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Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Kyle Richards on how she's survived
The phone interview with "Real Housewife" Kyle Richards was rescheduled twice at the last minute, with excuses offered about not being well, and the assumption was made that I was dealing with a cavalier Hollywood "celebrity".
I stood corrected when I finally got to talk to Richards days later. Unable to arrange care for my twin babies a third time I couldn't silence the crying in the background, to which she said she completely understood and apologised for not being available earlier. It's this down to earth quality that has endeared Richards to fans of Bravo TV's Beverly Hills version of the hugely successful Real Housewives franchise.
The Real Housewives is a reality show centred around the lives of extremely wealthy woman and their relationships. Each season sees the more boring wives cast aside for new members more willing to get involved in arguments and drama. Kyle Richards has been a main cast member since season 8, the only other being Lisa Vanderpump. As we talk, it turns out Richards really has been ill. She reluctantly admits she suffers from the often misunderstood fibromyalgia
"I don't talk about it [on the show] as people just say it's a name they give something when they don't know what it is and they don't understand it". Sufferers of fibromyalgia describe symptoms as widespread joint and muscle pain, and chronic fatigue. Richards says she thinks it started after her mum passed away. "It's torture, it comes and goes with stress, so I have to baby myself to get through it."
Season 8 is currently showing on Bravo TV, the same time as it airs in the US, and she promises more drama. "I felt like I laughed a lot it. It was a relief from the season before which was so emotional and difficult, but this season was harder as I got into a lot of disagreements with the people that I care about."
The drama and the fighting is what makes the show successful but Richards says it is all real and takes a huge toll on her. "If I fight with someone I don't care about, it's torture and gives me huge anxiety, but it hurts so much more when it's someone close to you. It's impossible to keep your friendships strong on reality television because you're expected to be honest. Normally you would keep things to yourself or just tell your husband, but they [the producers] know what's going on so you have to be honest. Inevitably someone gets upset and then someone else wades in so it's a mess."
It's a miracle she and fellow Housewife, Englishwoman Lisa Vanderpump, remain friends she says. "We've had our ups and downs, because she can be really sensitive and if I say 'oh it bothered me when you did this' then she gets upset and I say 'but I have to be honest'. Then she'll say something to me and I'll be like, 'so it's ok for you to be honest but not me?' and then it goes into this whole big thing and you end up feeling so ridiculous and petty."
The show is aired six months after filming finishes, which she says re-opens wounds amongst the woman. "You see what they've said on camera and you get your feelings hurt all over again." Season 2, currently being repeated on Bravo, saw the downfall of Richards' sister Kim who was clearly under the influence for most of the two seasons she appeared.
Both Kyle and Kim Richards were well known child actors, with Kyle appearing in Little House on the Prairie and various films, and Kim a regular star in Disney films and numerous TV shows through the 70s and 80s. Asked whether she regrets filming with Kim, Kyle is unhesitating. "Oh my god yes, I never imagined any of that would ever come out or it turn out like it did, but she would tell you to this day that it was a good thing for her, that it saved her life."
As well as Kim Richards' demise it also brought to light the domestic abuse housewife Taylor Armstrong suffered at the hands of her then-husband Russell. "Season 1 and 2 we were just out of the gate, we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into and when all of this stuff started coming out that was going on in our lives, it was very overwhelming and anxiety provoking. I think people thought we were going to be these fake and foo-foo people, but then they found out that we are real people with very real problems...[Those seasons] were very, very hard, definitely the hardest ones."
While each Housewives franchise has vast differences in culture, style and language, one constant is the enormous wealth the wives enjoy. Richards is regularly mocking the "only in Beverly Hills" flashes of wealth on the show. "We can be objective and see how ridiculous it all is, but if you've grown up around it and are used to seeing it, then it's not [uncomfortable]. My husband and I didn't have a lot of money starting out, my family was always well off, but I'm not clueless to see what's going on in the world, so it's out job to give back and I don't want to sound like a cliche, but that's important to all of the woman in our group."