The longtime spouses went public about their separation in July 2023.
On Wednesday's episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky stepped out for Dorit Kemsley's Homeless Not Toothless gala, and Mauricio's attendance sparked annoyance in his wife.
That emotion came because, while Mauricio made time to attend Dorit's event, he did not clear his calendar to go to Kyle's Celebration of Life event with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which she held in honor of Lorene Shea, her childhood best friend who died by suicide last year.
"Would it had meant something to me if all of a sudden he had shown up at the event for Lorene?" Kyle asked in a confessional. "Of course it would have. You know, he was close to her, also."
Mauricio said his absence at his wife's event boiled down to the fact that he was "traveling so much and trying to get caught up." When Mauricio tried to get details about how Kyle's event went, she surprised her husband by telling him that she was going to be traveling in the next few weeks.
"It's a little taste of his own medicine, to be honest," she quipped in a confessional, "because there are many times where all of a sudden he’s like, 'Oh, I’m off to Portugal. I’m leaving for Chicago…' I don't really get a heads up, so… oops?"
The ride to Dorit's event was tense, to say the least, and full of awkward silences. When they arrived at the Beverly Hilton for the gala, they took photos together before separating for solo shots.
"I feel like every time I go to one of these events, there's a lot of whispering and watching Mauricio and me, which feels really strange," Kyle narrated as footage of the couple posing played on screen. "They’re analyzing every move or hand gesture. It's very weird."
Kyle wasn't the only one who found Mauricio's attendance at the event suspect, as Sutton Stracke noted in a confessional, "Mauricio, you can come to the Homeless Not Toothless event, but you can't come to the Celebration of Life event for your wife? That's messed up!"
Then, during The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: After Show, Sutton took it a step further, telling Garcelle Beauvais, "This has got to be hard on Kyle, and you want your husband with you."
Speaking to Erika Jayne, Kyle explained that Mauricio was out of town during her event.
"You know, he also loved Lorene. He really did. And she loved him so much," Kyle said. "So, I was like, listen... when the date that we chose coincided with something he had already organized and, you know, our schedules of lately have not been in sync. So, you know, it's been hard enough as it is."
"I didn't want him to feel bad hearing that on camera, when it genuinely was not his fault at all," she added. "He would've been there for her, and for me, but you know, I had to choose this date for a certain reason and he had already had something on the books for a long time for The Agency that he couldn't change. So, that's the kind of stuff, I'm like, OK, great, now it's gonna look like, 'Oh! Mau didn't show up to support you.'"
Erika noted that it was an "impossible situation" and Kyle agreed, reiterating that Mauricio "did nothing wrong there."
Still, Sutton told Garcelle that Mauricio's non-attendance was "a huge red flag" from her point of view.
"You planned this, you know how many dates before there are, so your husband can plan to be there," she said.
Meanwhile, Garcelle noted that Kyle was supported at the event, just not by Mauricio.
"I think Morgan was the big support," Garcelle said of Morgan Wade after she and other RHOBH cast members questioned Kyle's relationship with the female country singer. "When Morgan was singing, Kyle was next to me, I could feel her emotions."
"It's interesting that someone so new in her life can have such a big impact and be such a rock," Sutton agreed. "But you know, there's always a season, a reason or a lifetime. So, maybe this is Morgan's season."
"It's gonna be a long season," Garcelle replied.
Back in July, Kyle and Mauricio released a joint statement admitting that they've had a "rough year" after news of their separation broke. Since then, their marital woes have been playing out on season 13 of RHOBH.
Then, in November, Richards told ET, "All I know is we love each other. We still live under the same roof and we both want the best for each other. I am so happy that it is amicable right now and I hope it stays that way. [We are] just taking it a day at a time and putting our family first."
Shortly thereafter, Mauricio appeared on The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast and gave an update about where he and his wife stand.
"We're going through a struggle, we're going through issues just like everybody else does," Mauricio said. "And it doesn't change on a daily basis. If we're separated that means we're giving each other time to allow things to happen.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET. on Bravo.
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