Bethenny 'Laying Low' After Emotional Season

The season finale of Bethenny Ever After was Monday night – and now Bethenny Frankel says it's time to take it easy.

"I love the show, I'm proud of it," Frankel told PEOPLE at the National Magazine Awards on Monday. "It's been a very emotional, intense season. But we're starting filming in July for season 3, and I need the hiatus."

She recouped with husband Jason Hoppy at the Viceroy Anguilla for two weeks after filming, she said, and since then has been trying to slow down. "I have really checked out of my own life a lot," the reality star, 40, said. "I'm laying low. I really hit the wall going 90 miles an hour."

Frankel celebrated her daughter Bryn Casey's first birthday a day early at Dylan's Candy Bar in New York Saturday with "a big celebration." Then she had a relaxing Mother's Day, which was exactly what she wanted.

Despite rumors that they might be moving to L.A,, Frankel says her family is staying put for now. "It's an ongoing conversation but I have a business opportunity that will keep me in New York, so I don't think that I can move to L.A."

She and Hoppy plan on spending a relaxing summer in New York exploring their neighborhood.

"We've only lived downtown for a year, so we keep finding new pockets," she said. "Jason and I like to walk around, find new restaurants, sit outside, have sangria or SkinnyGirl margaritas. We just like to venture out. New York is such an amazing place so we like to find new little outdoor cafes to hang out."

Credit: PEOPLE (Asher Fogel)

Bethenny Used Reality TV to Make $120 Million

For a Skinnygirl, Bethenny Frankel has a fat wallet!

The 40-year-old entrepreneur was hesitant to participate in reality TV when Bravo executives approached her in 2007; now, the natural-foods-chef turned mogul tells the Hollywood Reporter it was her screen-time that provided her the platform to launch a $120 million empire.

"I was worried [joining the cast of Real Housewives of New York] would ruin what I had going," says Frankel, who at the time was a Pepperidge Farm spokesperson and appeared on NBC's Today for a cooking segment. "I went on the show single-handedly and exclusively for business… When I went on the show, no one was going on for business, no one had done anything."

Throughout three seasons of Real Housewives, Frankel maximized her screen time and promoted her now-famous Skinnygirl product line. In 2010, she got her own reality show: Bethenny Ever After.

Under her own personal business umbrella, she's launched a successful publishing franchise, a Body by Bethenny workout DVD and her scored one of the most lucrative liquor deals in the industry with her calorie-conscious mixes.

Before her success on reality TV, Frankel's pitches to liquor companies for a low-calorie margarita went unheeded. "Now, every company I pitched this idea to has either tried to buy Skinnygirl or has copied it," she relishes. "I created a sub-category that never existed. I wasn't an expert--I was just another person bothered by a 700-calorie margarita."

Credit: Us Magazine

Bethenny Frankel Gets Her Own Talk Show

In February, Bethenny Frankel told the press that she wanted her own talk show. Now, RumorFix is reporting exclusively that her dream is coming true.

Our staff has learned the star of Bethenny Ever After has just signed a deal with Telepictures, which is the production company behind The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Tyra, Lopez Tonight and Anderson.

Bethenny gained fame as one of the Real Housewives of New York, and quickly became a media darling by starring in her own spinoff TV show, Celebrity Apprentice and Skating with the Stars.

Bethenny's show is currently in development; two months ago, the reality star told Popeater why she wanted a talk show:

"I would like a daytime talk show because my conversation with my fans right now is through social networking, and my TV show communicates what I'm doing, but it isn't really a dialogue or a conversation."

And then she said something very prophetic, "Most of my business wishes come true."

Credit: Rumor Fix

Bethenny Ever After Renewed for Third Season

That was fast: Barely a month after season two of Bethenny Ever After bowed on Bravo, the network is readying another cycle of the series starring Bethenny Frankel.

Vulture has learned a season-three pickup will be announced later today, just in time for the network's upfront presentations to advertisers in New York, Chicago, and L.A.

This makes sense given that the Monday-night series has averaged a healthy 1.4 million viewers since returning February 28 and continues to do well with Bravo's key demo of rich folks under 50 (we're not kidding about the rich part, either; the network even has a name for its target — "affluencers").

No word yet on when season three will air, but the timing of the renewal couldn't be better for Frankel and hubby Jason Hoppy: The duo celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary Monday, an event she told Access Hollywood would be "an all-out sexfest." Awww! How sweet!

Credit: New York Magazine (Vulture)