Bethenny Frankel Hires A Coach To Help Soften Her Image

NYPost.com:

Pushy former “Real Housewives of New York” star Bethenny Frankel has had to hire a coach to help her drop her Big Apple attitude and “be nice” for all-American audiences in order to sell her syndicated talk show.


Frankel shot a pilot for an “advice-based” program produced by Telepictures, the company behind “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Anderson Cooper’s new yakker and “Dr. Drew’s Life Changers.”


But sales were slow, sources say, so Frankel was taken to meet with station managers to personally pump the project. But her aggressive Manhattan mien grated like manicured nails scraping down a chalkboard.


“She came off as too aggressive,” a source close to the margarita-mix mogul said. As a result, producers brought in a Henry Higgins-style mentor to turn the housewife into a lady.


“They’d been shopping the syndicated show and going to meet with station owners,” said a source. “They got a coach” who would teach Frankel things like “speaking more slowly” and “being nicer,” the insider said.


DeGeneres has been boosting Frankel by booking her as a regular guest since a year ago when Ellen signed a deal with Warner Bros. to create reality, scripted and cable programming.


On Friday, Frankel counseled “Ellen” viewers on bargain shopping in a segment called “Looks for Less.” In the past, she’s also talked on the show about healthy snack recipes.


A Telepictures rep said, “We don’t comment on any development activity.” Frankel’s rep also declined to comment.


Meantime, Frankel’s been busy pushing an endless tide of Skinny Girl products, even while the company’s the target of a $10 million class-action suit alleging the drinks were incorrectly marketed by not listing ingredients.


Her response to stories about the drink being pulled from Whole Foods shelves was, “We were bound to p--s someone off and everyone loves to try to tear down a success.”