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Bethenny Frankel has been doing her best to remain in the spotlight as she continues her quest to get people to buy her diet book, which we haven't read, of course, but sounds like a recipe for certain death considering it suggests eating less than 1,000 calories a day and never eating more than three bites of any one dish. Last week, she drummed up some attention by classily lifting up her dress for the cameras at a book party. She's hit up half a dozen events this week, stopping off at IFC's "America's Hottest Rocker Mom Contest" today (fitting since while she isn't a mom, she isn't a housewife either), and, last night, a party for Frangelico at STK. New York caught up with her at yesterday's party and asked her to recount a "scandalous story about herself from back in the day," a request she was happy to comply with, especially since those Jersey girls have kind of upped the ante with their tales of coke-snorting and stripping in recent days:

"I met Brett Ratner at the Palladium when I was 14," she told us. "He told me that his parents owned Arabian horses and that he was going to be a director. I was way too young to be there. He used to fly to New York and go to Sweet Sixteens with me."

Wow. That is kind of scandalous! How old was he then? we asked.

Oh, 15.

Like New York, we were a little disappointed by the lack of juiciness in her Ratner story. So as a public service, allow us to share a slightly more amusing tidbit from Bethenny's early days, per a reliable source who has known Bethenny for several years:

"You do know what Bethenny's first 'job' in the entertainment business was, don't you?"

No, what was it? we asked.

"She worked as a nanny for Jerry Bruckheimer and his first wife."

Bethenny Frankel Has a Scandalous Past Too, You Know [NYM]
Danielle Staub of 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' [NJ.com]
Bethenny Frankel's "Skinny" Book May Give You an Eating Disorder [HL]
Bethenny Frankel Finally Cracks [TMZ]