Mauricio Umansky Reveals What Led to Hilton Family Feud, How Kyle Richards Stood By Him

Umansky, who worked alongside brother-in-law, Rick Hilton, before starting his own real estate firm, The Agency, detailed the rift in a new clip from the upcoming second season of his Netflix reality show, Buying Beverly Hills.

“Was your goal to be brought in as a partner there, and that just didn’t work out?” One of Umansky’s Agency colleagues asks.

“That’s exactly what happened,” Umansky says before getting into the nitty gritty of the fallout between him and Rick. “I think I got kind of f–ked by Hilton & Hyland. And when I say f–ked, you know, today I’m happy, but there was a 100 agents at Hilton & Hyland. They did a billion dollars for the first time in a year. I was 19.6 percent of their production.”

He continued, “And I went to Rick and I said, ‘I’d really like equity, and to be a partner.’ He went back and talked to Jeff, he got back to me and basically, I was told no.”

Umansky delivered the news to wife Kyle Richards and shared his concerns of the divide it may cause between her and her sister, Kathy Hilton — Rick’s wife — and the rest of her family, should Umansky leave the firm over not making partner.

“I go, ‘This will cause a lot of stress between you and your sister and your family, and I don’t want to do this move of leaving and starting a company if you’re not comfortable,'” Umansky recalled telling Richards before quitting his job at Hilton & Hyland. “She was 100 percent supportive.”

The move took both the company and Rick by surprise, and while it most definitely caused tension amongst the family, Hilton & Hyland is a company Umansky said he would never say a bad word about.

“And I remember they said to me, ‘How did you not give us any warning or any issue?’ And I was like, ‘warning?!'” he said.

Umansky continued in a confessional, “I think Hilton & Hyland is an amazing company, and I would never be caught dead speaking poorly about them because I don’t think poorly about them.”

The tension got so bad, Umansky revealed, that Richards’ family stopped speaking to her at one point.

“I am Rick’s brother-in-law, but unfortunately, it got sour, because it really affected the family,” Umansky told the cameras. “Kyle more than anybody. Her family stopped speaking to her. But she understand what was done to me was wrong, and she stood by me, and at the end of the day, I needed that.”

While Richards was all-in on her support of Umansky at the start of his career, clips from both Buying Beverly Hills and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills hint at The Agency being a cause of stress in their marriage, and one of the reasons the couple decided to separate in July 2023 after 27 years of marriage.

At the time, the pair said they were just having a “tough year” and noted that they were still “working through” things, but they have remained separated since the announcement. As for whether Umansky and Richards will take the next step and get divorced, that remains to be seen.

Watch the drama unfold when Buying Beverly Hills season 2 premieres March 22 on Netflix.