Kyle Richards Talks Depression and Quitting RHOBH for a Week

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Kyle Richards is revealing what made her return to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after temporarily leaving production amid season 14.

As she also offered an update on her status with her estranged husband Mauricio Umansky, 54, addressed her drama with Dorit Kemsley, 48, and looked ahead to her future on the Bravo reality series, Kyle, 55, admitted to keeping certain things off the show, revealed what caused her to reach her breaking point during filming, and explained why she’s slow to recommend friends for the show.

“I just didn’t have it in me anymore. I was at a point where I was so depressed,” Kyle shared during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m not someone who gets depressed. I’ve had anxiety my entire life but never depression. I really felt like I was struggling with depression, and I expressed that. And I just felt like I could not go into scenarios all the time and just have everyone coming at me.”

“People I thought were my friends, all of a sudden it felt like they weren’t. I just felt like it was too much with what was going on in my life and I thought, ‘Why would I subject myself to this? I don’t know why I’m continuing to do this,’” she continued. “It was absolutely the closest I’ve ever gotten to not coming back to the show.”

According to Kyle, her castmates knew she was in a “very fragile place” but gave her no grace, which was “hard.”

Luckily, as she walked away from filming for about a week, Kyle received support from Bravo and her production team.

“I took that time until I felt strong again and gathered my thoughts [on] what I wanted to do,” she explained.

As for why she ultimately returned, Kyle wanted to be “busy and occupied” after Mauricio moved out and wasn’t ready to lose her crew family.

That said, not everyone was thrilled about her time off.

“There were some people who said they were going to hold me accountable for walking out,” she revealed.

While Kyle described herself as an “open book,” she confessed that certain things were off-limits to the cameras.

“Sometimes you have to consider other people, whether it’s my children or whoever. My kids will say they don’t want me to talk about this or that, and I have to respect that,” she noted.

As she and Mauricio continue to navigate their separation, Kyle confirmed that the two of them have remained both “friends” and “family.”

“I think we’re both just kind of nervous and afraid of this next chapter,” she shared, seemingly in a nod to a potential divorce.

Although Kyle has expressed that she’s not ready to date quite yet, she has seen the many headlines regarding Mauricio and his love interests.

“People assume that I get really angry with him … Of course, I have reactions to certain things, but I’ve never expressed this to people, so these headlines are annoying to see,” she noted. “Obviously, it’s strange to see his personal life played out all the time. Photos of him walking down the street [with other women]. But while it may be strange, we’re not together like that.”

On recent episodes of RHOBH, Kyle and her texting relationship with Paul “PK” Kemsley, 57, has been at the forefront of her drama with Dorit. But, as Kyle explained, she wasn’t too surprised by her former friend’s antics.

“I knew she’d be coming into this season hot; I already knew she’d be coming for me. I had to keep telling myself that, but it just got too draining,” Kyle shared. “I just felt like we already made up so many times and she kept coming up with things again and again … PK and I have always had this brother-sister type of situation; she’d always talk about that. She loved it and laughed about it.”

“It was made out to be something much bigger than it was and it was extremely frustrating,” she added. “I understand it’s about girl code. But there are a lot of things that were girl code that Dorit did not stick with that got us in that position in the first place.”

While Kyle described her season 14 journey with Dorit as “one step forward, two steps back,” she said they “eventually” got to a better place.

Looking ahead to future seasons of the show, Kyle shared that part of her wants to be the “longest-running housewife in franchise history.”

“I always say I never know because it depends on my personal life emotionally — if I can handle it, what my lifestyle is at the time. Who knows? … My life is constantly changing right now. But it all depends on where I’m at,” she explained.

Also, during the interview, Kyle said that she’s hesitant to recommend friends to her producers.

“If I’m going to recommend someone I know, they would be a little removed from my life. It’s very hard to navigate your relationships in reality television, to say the very, very least,” she reasoned.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.