Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast
Kyle Richards Admits More Money Changed Marriage: “Getting Attention That He Didn't Before"
Kyle Richards and Bravo producer Alex Baskin discussed "the reality show curse" and how fame affected her relationship with Mauricio Umansky.
Kyle Richards recently discussed the double-edged sword of fame on Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast and revealed whether The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills affected her relationship with Mauricio Umansky.
In Season 3, Episode 8 of Hot Mic, hosted by Bravo producer Alex Baskin, the RHOBH cast member talked about life since she and Mau split after nearly three decades of marriage.
Of course, it’s not the first time those involved discussed the delicate balance of fame and marriage: In an earlier episode of the podcast, Mau joined Paul “PK” Kemsley — now separated from RHOBH's Dorit Kemsley — and gave his own take.
Baskin asked Kyle if she agreed with Mauricio’s previous statements that they had “a great marriage” before “going in different directions."
No, the show had no bearing on Kyle and Mauricio’s separation, according to the Housewife.
“I agree with Mau, for us,” Kyle said. “Every situation, every marriage is different. For us, it had nothing to do with the show. We did the show together for many years, and we were fine through it … I was very happily married. The show did not affect us in that way at all.”
Kyle maintained that the real estate broker and father of her children was always “very supportive” and someone she could lean on during the most difficult of times. However, she said that “the money and the attention that comes with fame,” secondary to the show, “absolutely” affected the marriage, something others have called “the reality show curse.”
“It definitely was not that,” Kyle said of the so-called curse.
Unlike others who’d come to the series with “cracks in their marriage,” Kyle maintained she always had Mauricio to help her through the pressure.
Kyle looked back at the early years of her marriage, before her Bravolebrity status and when Mauricio’s real estate business, The Agency, was still getting off the ground.
“Remember, we started out with nothing,” Kyle reminded Baskin. “I had three kids and a two-bedroom apartment.”
Still, they were “some of the best times” of Kyle’s days, and she was OK with moving to another state if the couple could not keep up their lifestyle in Los Angeles.
Then came The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, plus Mauricio’s real estate endeavors.
“It opens up a whole other world. You know, you’re traveling, you’re going places, he’s getting attention that he didn’t get before, there’s more people looking at him all of a sudden, he’s a rich man … it’s a very different situation," she explained.
Kyle recognized material things weren’t the only thing to garner Mauricio attention, but also the fact that he was “a great husband” and “a great dad” also became appealing to others.
“Just having that thrown in your face all the time, and of course me being busy and traveling, I think all of that just did not help,” Kyle said.
Years before Housewives and The Agency’s success, Kyle said she and Mauricio weren’t accustomed to girls’ nights out and guys’ nights out, “partially because [Kyle] was so scared of losing what [they] had,” she said.
“Honestly, it was just a fear of mine,” Kyle confessed. “Holding on too tight because I was so afraid something would ruin and take away what I love so much and [what] I’d built.”
But, as Kyle’s work-related commitments grew and Mauricio’s business trips increased, things changed.
“[The] next thing you know, you’re like, ‘Wait, what happened to the things that we used to live by before?’” Kyle asked. “It’s just everything’s different now.”
Pretty soon, the couple’s involvement in the Housewives series made them a prime target for fans, and it became challenging for the married couple to separate the two worlds. In one instance, Kyle explained, she sometimes wanted to join Mauricio for work events but could not because of the presence of RHOBH fans and photographers. Other times, it came down to Kyle being unable to come with Mauricio on work trips due to filming commitments or watching the kids.
“So, there was little things like that,” Kyle continued. “Just not making our marriage a priority because there were so many things going on.”
Kyle Spills What It Was *Really* Like to Spend Holidays with Mauricio Amid “TMZ Pictures”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member acknowledged that there was an "elephant in the room" when she spent the holidays with Mauricio Umansky and their daughters in Aspen.
Kyle Richards is adjusting to her new normal.
More than a year has passed since The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member separated from husband Mauricio Umansky. And while fans have seen Kyle mourn the end of her marriage to Mauricio on Season 14 of the reality series, she revealed on Bravo's Hot Mic podcast that she and Mauricio have a solid friendship, even spending the holidays together as a family in Aspen, Colorado this past winter.
"A lot of it, like, you wouldn't know anything had changed," she said. "The only difference was he went there ahead of time. And that there were, you know, pictures on TMZ."
The photos in question showed Mauricio shirtless and dancing with singer Anitta at a ski chalet in Aspen, a moment that was later shared online by TMZ.
Kyle brushed over the awkwardness of it all, simply telling Hot Mic host Alex Baskin that they "all had to see" the pics before they joined Mauricio in Aspen. "But other than that, once we were there, it was like, you know, cooking at home and playing games, karaoke," she said.
Kyle acknowledged that her and Mauricio "not communicating enough" is probably what led to their marriage ending, a pattern that repeated itself while they were on vacation together. She explained that they'd wake up in the mornings and have coffee together, but "sometimes it was a little bit like, oh there's so much to talk about but I don't really want to talk about that right now. And I think he didn't either."
She added, "So a lot of times I did feel a little bit like, OK, there's this like, you know, for lack of a better word, elephant in the room that we're not discussing."
On the other hand, Kyle conceded that they don't want to rock the boat and cause drama when there's no need at this point. "Of course I don't want to do that when the family's there and, you know, we're all having fun," she explained.
But Kyle also noted that their separation is no longer a source of stress for herself and the family, revealing "the kids will make jokes sometimes" and that she herself is in "a much better place than I was last year."
Kyle Richards Reveals New Details About Living Situation with Teddi Mellencamp: “Shared Custody”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member shared that it's been "really helpful" to have her friend living with her amid their separations.
Kyle Richards and Teddi Mellencamp are officially roommates.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member shed light on their unorthodox living situation on a new episode of Bravo's Hot Mic Podcast, jokingly telling host Alex Baskin, "I have shared custody with Teddi Mellencamp. She lives with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays."
Teddi is currently separated from husband Edwin Arroyave, with whom she shares three children, Slate, Cruz, and Dove. (Teddi is also stepmom to Edwin's daughter Bella.) However, to maintain a sense of normalcy for the kids, Teddi and Edwin have opted to rotate the days that they're living in their once-shared home so their kids don't have to go from one place to another.
As Teddi searched for a new place to serve as her basecamp, she asked Kyle if she could crash for a night or two at the Umansky family's Encino home, to which Kyle said, "Why wouldn't you just stay here? Why would you go spend the money? I mean, I have a big house, I have a guest house. That's silly. So that's how that started."
Though Kyle has plenty of rooms for Teddi to pick from, the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member is staying in what Kyle jokingly called "the divorce room," where Kyle herself once slept when she and Mauricio initiated their separation.
"It was supposed to be like, one day there's gonna be babies up there," Kyle told Baskin. "We're like, no, it's the divorce room."
While Kyle is almost an empty nester now that her daughters are all grown up, she's found herself taking on a nurturing role for Teddi in recent months, revealing on Hot Mic that Teddi once called her crying at night and then crawled into bed with her. Kyle teased, "I'm sorry to share that Teddi, but she literally sounded like a little girl crying."
Kyle noted that Teddi was rightfully emotional, sharing that "it was the night that the winds were so scary and the fires were starting."
But Kyle also thinks "everything" was overwhelming Teddi in that moment, adding, "It was her marriage, the fires [were] going on, being on edge of the evacuations."
They couldn't help but laugh at the "absurdity of the situation," though.
"We literally sat there and we could not stop laughing. I mean, if people could see us in our like, our little basically footsie pajamas," Kyle told Baskin.
The laughter only increased when Teddi and Kyle realized that their recent attempts to get a lip flip using Botox left them without the ability to pucker their lips. This wouldn't be a big deal normally, but made it slightly difficult to do small tasks like blowing out a candle.
"We were crying, laughing, and we were trying to whistle and I was like, whistling is not an option anymore!" she laughed. "We were just up laughing all night and you know, just to have those moments when we're going through what we're going through right now is just, you know, it really is helpful," Kyle continued.