'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' OG Kyle Richards reflects on season 12 so far, and previews the 'upsetting' drama still to come.
Kyle Richards says Dorit Kemsley having to relive her October home invasion and robbery on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is proving to be "very intense."
"It's the gift that keeps on giving," Kyle sarcastically laments to ET at NBCUniversal's upfronts presentation in New York City. "Usually it's about a fight or an argument, which is already hard enough, but when you go through something really traumatic, like Dorit and [her husband] PK did, to have to relive it on the show and then again on the reunion, it's going to be a very long road for recovery for them."
"It was very disturbing for her to relive watching the robbery on the show," she reiterates. "She's been working therapy-- I mean, I don't want to speak for her, but I know that she's been working with a therapist, and for all of a sudden to have people talking about it again, even if you're not watching the news, if you're on Instagram, you're scrolling, you're seeing the clips, and it just brings back all the memories of all the stuff she's been working on, to try to get over."
Thieves broke into Dorit's Los Angeles-area home last fall, running off with hundreds of thousands (possibly even millions of) dollars worth of handbags, jewelry and personal items. Law enforcement has yet to find the perpetrators, and the aftershocks of the event are set to underscore all of RHOBH season 12.
Toward the end of the season (which just premiered last week), it seems Kyle's sister, Kathy Hilton, finds herself in the center of the drama. Reports surfaced while the women were in production of Kathy feuding with cast members, allegations of her using a slur during the cast's trip to Colorado hurled back and forth on fan blogs. Kathy has yet to address the situation publicly, but the trailer hints that whatever went down had an emotional impact on Kyle.
"I feel like you hate me," she cries to her big sister during a to-be-aired sit-down, seemingly moderated by castmate Lisa Rinna, whom viewers have called out for inserting herself into a situation that's between family.
"It's so funny, because people haven't seen the show or what happened yet, but they're already casting their opinion about why they're getting involved," Kyle offers, in Lisa's defense. "I mean, everybody was kind of involved with what happened in Aspen, so there's a reason why they're all kind of chiming in here, so you'll just have to see the season and watch it play out. Then everyone can make their judgments."
Still, Kyle hints that some other co-stars inserting themselves into her and Kathy's issues rubbed her the wrong way.
"It's really frustrating, actually, especially when they don't know any backstory," she admits. "That's always been the hardest thing for me, even going back to season 1, with my sister, Kim [Richards], people would make judgments and they had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, or where I was coming from."
Season 1 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills ended with Kyle exposing Kim's battle with alcoholism, an addiction that became centered in Kim's story during her tenure as a cast member. She exited the show (as a Housewife, at least) at the end of season 5 in 2015.
"Your hands are kind of tied, because you can't explain [certain things] because it's family," Kyle reflects. "Where if it's [drama with] one of the cast members, you'll be like, 'OK, well, this is actually what's going on, what happened...' so you're kind of at a disadvantage in that aspect."
"It was very upsetting," she adds of her falling out with Kathy. "You know, obviously I was excited about having my sister being a part of the show, I'm the one who wanted her on the show, so it was upsetting. It's hard. It's really hard to do reality television with family. It just is."
"Let's ask Teresa [Giudice]," she quips, turning to her left, where the Real Housewives of New Jersey star -- whose family dynamic has been at the heart of RHONJ since season 3 -- was doing a separate interview. "She should know. But you know, we're family, we're blood. We're going to have arguments, and then we will always come back together. Sometimes it'll take longer than other times, but we're actually, you know, we're OK. We're good. You'll see when the show airs. We'll let it all unfold there."
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
RELATED CONTENT:
