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Kyle Richards still hasn’t decided the fate of her marriage to Mauricio Umansky.
As the 13th season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills nears its end, Kyle, 55, is offering an update on where she stands with Mauricio, 53, revealing what would lead her to file for divorce, sharing her thoughts on Mauricio prioritizing work, and admitting that when it comes to Mauricio’s growth, she’s seen changes in her husband in recent months.
“I’m not hiding anything from anybody,” Kyle insisted during a February 14 interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I’m working through things myself, and I’m going through something, and I want to be able to be as open as I possibly can, and I will be — when I figure it all out.”
Although they’ve been separated since last summer, Kyle and Mauricio have continued to live with one another and their three daughters, Alexia Umansky, 27, Sophia Umansky, 24, and Portia Umansky, 15. And when it comes to calling it quits on their marriage, Kyle said they would only do so if their arrangements stop working.
“[Divorce] would be when we can no longer do what we’re doing right now,” Kyle explained. “We were never fighters, we’re not a toxic couple, so we’ve been able to manage that so far. It’s gonna go one way or the other, you know? We’re either going to wake up and be like, ‘Oh my gosh! We could actually fix this,’ or it’s going to be divorce. I mean, I just don’t know how sustainable living under the same roof as friends and as a family can last. I don’t know how that can last.”
According to Kyle, there was a “turning point where the straw broke the camel’s back” in her marriage and caused her “to call it” and ask for a separation.
“I was always very proud of the fact that we were able to grow together in all the years of our marriage, and I think it got to a point where he was so busy, and I’m working and we weren’t necessarily growing together, and I think that’s when the problems that we had sort of put on the back-burner started to bubble up again,” she revealed.
Nearly one year later, Kyle, who is nearly two years sober, is prioritizing herself and doing what makes her happy.
“I hate to say it like this, ’cause it sounds so almost selfish, but really just working on myself. Working on myself is taking care of myself physically, emotionally and really digging very deep and learning a lot about myself, and with that means where I go, where I spend my time, who I spend it with and in that, I’m finding joy — and it doesn’t look like it used to,” she admitted.
Looking back on the tragic suicide of her best friend Lorene Shea, Kyle said the loss “put things into perspective.”
“Lorene was the person that was most like me, and I think in losing her and seeing her go through this, I really did think, Well, we’re only here so long and what is important to you? And who do you want to spend time with? And you want to feel valued, and each day is precious,’” she explained.
During an episode of RHOBH earlier this season, Kyle hosted a National Alliance for Mental Health (NAMI) event in honor of Lorene. And because Mauricio did not attend due to work commitments, he faced backlash.
“I did go through phases where I thought, ‘Why is our relationship not as important as work?’ — which I’m sure many women feel that — and I know he has a very important job, and not just with his work, but he has a big family to take care of and support, so it’s not like it’s all on him or all on me, you know?” Kyle reasoned. “I’m just careful about how I word it and what I say, because I do care about him so much and have a tremendous amount of respect for him and what we built, and I don’t want to damage that by talking about it negatively.”
While Kyle wasn’t initially on board with sharing her marital issues on the show, producers quickly realized that something was off.
“There were a couple of scenes where the producers said to me after, ‘Um… wow. OK….’ and, I don’t have a good poker face, so I later said to Mau, ‘I feel like that scene was uncomfortable…’ and he was kinda like, ‘What do you mean?’ … Mau was not on the same page about wanting to be open about that, which is understandable,” she noted.
Because Kyle and Mauricio once had one of the most beloved marriages of the Real Housewives franchise, viewers were upset to learn about their separation. Then, as Kyle began spending more and more time with Morgan Wade, 29, they were left confused about the nature of their relationship, especially after Kyle starred as Morgan’s love interest in her music video for “Fall in Love With Me.”
“When you look at Morgan and me on the outside, we look like you know couldn’t be more different, but we are very much alike, our personalities and bonding over common interest and all of that … She plays a very important role in my life, as do a lot of my friends,” Kyle said of their friendship. “Everyone is so focused on Morgan. I’ve seen my other friends getting edited out of photos, they’re just snipped right out, tossed to the side, you know? There’s been very much people wanting to create this narrative, and I saw one story once that said we were walking on the beach and I was like, what? I’ve never been on the beach with her. It was a photo of me alone and another photo of her by a car, but that was the clickbait.”
While Kyle is now “desensitized to” the rumors, at least for the most part, she admitted the drama surrounding their relationship “[changed her friendship]” with Morgan for some time.
“This is not something that Morgan had ever been exposed to, this sort of scrutiny and being under a microscope,” Kyle shared. “It’s just too much for her, so I felt bad about that, because as a friend you’re like, oh my gosh. I feel responsible that this is affecting you this way, because this is not something she wants in her life at all.”
As Kyle and Morgan continue to spend plenty of time with one another, they are working on a documentary about Morgan’s country music career and recent double mastectomy.
“I lost my mom to breast cancer, we started talking more about that, and I really thought, I really want to follow a story like this, of someone who is this age, going through something like this while she’s touring on the road, living on a bus with her band members and a lot about the personal stuff they would see in the documentary,” Kyle revealed.
According to Kyle, the “biggest misconception” fans have about the recent changes in her life is that they’re all for ratings.
“You think I could get my husband and children to sign on for this story?” she wondered. “That’s just crazy to me, and even the stuff with Morgan — you know, I’m a real person and my life happens to be in front of the cameras, and it’s been a very difficult time, so this is not something that I would like to have attention about at all. I would like to be able to deal with all of this privately while I figure things out for myself but I’m, you know, I don’t have that luxury because of what I’ve signed up to do and being in the public eye.”
Continuing on about her marriage, Kyle said she and Mauricio are “free to do what we want,” which includes dating, and she noted that she’s “definitely seen growth” in her spouse since he’s watched the show play out.
“Also, being in therapy together and separate has been very important for both of us,” she added.
As for what would lead to a reconciliation, Kyle said that “is a very big question … I don’t know if I can answer…”
“I just hope that no matter what, that we always have love and respect for each other,” she stated.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 13 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
