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The entrepreneur said it’s “very fish out of water” for her to attend the cultural festival
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Bethenny Frankel is attending Burning Man despite backlash and plans to customize the experience to her needs
She manages chronic health conditions, including POTS and stage 2 kidney disease, which require strict hydration measures
Frankel says she’s open to learning from the festival but will prioritize her safety and comfort throughout the event
Bethenny Frankel is going to attend Burning Man her way — and she doesn’t care what you think about it.
“Lots of judgment about me going to Burning Man,” the Real Housewives of New York City alum, 55, said in an Instagram post about the backlash she’s received for attending the annual festival. It’s a 70,000-person strong collective of artists, musicians, and partygoers who camp in a makeshift settlement called Black Rock City in the Nevada desert.
“I had certain things that had to happen in order for me to do this,” Frankel shared. “One was I wanted to make sure that I could get an RV that I felt was nice, that I could get IVs because I do get dehydrated.”
Dehydration is a concern for the entrepreneur, given her two chronic health issues: She’s previously shared that due to her struggle with POTS, “I suffer from chronic severe dehydration” and drinks liters of kombucha, water and Pedialyte. POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, is a condition that causes varying symptoms when you transition from lying down to standing up, such as fatigue, dizziness and a fast heart rate, Cleveland Clinic explains.
Frankel also disclosed that she’s been diagnosed with stage 2 kidney disease, and shared her doctor told her, “ ‘Water is your medicine. You have to drink a giant —‘ I think he said 1.5 [gallons] — ‘and you can put your hydration packets in it.’ ”
At Burning Man, daytime temperatures regularly climb into the 100-degree range.
She acknowledged, “This is very fish out of water for all of us,” but shared that “the group that I’m going with makes me feel safe and I’m proud of them and we’re all being very open.”
She also addressed the festival’s reputation for psychedelics and other substances, and said, “I don’t do D-R-U-G-S,” spelling it out. “I have heard that there are many interesting talks. Like, it’s not just everyone running around in costumes partying, although there is that. It’s like a world within our world, just in the desert, and things are just different there is what I understand.”
“It appears that everyone sort of gets whatever they need, and I get that because we all have seen signs. When things happen in our lives, the universe presents a situation.” She added that if she wants to leave, “I can pull the ripcord at any time. I don’t do anything that’s going to make me feel trapped, uncomfortable, unsafe. I am effectively wrapping myself in bubble wrap.”
“No matter what. I know that I will learn something from this experience and get closer to people around me who I really care about,” she said, adding, “but thank you for your judgment, because it makes me want to do it more.”
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She further emphasized this point in her caption, saying, “I understand the judgement but this is my life, my body, my choice and will be my burning man experience. I can’t wait to share it.”
Burning Man begins Aug. 30, and lasts until Sept. 7. This year’s theme is Axis Mundi, which “celebrates interconnectedness, shared social realities, and our ties to the natural world.”
Read the original article on People
