The ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star tells ET her big move was totally unplanned, and fans will get to see the whole thing play out on season eight of the Bravo show.
Kyle Richards is no longer a real housewife of Beverly Hills -- because she doesn’t live there anymore!
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star traded in her 90210-adjacent zip code and moved to Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley -- yes, the “Valley” of Clueless and, well, Valley Girl fame -- earlier this year. While the move seems surprising on paper, it makes perfect sense when you see the property she and husband, realtor Mauricio Umansky, purchased.
“I was renovating my house, because I couldn't find a house that I fell in love with,” Kyle tells ET. “And I saw this house -- it was actually one of my husband's listings -- and I said to him, ‘I want to go look at this house to look at their floors,’ 'cause I was re-doing my floors at the time and he said, 'Oh, I'll go with you.’”
“We went into this house and I went, 'Oh my gosh,'” she continues. “I was completely blown away, because it's not like anything you would see in Los Angeles, normally. I just fell in love, and my husband did, too.”
The home is a nearly 11,000 square foot mansion, known as “The Smokey Robinson Estate.” The legendary music man lived in the home from 1988 until 2002. It features more than an acre of beautifully landscaped property -- and a lot of privacy, something Kyle craved.
“I remember, we called our friend and designer, Faye Resnick, 'cause we had just given her a check for, like, the floors, marble all this, what are we gonna do?” Kyle recalls. “I said, ‘You have to come and help us make this decision.’ And she walked in, and she said, 'I have goosebumps everywhere, we need this home.' Guess we're moving!”
Of course, Kyle isn’t the first of her co-stars to live outside of L.A.’s most famous neighborhood. Yolanda Hadid and Camille Grammer resided in Malibu while full-time cast members, while Erika Girardi’s home is located more than 20 miles away from Beverly Hills, in Pasadena.
“I always laugh with our producers and our [director of photography], I'm like, 'I feel like I bought this house because of you!'” Kyle jokes. “They're always trying to look for new interview looks and backdrops, and he's like, 'We've already done that, we've already done that. You've been in here so long...' I'm like, fine! I'll buy a new house … Here, you happy now?! I bought a new house, all for you.”
You can watch Kyle’s real estate journey unfold on the new season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, premiering Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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