Bethenny Frankel: Melania Trump doesn’t have the personality for RHONY

While the first lady and first daughter just won't do, Frankel said Donald's second wife Marla Maples could be interesting.

"Marla was always really nice, I met her years ago and I remember her telling me that Trump did not participate in [Tiffany's] life," Frankel said.

It's a prerequisite to be a woman to get a starring role on a Real Housewives franchise (there are 15 around the world, including Sydney and Melbourne), but Frankel was surprised Donald never had a guest slot like he regularly did with other TV shows and films, including Sex and the City, Home Alone 2, Zoolander and WWE.

"Frankly, it is really surprising seeing as he also knows [two of the other cast members] well. He's been on a date with Sonja [Morgan, ex-wife of an ancestor to J.P. Morgan] and he knows Ramona [Singer]," she said.

"But pretty much everyone has had an interaction with Trump. I have walked into him in his lobby doing the walk of shame."

Life in New York in the Trump era is "destructive" said the Skinnygirl founder, who is one of the highest paid reality stars behind the Kardashians.

"I have walked into [Trump] in his lobby doing the walk of shame."

Bethenny Frankel

"Just like a good reality star he is extremely polarising and very disruptive and has really brought out people's anger. It has been a very distracting presidency because it's about tweets and headlines and it's very surreal. Everyone doesn't really understand if this is really happening or if we are all in a play," Frankel said.

"It's also affecting retail because Trump Tower has basically cut Gucci sales. People on Fifth Avenue don't love it because it affected the retail, especially during the Christmas time."

While not a day goes by without some sort of drama coming from The Don, Frankel said RHONY's 10th season was even more entertaining: "It's really meaty, there is no fat."

It will include former countess Luann de Lesseps' drunken arrest and battery of an officer after her divorce from her husband of seven months ("Luann describes it as 'her tumble in the garden,'" according to Frankel); Frankel's fall-out with Carole Radziwill (who was once married to the late Anthony Radziwill, the son of Prince Stanislas Radziwill and Caroline Lee Bouvier); the cast being stranded at sea on a Colombian getaway and Frankel starting her disaster-relief charity, B Strong.

Over a decade, Frankel has allowed cameras to follow her through the ups and downs of her life, including the success of her cocktail brand, her wedding, having a daughter and a very messy, ongoing divorce and custody battle (which media were asked not to ask her about). But she said she had no regrets.

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"You actually count yourself very lucky that people are waiting to see you at the airport. I am very proud of that success but I think I'll always think the 'emperor has no clothes' with me," she said.

After seven seasons on RHONY and a handful of spin-offs, she was not ruling out the possibility of soon hanging up her Manolo Blahniks.

"I crave the interaction and the comedy. I have so many businesses and it's a wonderful platform and I get paid handsomely, so I'm lucky," Frankel said.

"But I have a daughter so my priorities are different. I get tired too, it's emotionally taxing, we'll see what the next six months holds."

You can watch season 10 of the Real Housewives of New York on Foxtel and Hayu.

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Amy Croffey writes The Goss and Social Seen columns for The Sun-Herald and is an entertainment reporter for Fairfax Media.

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