‘Real Housewives’ Star Shares Update on Gross Infection From Luxury Getaway

Real Housewives of New York album Bethenny Frankel, 55, is swearing off hotel towels and sheets after a trip to St. Bart’s left her covered in welts.

In a new TikTok, the former Bravo star talked about her experience with a bacterial infection on her face. The rash appeared while she was on a luxury New Year’s getaway with her daughter Bryn, 15.

“So, I had a bacterial infection from towels,” Frankel told followers on Jan. 15. “It happened once to my daughter. She was the one who recognized it when it happened to me, and it started to happen to her,” Frankel said, adding, “Towels hold bacteria, so do sheets.”

In the video, Frankel claimed that hotel towels are left in unsanitary conditions between washes.

“If you’ve ever been behind a hotel looking for your kids’ blanket and seeing those disgusting bins of towels and linens, it’s not like the second that you take your towel, even in the best of hotels, if they’re washing it, like, they just immediately, the towel fairy takes it off, and it gets washed,” she said.

“Like it sits in these bins with food and beverage and heat, and God knows what I’m not gonna get into, and it just is not sanitary in any situation,” she said, adding, “Like, even a well-cleaned towel still holds bacteria.”

Frankel then reminded her followers that face cloths, makeup sponges, powder puffs, and makeup brushes also harbor bacteria.

“You have to do the best you can. You can’t live inside a bubble,” she said, adding, “I’m just telling you that I will never, ever in my life use a hotel towel or sheet again.”

This update came after Frankel posted a TikTok video on Jan. 5 showing a red rash around her face, writing, “POV: you left St. Barths 3 days early & brought home a bacterial infection.” She captioned the post, “Allergic to St. Barths #bye.”

In the comments, many thought that her visible rash was a form of chlamydia, with some highly viewed TikTok videos claiming that so-called “facial chlamydia” was spreading among the wealthy in St. Barth’s.

On Tuesday, New York-based surgeon Dr. Daniel Rosen clarified in a TikTok that “facial chlamydia” does not exist. While chlamydia can appear on areas that have to do with intimate contact—such as the eyes, mouth, or throat—it does not manifest as a facial rash.

On Jan. 6, Frankel revealed that she had taken antibiotics to address her rash. This course of treatment apparently worked, as the reality star’s skin appears to be back to normal in her latest posts.