, in 2018, Leakes clocked in at a net worth of
$14 million.
"You wish you had what I have in the bank, darling.
You wish you had what I have in the bank"
Although she's best known for her role on The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Kandi Burruss
was once part of the all-girl '90s R&B group Xscape, and has written songs for Mariah Carey,
TLC, and Destiny's Child.
She even penned Ed Sheeran's 2017 smash hit, "Shape of You," which broke a record with
its 33-week reign on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and won the singer a Grammy.
She remembered of her own band,
"No Scrubs was one of the songs we had did for ourselves."
"Some people are like do you regret givin that record away?
No I do not.
That was one of the best decisions I think I ever made in my life"
But Burruss stays busy outside of the studio as well.
In 2009, she launched a clothing store called TAGS Boutique, and she also runs Bedroom Kandi,
an in-home demo company that specializes in adult toys.
On top of that, Burruss also owns Atlanta restaurant Old Lady Gang, and she's working
on opening a second location in the newly-renovated State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
She told Forbes in 2017,
"Anybody can build a business, but to keep it going is the real success."
"As long as I can juggle everything, I will juggle everything"
Ramona Singer has been a Real Housewife of New York since day one, and hasn't stopped
talking about her supposedly self-made business empire ever since.
"I always tell my daughter, pursue a business that really excites you and you're passionate
about, and for me it's looking ageless"
To her credit, she does have a diverse string of endeavors, including a fashion line, jewelry,
her own brand of pinot grigio, and skin care products.
She's also the author of Life on the Ramona Coaster.
"But you never know, things can change very quickly around here"
In true Housewives fashion, the Ramona Coaster was thrown for a serious loop when Bethenny
Frankel insinuated that Singer's skincare line was a fraud.
Frankel tweeted:
"I am done allowing people to pretend business is easy or have pretend parties to launch
products that are fairytales."
According to People, at the Season 10 reunion, Frankel doubled-down by listing of a string
of supposedly defunct or non-existent Singer businesses.
"Don't say I'm f—-ing fake, with your fake t—-"
For the record, Singer's got an estimated $18 million in the bank, even if no one knows
exactly how.
Phaedra Parks may have had the most scandalous exit of the entire franchise when she was
booted from The Real Housewives of Atlanta after allegedly spreading assault rumors about
castmate Kandi Burruss and her husband, Todd Tucker.
But while she'll no longer get paid to dish out her signature side eye, Parks still has
plenty of income rolling in.
"I was with Housewives for 8 years"
"I have seen the dark side of reality TV"
Aside from her Housewives gig, Parks is an entertainment attorney in Atlanta.
In 2016, she was even named Atlanta's most popular lawyer, according to her now-deleted
Instagram post.
And as if one highly-skilled profession wasn't enough, Parks also moonlights as an undertaker.
"It was a calling, a ministry for myself.
And so I entered mortuary science school and I actually graduate in December"
But none of that compares to her most hilarious side hustle: a workout DVD called Phine Body
by Phaedra & Apollo: Donkey Booty Volume 1.
If she made even one legitimate dollar off of something called "Donkey Booty," we consider
that a miracle.
Teresa Giudice became a reality TV legend with her table-flipping freakout on The Real
Housewives of New Jersey.
But in 2013, she was charged, along with husband Joe, with multiple counts of fraud.
The couple eventually pleaded guilty, and Teresa served 11 months in jail, with Joe
beginning his 41-month sentence upon her release.
But where did Teresa's loot come from in the first place?
First, she bet heavily on the food industry, penning several cookbooks that eventually
spawned a line of edible products.
She even had a hair care line, and her own brand of Prosecco, before it all fell apart
during her prison stint.
"Yeah, pretty much all my business went to s—- with this whole like this whole legal
thing"
But Teresa found a new passion in the clink: yoga, which she said was going to become her
new business focus, according to People.
"If you're not about the namaste get the hell outta my way"
She said,
"I read a lot of inspirational books in prison, like whatever you want, you can put it out
there.
I want to make $40 million this year.
I hope that happens, for real, I made a vision board."
Lisa Rinna was already a star before landing on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, thanks
to her stints on Melrose Place and Days of Our Lives.
"When I started, you'd have 20 to 40 pages of dialogue to memorize every single day"
But when she's not on-set, Rinna peddles clothing on QVC.
And as of 2018, her latest project has been a family affair.
According to People, she went into "full-on momager mode" with hopes of making her teenage
daughters into models.
Both Delilah Belle Hamlin and Amelia Gray Hamlin landed professional modeling contracts,
and it's a good thing they're on the rise to stardom, since Rinna's estimated net worth
sits at a relatively low $8 million.
"18 months ago 15 months ago, they were working at the deli.
Hello.
Life has changed"
Kyle Richards is best known for her role on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but
she's also a bonafide actress with roles on Little House on the Prairie, Down to Earth,
Days of Our Lives, and ER.
"I've been in TV my whole life.
My first TV series I was 5 years old.
And it was just a natural fit to go behind the camera"
Richards grew up in Hollywood, and her life has since been adapted into a scripted series
called American Woman, starring Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari.
"I've never done this before."
"So you don't know anything about casting.
Good luck with that honey, they're gonna eat you alive out here"
Richards served as executive producer on the project which was cancelled after one season,
but fortunately, that wasn't her only iron in the fire.
"How many f—-- do I give, zero, zero, zero f—--"
Richards also had producer credits on two other scripted shows as of April 2018, but
both are still in development.
Plus, she's also written a book and launched her own line of women's wear with designer
Alene Too.
While most of her Housewife cohorts sell much cheaper clothing, Richards is in the high-end
luxury game, with some pieces in her line maxing out at over $1,000.
When it's all totaled, and combined with her real estate mogul husband's considerable wealth,
Richards' net worth reportedly sits at $50 million.
With an estimated net worth of just $800,000, Real Housewives of Orange County star Tamra
Judge holds the anchor position on this list.
But that might just be a temporary standing, since Judge, who competes as a bodybuilder
when she's not spreading the hot goss, has yet to unleash her full "brand" potential.
"I can't do it."
"You're doing it!"
"Tamra.
Tamra, you are not gonna say no"
"That's not Tamra.
I'm over here"
Speaking with Locale in June 2017, Judge claimed she was working on a fitness app, a book,
and an apparel line.
But none of those endeavors seem to have materialized as of 2018.
And Judge seemingly makes the majority of her cash from CUT Fitness, the gym and personal
training service she owns with her husband.
Clearly, Judge has some brand-building to do, which she admitted to Locale is a challenge
combined with her mom duties and trying to keep some semblance of a normal home life.
But no matter what, we're confident a scrapper like Judge can pull it off.
"Are you ready for this?"