Bethenny Frankel: My Baby Doesn’t Have to Be a Genius

CHANCE YEH/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa

Bethenny Frankel isn’t putting any pressure on her 6-month-old daughter, Bryn Casey, to be the smartest baby out there.

“She just needs to be happy, she doesn’t need to be a genius or anything,” Frankel told PEOPLE at the 24th Annual Emery Awards in New York on Tuesday. “It’s not like I’m sitting there playing Beethoven and doing Baby Einstein.”

The Bethenny Getting Married star says Bryn “loves” when she reads to her, no matter what the topic.

“I’ll read anything to her. I’ll pick up the newspaper, a Crate and Barrel catalog. I’ll be like, ‘A lovely set of organza pillows!’” Frankel says. “She doesn’t know what going on.”

Bryn has just started eating solid foods — she “gobbles up everything like a turkey” laughs the natural foods chef, who will be strapping on ice skates for Skating With the Stars later this month.

“She eats spinach and peas and sweet potatoes, so I’ve been making my own little concoction of food,” Frankel says. “She really loves it – I think it’s because I ate everything when I was pregnant.”

Frankel, who recently turned 40, cooks for her daughter, but she keeps the recipes simple.

“A monkey could cook better than I do for her,” she jokes. “It’s boiling spinach and pureeing it. [French chef] Jean Georges doesn’t need to be coming over anytime soon for that!”

– Nadine Shabeeb

Comments

I think its great that she reads to her daughter and makes her own babyfood. However, looking at this picture, mama needs to eat too! She is looking dangerously thin her and on some of the talk shows she’s been on recently. Mama needs to be healthy too!

- Shannon on November 15th, 2010

She looks scary skinny! Hope it’s just the pic and not a health problem.

- torgster on November 15th, 2010

give that lady a cheeseburger!

- Lianne on November 15th, 2010

Good for her! I’ve never been impressed with Baby Einstein – I think it’s one of the most ridiculous baby products ever to hit the market. And there have actually been studies done that have proven that it causes a child’s vocabulary to shrink.

- Rose on November 15th, 2010

yes, that is not the most flattering pic of her. Kind of emaciated looking. It is good that she is making her own baby food. I did that a little too, but supplemented with Gerber Organics, Earths Best and I loved the new line by Chef Tyler Florence “Sprout” it is called…my son eats everything and anything now..he is 19 mo..and homemade veg. soup is one of his favorites!

- Jennifer on November 15th, 2010

She should try eating some solid food herself.

- ginamac on November 15th, 2010

I hate to say it but she does look a tad skinny! The same thing happened to me after my daughter was born, I was so busy and stressed with a newborn that I’d forget to eat and food just became the last thing on my mind. I still struggle with keeping weight on 3 years later and I hate when people say I’m too skinny, but I hope she’s ok! Would love to see a picture of that precious Bryn!

- jessicad on November 15th, 2010

“She doesn’t need to be a genius or anything”. Ummm,…right. I have to wonder, would she feel the same way if she had a son or does she have this attitude because she has a daughter and figures she can just coast by on good looks?

- Shelley on November 15th, 2010

Shelley, she said she just wants her daughter to be happy and doesn’t care if she’s a genius. Where in the world would you get the idea that she wouldn’t feel the same way if she had a son and that she wants her daughter to just coast by on her good looks? How can you spins such a negative thought out of that?

- gdfg on November 15th, 2010

Shelley, you are truly stretching to spin this article in a negative way. Wow. Your comment was absolutely pathetic and how you even came up with that response is beyond me.

She meant that her child’s happiness is what matters most. If Bryn wants to be a lawyer, wonderful! If she wants to mail carrier, that’s great too.

- Taylor on November 15th, 2010

I laughed at the part about reading catalogs to Bryn. It reminds me of a scene on “Modern Family” where Cameron is reading “InTouch” or “Us Weekly” to baby Lily. Mitchell questions him and he says, “If I have to read ‘The Very Hungry Catepillar’ one more time I will snap. I WILL SNAP!!” I think most parents have felt that!

- Meghan on November 15th, 2010

I like her go with the flow attitude here, and let’s face it, reading to their child will probably maker her smarter than any baby Einstein video. As for her being skinny, I know at least a couple people who could eat a horse and still remain underweight (though they’d probably get a tummy ache, and possibly too high cholesterol). Weight doesn’t always correlate to how much and what kind of food you eat (in fact, one of them actually eats about twice as much as I do and still can’t get up to a BMI of even 19. Does she look thin and emaciated? Yes! But there really isn’t anything she can do about it (sure, she could do a supersize me diet, but that wouldn’t be healthy, would it?)

- MiB on November 16th, 2010

Actually, MiB, Bethenny has been pretty open with her eating disorder struggles she has faced in the past, although she claims she is over it now.

- gdfg on November 16th, 2010

gdfg- Sadly, I don’t think you ever really “get over” an eating disorder. Techincally, you’re always in recovery (just as there’s techinically no such thing as a “recovered” alchoholic).

MiB- Excellent point! I, too, know someone who can get just about anything and not gain weight. She doesn’t look emaciated (except for from the back sometimes. Depending on how she stands, you can see her shoulder blades portruding a bit.). But she IS definitely on the thin side! However, she is actually one of the healthiest people that I know (she never seems to get even a cold!). She is also not underweight (at least as far as I know! She doesn’t LOOK underweight to me, but naturally I’ve never asked her how much she weighs! I, personally, don’t think that’s an approprite question to ask people!).

Different people have different body types and metabolism, and she’s just lucky enough to be blessed with the tall-thin body type and a fast metabolisim! Other people gain weight practically just by looking at food, and others fall somewhere in the middle.

Bottomline: People come in all shapes and sizes, and thin doesn’t always equal unhealthy or underweight!

- CelebBabyLover on November 17th, 2010

@gdfg I didn’t know that, but in that case the previous eating disorder might explain why she is still very thin. I know several people who have been anorexic, and who today struggle to keep weight on.

New studies have shown that the body gets “used” to a certain weight as normal and strives to go back to that weight, that is why some people stay thin while others keep gaining weight even though they are eating healthily (which is why it’s so important that children and teenagers are not overweight, because their bodies will be programmed to perceive that as “normal” and they will be predisposed to being overweight for the rest of their life).

- MiB on November 17th, 2010

CelebBabyLover, I agree it is like being an alcoholic . I don’t know whether or not Bethenny is in recovery from her ED or not, but she has CLAIMED to be in recovery and in a better place in her interviews.

- gdfg on November 17th, 2010

I can tell Bethenny has lost weight also but I believe it is because she is “Skating with the Stars”. Just like “DWTS” everyone loses weight after all look at all the exercise that is required to learn routines. It doesn’t take much to look thinner when you are already naturally thin.

- Sylvia Mckinley on November 18th, 2010