Lounging on a deck chair in Turks and Caicos, one of the Real Housewives of New York tells returning Housewife Bethenny Frankel that she is a know-it-all. Bethenny, clad in a saucy pink bikini retorts, "Maybe I know it all. So if you'd like to know any of 'it all,' come to me and I'll tell you." Season 7, which is Bethenny's first season back on the show since she left in 2010, premieres April 7 at 9 p.m. on Bravo. From the looks of it, Bethenny picked up precisely where she left off five years ago as the straight-talking, no-nonsense Greek chorus of the show; She says all of the things that the viewers are thinking at home.

It's a big day for Bethenny. Her latest book, a self-help tome called I Suck at Relationships So You Don't Have To, is similarly unvarnished. She gives brutally honest advice to other women. If you are having trouble getting a guy interested in you, Bethenny is there with 14 bullet-pointed criticisms. Among other things, you might be: talking to much, talking only about yourself, not talking at all, or acting subservient ("Get a backbone" Bethenny chides).

ELLE.com spoke to Bethenny about how relationships can get knotty when a woman out-earns a man, whether or not she's going into the marijuana business, and the fall out from "pajama gate."

You mentioned recently on Watch What Happens Live that you think relationships can be more difficult if the woman is the breadwinner. Can you elaborate on that?

I single-handedly step back 20 years by saying it, but—and I write about this in my book—generally speaking, men define themselves by their career and by being the steward and the provider. I think that a woman making more money can be intimidating and emasculating. I'm not saying that's the way it should be. It comes up in day-to-day things in relationships, like you're planning a vacation and who is paying for it? I think there are ways to manage it. If you're in a relationship and you make more money, then the man should pay for things to show, like they put down their credit card at dinner and maybe you take care of everything at the home. But still, by nature of that happening, it means that there is some shame in it. I think ultimately a man wants to feel like he's the provider, because that's how it's gone on since the beginning of time. I don't know if it's something physiological. Even in the princess stories our daughter reads, typically the man is coming in on the horse, you know?

What inspired you to write a relationship book? What was the impetus?

I've made so many mistakes and I do have a lot of experience. I was just sitting here in the car thinking about the fact that some people are saying, 'Who are you to write a relationship book? What do you know?' What does anybody know? There are people who look like they have a special relationship, they've been married for 30 years, but they are miserable. There can be people who stay together just because of their kids. There can be people who don't want to have a marital relationship, but know how to take care of somebody else and know what it means to be kind. I wrote it because I've learned a lot through a lot of my mistakes. I'm a work in progress, but I think I've always been a work in progress. There are many things in that book that naturally fit a lot of people and make a lot of sense.

The part of the book I found most surprising was that you advocate for some forms of game playing. Can you talk a little more about that, when games are worthwhile and when they work?

It's in most areas of life that one party wins. It would be great if we lived in a world where everybody could just be like, 'I love you and it's unconditional love and I'm going to tell you right away,' and you could say, 'Me too, and let's just conquer the world!' I wish life was like that, but the truth of the matter is if you walk into something and someone lets their guard completely down, you might think, "Do they do this with everyone? Is there something wrong with them?" It just doesn't seem natural to not be guarded on some level, and I think that a little bit of cat and mouse is what makes things fun, and what makes you feel like you want something.

It's similar in business, too. You're not going to walk into a meeting like, 'I love your idea. I love everything about it and I'll pay anything I can to have it.' It doesn't mean that you can't end up being a great partner and doing successful business, it just means that you need to take a minute because people have feelings and pasts and trust issues. This book is about the rule, not the exception, and typically people have to protect themselves on some level. You want to tread lightly.

You also have to have your own life, because men and women respect partners who have other things going on. It's just like a job. It doesn't make you any less qualified of an employee if you don't have a job because you might not be lucky right then. But when people have jobs, they have a lot of other people coming after them to offer them jobs. Women who sit around and have nothing else going on put all their eggs in one basket right away don't have men knocking at their door. Women who have a lot of things going on have a lot of men knocking at their door.

You obviously have a ton of things going on right now. I want to hear more about Skinnygirl Marijuana [Us Weekly reported that Frankel visited a marijuana dispensary in January because she planned to develop a strain of pot that didn't cause munchies]. What inspired you to take your business in that direction?

I haven't taken my business in that direction.

You haven't?

No.

Are you thinking about it?

No. I'm in the liquor business. I've worked categories like chips and dips and non-alcoholic beverages, but I am not in the marijuana business.

Well, what are those reports about, then?

I don't know. Have you ever heard of false reports in Hollywood?

[Laughs] Never!

Well this is the first one, then.

It's been seven years since The Real Housewives of New York premiered. You have become an incredibly public figure since then. In addition to combating false reporting, are there any other ways that you have to manage living publicly? How do you deal with issues like "pajama gate"