What you need to know
Bethenny Frankel said she will never use hotel towels or sheets again after getting a bacterial infection on her face while vacationing in St. Barths.
“I want you to know that my doctor had to come here and reveal that I didn’t have facial chlamydia, which made me an unpaid spokesperson,” Frankel, 55, said in a new TikTok video shared on Thursday, January 15.
“The internet is a very scary place, and that’s why I got the germs from the towel,” Frankel continued in the video, as she petted the dog. “The same thing happened to my daughter once. When it happened to me, she noticed it and the same thing started happening to her. Towels have germs on them, so sheets have germs on them too.”
“And if you’ve ever been looking for blankets for your kids at the back of a hotel and seen those disgusting trash bins of towels and linens, even in the best of hotels, it’s not the same as picking up a towel and immediately taking it out. If it’s in the wash, the Towel Fairy will immediately take it off and wash it for you.”
Frankel also claimed that towels and sheets are not washed immediately and are “put in a bin with food and drinks and heat, and God knows what happens, but I’m not going to go in there,” adding, “It’s not sanitary under any circumstances.”
Citing dermatologists and facialists, Frankel added that even “well-washed towels” “could have bacteria on them.” She then compared hotel towels and sheets to makeup sponges.
“You can clean makeup sponges as much as you want. So do powder puffs and makeup brushes because they have bacteria on them. So you have to do the best you can. You can’t live in a bubble. But what I’m saying is, you’re welcome because I’ll never use hotel towels or sheets again in my life,” Frankel concluded the video.
When a fan asked Frankel how she plans to travel with sheets and towels in the future, she replied, “I’m researching it.”
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The video was a follow-up post to her Instagram post shared on January 4th. She shared a series of holiday photos with her daughter Bryn and reflected on how she spent New Year’s Eve with her followers, including revealing that she was “battling a bacterial infection.”
The post included a close-up photo of a red bumpy rash covering her face.
Frankel did not reveal the cause of the infection. However, she explained in another video that she had “a rash all over my face.”
