'My heart will always be open,' the reality star told ET.
Erika Jayne is keeping her heart open. ET's Nischelle Turner spoke with the 52-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star ahead of the show's season 13 premiere, and she revealed that she's not closing herself off to love following her split from Tom Girardi.
"You have to grieve a marriage and you grieve a lot of things. I had a complete change of life, not just a marriage, a sickness of a spouse, and then losing your home, and your money, and all at one time, so grieving that sort of stuff and working through the legal problems is a lot," Erika told ET. "My heart will always be open. I don't think I'll choose to share my private life on camera. I think that I need one thing that's mine. I just need one thing that's mine."
When pushed on if she'd really never share her love life on TV again, Erika conceded, "Timing is everything. Let me recover. I've got a lot of bills to pay. I've got a lot of things to work out. When and if the time is right."
She also confirmed that she's dating, telling ET, "My heart is not closed. I'm OK. I'm social, and I should be."
Amid her new romantic ventures, Erika is still technically married to Tom.
"In the order of all of the problems I'm facing, it's probably the absolute last thing," Erika said of finalizing her divorce. "I just don't think about it. The day I filed for divorce and we were legally separated, that was it for me. We are in very different places. I have a lot to clean up and pick up and move on."
"We all have to do it our own way. Nobody's gonna look out for you but yourself," she added. "Even after a two decade-plus marriage, that's what it came down to, looking out for yourself."
While Erika is done with her marriage for good, the situation seems to be murkier for her RHOBH co-star, Kyle Richards, whose going through marital woes with her husband, Mauricio Umansky.
"I am Kyle's friend, and I am going to support her through this separation and whatever they choose to do," Erika told ET. "... I'm a friend, I'm a supporter, whatever she wants to share with me that's her right to do so. I'm not in this marriage and I don't like it when other people pry. You don't know what goes on behind closed doors. Let them work it out."
"Everyone has an opinion and we're there to get her opinion," she continued. "My opinion is, I'm Kyle's friend, they are married, she will let me know what's happening when she's ready to. It's my job as a friend to support her in whatever she chooses to do."
Being open about struggles on the show, as both Kyle and Erika have been known to do, takes "a lot of courage," Erika said.
"It also takes a lot of strength to show up, be vulnerable, be open, have conflict, resolve it or not, state your opinion," she said. "... It takes a lot to stand on your own two feet on that show."
One person who had no problem doing just that was new cast member Annemarie Wiley, as Erika noted, "She is not to be toyed with. I like her. She's very direct. She's sweet, but she's firm. She was very vocal. It took her half a second [to find her footing on the show]."
Erika likewise stands on her own two feet during a much-teased fight with Denise Richards, which left her "stunned" and "so confused as to what is happening."
"She was there looking for a fight, so I gave it to her," Erika told ET of Denise. "That's not something I want to do. Here's the thing, if you're going to push, you need to be ready to get pushed back on, and so that's all I did."
All in all, though, Erika said season 13 is "definitely a lighter" one for her.
"It felt really great, because the last two years were so very heavy, very tough. This is a season of rebuilding and great new opportunities. It felt completely different, and I needed it," she said. "... I came into this season feeling better."
"I cannot be the Erika that was so defensive and so on guard for the last two years. It's exhausting and it's not true to who I really am at my core," Erika added. "I would much rather have a good time and be fun and relaxed, but that's not what has been happening with me, but it felt good to come in this year and just sort of take a breath."
As for what's next for her after her Las Vegas residency wraps in December, Erika told ET, "I have a new mountain to climb and I gotta go find it."
"I love having projects and creating new things and I'm sure I'll be back on stage after December," she said. "I have no idea what I'll like to do next, but I know it'll be something fun and good, because I continuously love to create."
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays on Bravo starting Oct. 25.
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