The stars of Netflix’s buzzy new reality series “Members Only: Palm Beach” aren’t clutching their pearls over Bethenny Frankel’s latest commentary. In fact, they’re thanking her for the attention.
The former “Real Housewives of New York City” star, who recently relocated to Florida, set social media ablaze after comparing the women of “Members Only: Palm Beach” to “Walmart Birkins,” arguing that the uproar surrounding the show has less to do with its cast and more to do with jealousy from Palm Beach’s old guard.
“We got to talk about ‘Members Only: Palm Beach,’” Frankel said in a recent TikTok rant. “This is triggering so many people in a similar way that the Walmart Birkin triggered people because the people who had the real Birkin wanted everyone to know how different and elite they are.”
Frankel went on to suggest that longtime Palm Beach residents are desperate to separate themselves from newcomers — and especially from women who don’t technically live on the island proper.
“And now, all the people in Palm Beach are clamoring to really discern and establish the difference between Palm Beach proper and West Palm,” she said, comparing the dynamic to “The Gilded Age” and calling the territorial behavior “completely absurd and pretentious.”
While the comments might sound harsh, several stars of Netflix’s newest guilty pleasure tell Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” they actually took Frankel’s words as a compliment.
Ro-Mina Ustayev admitted she was initially confused by the discourse — but ultimately felt supported.
“I don’t know if [her comments] were pertaining to me or the rest of [the cast]. I think she was defending me,” Ustayev says.
“I didn’t 100 percent fully understand what she was trying to say, but my friends were like, ‘She’s defending you, like the stuff that went on behind the scenes and that you had to deal with,’” she elaborates. “I don’t know if that’s true. But I would love to connect with her and talk with her and bring her over to Palm Beach.”
Rosalyn Yellin, meanwhile, reveled in the moment — and the chaos.
“I loved it. Guess what? She’s talking about it,” Yellin says. “The country can talk about it, you can talk about it, people can talk about it. Go on, let’s hear it.”
Yellin says Frankel’s larger point didn’t go unnoticed — particularly her criticism of Palm Beach residents obsessing over who does and doesn’t live on the island.
“At the end, she’s like, ‘You know, when the people who live on the island… are going online and saying [the cast doesn’t] live on the island,’ she’s like, ‘They’re more ridiculous than the women on the show,’” Yellin recalls. “And guess what? They are. They’re more ridiculous.”
As for accusations that the women are merely desperate outsiders, Yellin shrugs them off.
“We’re having fun, we’re being fabulous. We’re all on the island all the time,” the Yuvetica founder says. “It’s none of their business, really. They just want to latch on to our coattails.”
Taja Abitol echoed that sentiment, insisting Frankel’s “Walmart Birkin” analogy was wildly misunderstood.
“I don’t think it was an insult at all. I think people got it wrong,” Abitol told SiriusXM’s Page Six Radio this week. “People said, ‘Did you hear what she said about you?’ I said, ‘I’m so flattered that she’s watching.’”
Abitol — who founded the wellness company TajaDrip, which has an outpost at the famed Faena Hotel in Miami Beach — even extended an open invitation to Frankel.
“I said, ‘Thank you, Bethenny, for tuning in. And come to the Faena to see me at TajaDrip. I want to give you treatment!’ Because she’s a member at Faena,” she adds.
For Frankel, the entire situation is less about the Netflix cast and more about what she sees as Palm Beach’s deeply entrenched obsession with wealth and status.
“The only currency in Palm Beach is how rich you are,” she said on TikTok. “Like, billionaires feel poor because there are richer billionaires. Ew! How can that be your identity?”
Love it or hate it, the social experiment is clearly working. And if Frankel’s commentary is any indication, “Members Only: Palm Beach” is already doing exactly what great reality TV is meant to do: trigger, entertain and keep everyone talking.
“Members Only: Palm Beach” is available to stream on Netflix.
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