After breaking down in tears testifying in her divorce trial, Bethenny Frankel stormed out of BookExpo America early after few of her fans showed up for a signing to promote her new children’s book.
The canceled talk-show host and former “Real Housewives of New York” star called estranged husband Jason Hoppy “white trash” while testifying in court during the couple’s acrimonious child-custody battle on Wednesday.
Frankel was expecting to be met by the eager faces of fans Thursday as she showed up at America’s top book-and-author event at Manhattan’s Javits Center to sign posters to promote her kids’ book, “Cookie Meets Peanut.”
But the Skinnygirl mogul — who looks like she has never encountered a cookie or a peanut — was not happy to find so few people waiting on line for her.
A witness told us: “At 2:15 p.m., there were four people in line for Bethenny. Representatives for her publisher were sent out around the expo to recruit people to come to her stand. Through sheer hard work they managed to get some people over. After blaming others for the poor turnout, Bethenny left the show early.”
Frankel was billed to be at her exhibition stand between 2 and 3 p.m., but according to our witness, she was gone by 2:40 p.m., with a staffer saying, “She left. There really weren’t that many people who showed up. I don’t think she stayed past 2:30.” But a source close to Frankel insisted 100 people were there and she left around 2:45 p.m.
The book, which is “inspired by her own life about two siblings — a new baby and one diva dog,” is due out in September.
But Frankel has painted an unhappy picture of family life, telling a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing that Hoppy had threatened to turn their made-for-TV marriage into a real-life nightmare. “He said, ‘I’m going to destroy you,’ ” Frankel said.
Asked about fans’ no-show at the expo, Frankel’s rep, Carrie Gordon, sniffed, “I never comment on the record about my clients.”