The Huffington Post corrected its Oct.11 and 13 story claiming reality TV star Bethenny Frankel “only earned $8.1 million from the March 2011 sale of her Skinnygirl premixed cocktail line,” the New York Daily News reported.
The Huffington Post’s Oct. 13 article (see here) claimed that Frankel “has been caught distorting the truth,” explaining that Forbes was “looking into” Frankel’s sales after naming her as “one of the highest-earning women in entertainment.” The Huffington Post’s writer, “Naughty but Nice Rob,” reported that Forbes’ executive editor Dan Bigman said the magazine is “going to review all the information thoroughly” regarding Frankel’s earnings, following the Huffington Post reporter’s Oct. 11 story claiming that “a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission quarterly report form clearly shows that the Fortune Brands, Inc. acquisition of the Skinnygirl ready-to-drink cocktail business was for $8.1 million.”
“It’s completely inaccurate,” Frankel is quoted as saying, according to the Daily News. “I’ve never wanted to discuss my net worth, but I’ve been quite successful. I would never allow my fans to believe something that wasn’t true.”
The Huffington Post’s correction explains that its reporter “misread the $8.1 million figure in the financial documents,” which referred to “goodwill, not the total purchase price.”
In April 2011, the Huffington Post re-published a Hollywood Reporter story that claimed Frankel was paid $120 million for the Skinnygirl line, according to “insiders.”