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Bethany Frankel's Shoe Drama and Hillary Duff Wears A One Piece - POP CULTURE THURSDAY
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You're a nosy. You want the full sitch? Come to Pop Culture Thursday. Hello and welcome to the J Train Podcast. This is J Train Jared Freed coming to you live from Delray Beach, Florida. That's right, every Thursday is a Pop Culture Thursday where I go to Page Six six. I read a headline and I riff. That's the show. I do open this up to you, the listener, to send me pop culture stories that you want me to go through. I'll do that to start today. Hey, Jared, I love Pop Culture Thursday. What do you think about this Bethany Frankel shoe drama? And then they send a link. This is People magazine, People Online. We generally do Page Six. If you're new here, this show's a daily show. Subscribe why Bethany Frankel and Real Housewives of New Jersey Dina Manzo's daughter Lexi are in an online feud over shoes. Now, I was aware of this dispute and the more specific it gets, the more nuance it gets. The more you ha. I mean, side I, I, I. Yeah, the more I hear, the more details you get, the more I actually think if anyone was to take Bethany Frankel's side, they would kind of be a little heartless. And not really fair to the whole story because I'll read the article, there's some Real Housewives level drama happening between Bethany Frankel and the daughter of a new J. Bravo alum, Alexia Lexi Ayanu, I believe it's pronounced the daughter of Dina Canton Knee Manzo. Alleged, alleged that The Skinny Girl founder, 55, purposely failed to promote her fashion Brand New, after wearing its shoes in a viral outfit video posted to Tik Tok and Instagram over the weekend. The drama appeared to begin with that very clip in which Frank in which Frankel wore high heels from New that were gifted to her by Aya New. However, instead of crediting New, Frankel linked to a similar style with an affiliate link on her Instagram, Aya New claimed in an Instagram post sharing her side of the story. And then this is her quote. Bethany Frankel is a weirdo. I sent her a pair of shoes from New almost a year ago because I look up to her. She is a female entrepreneur from the Bravo universe like me, Aya News said in the post while sharing a screenshot of an interaction she had with Frankel about sending her the shoes for free. I guess she's got to get that bag in some sort of way. So she got the shoes for free from a woman founded Brand Mine, and then she made money sending her followers somewhere else. She claimed after Aya News accusations garnered attention. Frankel later posted another TikTok video mentioning new and commenting on it. Apparently I can't get out content fast enough. Hashtag you're welcome. Hashtag out Outfit of the day. A direct response from Frankel came shortly after on TikTok. I don't usually respond to things like this, but I think there's a business lesson here, she began. Frankel later said that the video promoting new was scheduled to post at a later time and that her team decided to link out to another brand, though through another post taken in the moment because the pair of shoes was not she was wearing were sold out. New announced that the 375 heels are now available for pre order on their site. Not to mention I knew by name not mentioning I knew by name. Frankel discussed a female business owner posting a scathing video about her I have stated multiple times you send me something I have I have stated multiple times you send me something I have no obligation to link like use where, buy tag. I can do whatever I want. She continued. And then they show the screenshots. Bethany would love to send you my first ever new shoe launching next week. Let me know if you'd like a pair. She sends a she sends a email and says congrats. She says thank you with hearts. Hi Bethany, your new shoes should arrive today. I'm so excited for you to try them. Hope you love them as much as I do. And then I just wanted to see if the shoes fit. She you know, this girl, the new owner is trying to, you know, strike up a conversation and see if she likes them. She doesn't answer, which is fine, Frankel said. Playing the short game and whining and being a crybaby about something that didn't go your way in business means you're not a real business person and you have a lot to learn. I would have worn all the shoes. Bethany is such a gun. I would have worn all the shoes on your site and you would have sold thou would have would have would have would have oh in this magical world she screwed her over. She screwed her over and found a chance to make money herself and she took it. She had the choice and here's the pro. Here's the thing. When you you get sent things. I get sent things. Even little old me gets sent things all the time. I I got sent this thing one jar ink I I'll I'll put you to them one jar foods.com they are not sponsoring the show they sent me cuz I Get mustard, local mustard on my rider. That's something I get. And they were like, we want you to try our mustard, which is a Chicago hot dog in a bottle. Seemed like a cool thing. Sure. Here's an address. I gave him the address for betches. They sent it there. I didn't get to it till two weeks later. I said thank you. It felt like I. The. The moment was lost. I didn't really feel I was in the position to try it. I couldn't fly it back to Del Rey. So listen, I'm happy they sent it to me, but they could accuse me, hey, we sent you this thing. Where is it? They didn't. They. They were appropriate. I think sending Bethany Frankel your shoes and expecting nothing to happen is an option in a series of options that in no way make Bethany an asshole. But when you do a video, where are the shoes? And people are like, where did you get those shoes? And then you post a link that takes you to a place that doesn't get the shoemaker paid and gets you paid. You've made your own business decision to make money instead of not make money. So that, that's. And. And I think with new the route they went, which is victim route. Woman owned business. You know, she tried to gain. She didn't need to do that. Woman owned business. She's weird. I don't know why she would call her weird. Hey, I don't like Bethany Frankel. Send her some free shoes. And then instead of promoting ours, when she was given a lob of an opportunity to promote them, she took the chance to make more money. This is someone who tells us how rich she is all the time. That's what I would say. If I went and had a bunch of mustard that was hot dog, you know, Chicago dog mustard. And then linked out to a different mustard that made me money. I'd be a dick. I felt like a dick not posting about the one jar. I'm mentioning it now because I was like, oh shit, I wish I could have. But it didn't set me up. It wasn't really set for me to. To. To make. Have a win for. For me. I'm going to. And again, like, I understand where Bethany's like, I'm going to. And then Bethany did the victim play. My body, my choice. Total asshole move. And Bethany's someone I like. But I think it makes me sad that there's even sides. There doesn't have to be sides. This person has a shoe company. The shoes look pretty chic and nice. Bethany made A move for Team Bethany, because she's got to get hers. Think what you will. You know, I just. It is interesting, you know, Bethany plays the game of the Internet the same way the fat Jew used to play the game of the Internet. The fat Jewish. Take mine. Oh, oh, oh, that was your meme. Oh, we didn't credit you. That was the intern. It's always a Cups game. It's exhausting. I don't know why you'd live this way as a successful person. And then to say that we're teaching you a lesson about business. You're going to be a crybaby. Well, why'd she post about it then? Why'd she post the link later? Out of the goodness of her heart? Oh, we would have made millions. You would have made millions if you just shut your fucking mouth. That's what Bethany's saying. If you would just shut the fuck up now. Yeah, look at Bethany. I mean, that's crazy. Bethany, queen of not shutting the fuck up and asking for what she wants is telling someone else, just quiet down and then you'll get paid. It's. I mean, I'm. I'm team Rando and one jarfoods.com if you want to go check out the mustard, that's a hot dog, which I think is a fine idea. I don't know. I, we all make this play if you're living on the Internet, if you're doing business on the Internet, that is a normal play. I, I, I. You know, when we had guests on the UF podcast, we had guests and we made a. We made a clip from the episode that we thought served them and made them look great and we asked them to collab. If they don't, I get that, that's fine. We were happy to have you on. I'm not going to sit there and go, well, you didn't do the collab. That's okay. You know, win some, win some less. It's not win some, lose some, but you would hope that someone would go, you know, do the right thing. When asked to do the right thing. That's the big thing. Do you rent or pay a mortgage? Built is a membership that makes those big monthly expenses work for you. With Built, every housing payment earns you points that you can use towards Travel, Lyft rides, Amazon.com purchases, and so much more. I am a BILT user. What I love about Bilt is that your money is working for you a little bit harder than it would have without Built. Okay, you want to get points? You want to use those points later. If you can have the choice between getting points and not getting points, you're going to get points. And then they get used on their kind of marketplace. That's great. And you can get points for paying your mortgage. Like, don't you want more? It's. This is one of those, like, hey, how do I get money to work for me? You know, when I was selling life insurance, a big thing they would say, they would say, make the mailman work for you. You can get a 40 cent stamp and then you can send out mailers. Now you got people working for you. This is kind of like what Bilt's doing. They're going to. Your money's going to work for you. You're paying a mortgage already. Why not attach the built card to your credit card that you're using or to your bank account? And now you're going to get points for it. With Built's new neighborhood concierge feature, you can make restaurant reservations, book fitness classes at places like Soul Cycle and Core Power Yoga and access exclusive members only experiences. You're literally earning rewards while you explore your own neighborhood. Join the membership for the Join the membership for where you live at. Join built.com jtrain that's J O I N B I L T.com J train make sure you use my URL so they know I sent you. I mean like the Bethany story is like using, you know, if you used a different built thing, even though you heard it here, I guess you could do that and it would be defensible. It doesn't mean that you're not an asshole. Like I. That's the thing from Bethany. She doesn't apologize but won't accept that maybe we would think that she's an asshole. I love this story. It got my cre. This story got. And if you want to send in a pop culture story, j train podcast gmail.com you can send in anything you want. I'll give you my opinion. I'm going to be on the road. Austin, Texas, coming up Cleveland, the Hamptons, Miami, Red Bank, New Jersey, Foxwoods, Portland, Maine. Also the book tour Walking Red Flag. That's another thing. To relate to the Bethany Frankel story. I sent Walking Red Flag out to a bunch of people that I'm friends with, as well as some people I tangentially know from the Internet that had big followings. Hey, what's your address? I want to send you the book. If they don't post about the book, that's fine. That's. That's here's the book. I don't, you know, be nice and expect nothing. That, that's, that's the rule. And it seems as though that's what Manzo's daughter did with her new heels. But then it does feel like you're being with when someone, you know, if someone was like, wow, this book is great, and then tagged another author with a dating book, I would be like, why'd you do that? Well, that author pays me money. Oh, that seems like you're a piece of shit. Why Hillary Duff didn't wear a bikini on the COVID of Sports illustrated swimsuit issue 2026. Now this is like a headline. This is like the definition of clickbait to me. Like this is to me, this story. Why Hillary Duff didn't wear a bikini on the COVID of Sports illustrated swimsuit issue 2026 is perfect clickbait. Because it's a question I would have never had. It's information that I now need and it's a great way to like promote the magazine. I would say whatever the reason is, it's self deprecating. I would say it's going to be something relatable to moms. She's going to talk about how she just had a baby and she wanted to wear a one piece. There is no way the reason she wore a two piece will be for a confident reason. Even though it could very well be, I am a one piece guy. I a woman in a well cut one piece. Oh, that's a boner maker. I love a one piece with titties out and the ass is kind of like a little bit, you know, a little bit of a thong situation. Oh my God. That is straight to the boner core. But she will not say that she's Hilary Duff isn't going to be like, well, the one piece really made my tits look great. And I had a choice between wearing the one piece and the two piece. And the other women were coming over to the, you know, the try on play soon. So I want to make sure they didn't get the hot bathing suit. So I took it from them like it's not going to be a confident play. Or let's see. Full coverage suited Hillary Duff just fine. The singer, 38, had one stipulation for her Sports Illustrated swimsuit issued 2026 cover shoot, no bikinis. On Thursday's episode of Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce, Duff recalled her fa. Her early conversations with the magazine's team. It was great to have conversations with them and be like, hey, I'M not going to wear a bikini. She said, like, I have had four kids, people. What I tell you. This is Hillary Duff, who looks unbelievable, also knows that Sports Illustrated wants her to look great and feel confident about the photo. They want her to share it. She could have chosen, you know, a leaf and they would have made it perfect. But it. Okay, it was. It was going to. She said, like, I have four. I've. She said, like, I have had four kids. I feel comfortable showing this. I don't feel comfortable showing this. And they're like, got it, got it, got it. Yeah. I. She looks unbelievable. Also. No one would have noticed this. I mean, oh, look at Hillary Doves at a one piece. You know, they would have gone, wow, I want a one piece, too. This is her brand, though. This is Hillary Duff. Four kids. Look at me, I'm relatable. Remember me, Lizzie McGuire. I need a one piece, too. Duff also shared her unfiltered first reaction to landing the COVID which he found out about while driving to pick up her kids from school. This is like relatable porn. Like, Hillary Duff is now going too far. To me, someone is eating this up. They're just like, mm, mom, just like me. Oh, picking up the kids wearing a one piece. Ooh. Oh, delicious. This is. To someone out there, this is the most amazing thing. My first reaction was like, I thought I'd get in, like, rip roaring shape. She told Kelsey, a fellow mom of four. And I'm also like, I'm not a model. I'm five, two. I've had four kids. I would love to go through the podcast and see how many times she mentioned having four kids. 52. Was it 52 times. What put her at ease was the team behind the camera. Duff said the shoot was largely female led and she was able to bring her own glam squad, including makeup artist Kelsey Denham, who use Charlotte Tilbury products to create a Sunkiss clone. She's just like you other moms with your own glam squad that you can bring into any photo shoot that you do. You know, we all have our own glam squad. If you're allowed to bring them in, of course. How comfortable can you feel? The editor in chief is incredible. The photographer who was who I wanted, I got to be my host. I got to be my whole styling team, my hair and makeup. She said they wanted me to feel my best. Of course they did. This. This is one of those. This is one of those. Listen, when. When you see a clip from Rogan and someone's like, get the microphones away from the men. Like we don't need any more podcasters. I'm going to say the same about this. I, I don't think we need any more. Oh, they let me feel my best. No, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit people are going to tell you what to do and make you feel uncomfortable. What? You're half naked. You're going to be on the most famous thing in the world. Of course they want you to feel comfortable. My body's worked really hard for me and produced an entire family, she said, adding the, I mean this, adding that. With each pregnancy she found a little bit more ease around the feelings that come with her body changing. I'm laughing at this and I'm not, you know, I'm not trying to like belittle. It's just like to me this is rehearsed. This is, this isn't a real conversation. This isn't a podcast. This is, this is, this is her getting relatable brand and you'll she's going to be in JCP. She's going to be in JCPenney jeans in a week off of a million dollar commercial campaign in jeans she would never wear otherwise. Now this story. Holly Madison's new romance with Las Vegas lawyer. I am only clicking on this because of the picture. It is nice to see a fellow barrel chested man with a new love because this guy looks like we could be cousins. That's the only reason I, I clicked on it. He's with this guy. Give it up for the guy. I mean, no one has ever looked more like former high school football player who likes a couple beers than Holly Madison's new romance. I'm proud of this guy more than her. I Holly Madison is off the market. The ex Playboy founder. The ex of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is promoting is. I'm not promoting. The ex of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner is dating prominent attorney Steve Demopolis, according to tmz. Yeah, I get Greek all the time. I get Greek, Italian, Jewish. The outlet reported that Madison, 46, in Demopolis began dating in March after meeting at Carbone Riviera at the Bellagio Hotel. Yeah, this guy eats some carbon. I like him. Sources told TMZ that the new I know nothing about him. I just know that we have the same T shirt problem. That guy. When I see someone dating Holly Madison that also has trouble lifting his arms in a T shirt, I'm proud of him. Those are my people. Cause this guy's body type. We have a lot of the same issues. I'M seeing him in a tux. He looks good in a tux, but that that tux, he was worried about putting on that tux. Demopolis is a powerhouse personal injury and wrongful death attorney based in Vegas. He founded Demopolis injury law in 2015, has taken on several class action SU including passengers suing Frontier Airlines. His firm is known for aggressive class action lawsuits, including representing 35,000 fans against the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix and passengers suing Frontier Airlines. This marks Madison's first serious relationship since her March 2025 split from On Again Off Again TV star Zach Baggins. Well, listen, I'm happy for Demopolis and Madison. I hope he doesn't come after me for saying that we look like cousins. What are the Podcaster chubby podcaster compares himself to, you know, okay, shape lawyer gets sued. That would be horrific at the time. The Paranormal Investigator 40 oh, she's a paranormal investigator now. Well, good for them. We're happy for them. Good looking dude, looks like we could be cousins. I'm always happy for a guy who's, you know, having issues fitting into a T shirt. Like me. Maybe Alleged I like this story because of the wording and it's about Mandy Moore. Mandy Moore lays into Ashley Tisdale's upsetting mom group drama essay cuts to the core now lays into I would assume that person is like, like to me when you say Mandy Moore lays into Ashley Tisdale's upsetting mom group drama essay cuts to the court in my mind lays into Mandy Moore is like this is such an asshole. What a loser. Like I would think that's the lay into Mandy Moore found Ashley Tisdale scathing essay about their alleged toxic mom friend group Victoria Very upsetting. That's not laying into it's wild to have anybody talk about your life. And I know Hillary has some sort of mentioned this too. Well, we know what team we're all on here that she's on, moore said on Andy Cohen's radio show Monday as she addressed the drama for the first time. More Continued it's like we both have grown up in this business and had people dissect who we are and the choices we make and all that. But this was something altogether different and decidedly way more upsetting. It is funny that Ashley Tisdale was like, hey, fellow losers and nerds and bullied. Look at what I'm dealing with. And now because she wrote this article, the bullies become the victims. The victims become the bullies. They're all just trying to find people who will agree with them that they are the bullied class. The this Is Us actress Told added that Tisdale's essay, which she wrote for the Cut in January, just adds. Just cuts to the core. She's going to say that she was bullied, too. Moore also called out the High School Musical alum for insinuating that More and the other members of the Friend group, which includes Duff and Meghan Trainor, are not kind. I'd say that was the biggest takeaway, sort of the shock of, like, wow. Moore stated. While Moore admits she's really scarred by confrontation, she said she's a huge proponent of talking things out in life. Everything More saying is what a bully would say. It's very hot. Mom on the Block who doesn't get it, but should get it. Here's another quote. It's not always like, the most comfortable of situations. She continued. Yeah, this is. This is bully speak. But I think that's where I sort of differed in feeling like I wouldn't have handled the situation this way. I wouldn't have handled the situation this way is classic. But bully line. That's what Bethany said, basically to the. The shoe woman before, oh, you gonna cry like a baby. This isn't how you handle it. You handle it by shutting the fuck up and going by my rules. That's what they're saying. I'm not taking Ashley Tisdale's side. I think it's crazy to write the article I'm with. There is a way to handle certain things, and when you have money and power, to go and handle it the way where it gets you more money and power is kind of the douchey part. The Tangled star also said she's upset Tisdale's essay perpetuates the silly trope that women cannot support each other. Yep. This is the mo. This is the move. I just don't like that this trope that women can't help women, you know? Yeah, this is. Again, this is all PR speak. This is all a morality play, which is something the mother of three said she hasn't experienced since becoming a mom. More added that she's created meaningful relationships with other moms and is grateful for the community they have. I mean, and then they show a picture of her on vacation where they didn't invite Ashley Tisdale. I just don't understand. We had a big group group vacation and didn't include, you know, why would she feel hurt? It's different to say, hey, I get it. She's not in the group. And we kind of like, don't like her, like, that's the thing she can't say. The honest truth would be, yeah, she's not in the group. We kind of, like, did some things with her and realized she's kind of annoying. And then we did a big trip and then she went and wrote an article for the Cut, which that's what annoying people do. So can't you understand that? Like, you wouldn't want to be friends with someone who might write an article for the Cut and then embarrass you. Like, I. Well, that. That'd be the honest way to go. Let's do one more and then we're out of here. Pop culture Thursday, it's Mailbag Monday. Ticked off Tuesday. Chitchat Wednesday, I have a guest. Pop Culture Thursday. You know, if you want to subscribe or tell a friend, that's always appreciated but not expected. Again, appreciated but not expected. I don't think what I wouldn't. What would be upsetting is if you went and posted my clip with a link to Kelsey Ky, Kylie Kelsey's podcast. I'd be like, what the fuck? Why would you do such a thing? Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter Apple lands major movie role with mom's former co stars. Now I think Apple Paltrow or Apple Martin. It's Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's daughter Apple Martin. The only thing I want to hear from Apple Martin is what life was like with your name being the punchline of weird liberal names that people have. Like, that's what I would want to know from her. I don't know what she is as an actress. I can't believe she's 22 years old. She's 22. I. It's weird to be. This is the weird part about the year. I don't know, maybe this is something that you would have heard for all of time. But like, I've been aware of Apple Paltrow since the moment she was born and was given a weird name, Apple. And it was literally the talk of every talk show. And then for 22 years, she was the person you reference when weird name came up. So that's my interest in Apple Paltrow. Apple Martin is what is it like to be known as literally the Kleenex tissues of tissue paper? You are the face of weird liberal names. How does that feel? And I'm sure she wants nothing to do with that conversation, but it's the only interesting conversation to have with Apple Martin at 22 years old. Like, yeah, she's an actress, but I Don't look at her and go, oh, well, you, you grinded your way through the theater scene. You and you went to college for acting and you have this innate ability that someone saw and casted you in the role. No, no, no, no. I don't believe that at all. You have Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow as parents. They bequeathed you an agent and now no matter how little talent you have, you're in this movie with co stars that used to act with your parents. Like I. Whatever role she has, I will watch judgingly. But her name is interesting. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's daughter Apple Martin has landed a role in a Nancy Myers upcoming comedy alongside some Oscar winner former alongside some of the Oscar winners former co stars. So she's going to be in the dream role of any comedic actress. So at 22 will be starring in the film opposite Tony Hal and Beverly d'. Angelo. So she's going to be, I mean any comedy actor, actress would kill to be in a Nancy Myers film. So you know, I mean, Apple Martin, the name. And here's the other thing, now she has, oh, Apple Martin. Everyone knows her name. So it's actually they did her a favor by naming her Apple. Aaron Daugherty, Penelope Cruz, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Kieran Culkin have also landed parts in Warner Brothers ensemble project. This is quite a line of Apple. You're in, you're. You got it made. Paltrow has worked with Law in multiple films throughout her career, including 1999's the Talented Mr. Ripley, 2004 Sky Captain, the World of Tomorrow and Contagion in 2011. The actress also started alongside Wilson in 2001 comedy drama the Royal Tenenbaums and with Cruz in the 2007 romcom the Good Night. So what's she going to play? Apple took to her own Instagram stories to gush over the exciting opportunity writing Dreams Come true. Thank you, Nancy Myers, for taking a chance on me. Well, she should also like thank her parents and the agent that they she bequeathed that to them. The model previously made a cameo in HBO shows Rooster in March. While the movie details have been kept under wraps, Myers did share in a 2023 Instagram post that the project is about a group of people making a film and the magic and mystery of what we do. So it's going to be an insider. Well then it would be if she's playing someone named Pear whose parents are weirdos who name you pair, then I take it all back. She is made for the role. The new comedy comes 11 years after her last film, the Intern. Aside from landing her first role in a major movie, Apple just celebrated graduating from Vandermilt University with a degree in law, history, and society. She didn't even go to school for acting. This is unbelievable. Despite earning a more academic set of degrees, the young star has continued to dive into the arts over the past few years. Yeah, yeah. She's on set with her mom. All I want is a documentary. How the fuck did you deal with having this name? You are the face of weird names. Pop Culture Thursday. Back next week. Boom.