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Details about how Erika Jayne was able to leave her nearly 30-year marriage to Tom Girardi are finally coming to light thanks to The Housewife and the Hustler Part 2.
In part two of Hulu’s investigative documentary, Erika Jayne’s lawyer, Evan Borges, appeared alongside her good friend, Jim Wilkes.
Before we spill the tea, Jim Wilkes may look familiar to RHOBH fans as he was linked to Erika Jayne in 2023.
Erika Jayne and the 72-year-old Tampa Bay attorney first sparked dating rumors in June after they were photographed strolling through Caesars Palace in Las Vegas together.
A rep for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star later told AllAboutTRH that Jim Wilkes is Erika Jayne’s “lawyer and family friend of over 20 years” and nothing more.
Okay, back to the tea!
On The Housewife and the Hustler 2: The Reckoning, Evan Borges and Jim Wilkes got candid about how Erika Jayne was able to walk away from her marriage to Tom Girardi and their luxurious lifestyle with practically nothing.
“In summer 2021, you and Erica were referred to our firm,” Borges explains. “I had some very basic questions for her. ‘Why did you call for divorce just a month or so before the bankruptcy cases? And what did you know?’ Her answer to me is privilege, but I would describe it as escalating pressure [and] lawsuits. My strong suspicion is that Tom Girardi consistently lied to this poor woman, and she had no idea. She had no visibility into finances.”
“I heard he forbade her wearing blue jeans. That’s called either a control freak or an asshole, however you wanna put it,” he added.
According to Borges, Jim Wilkes provided Erika with $150,000 to obtain a lawyer. He also opened up a bank account for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star and paid for the deposit on her rental home.
“She left that marriage. The only reason Erika was really able to do that was because of help from a longtime friend she had, meaning you. I think you gave her $150,000 to pay for a lawyer and to move out,” Borges reveals to the cameras alongside Wilkes.
Since 2020, Wilkes has subsidized Erika’s lifestyle and has given her a “significant amount of money” to help live and pay her legal bills.
“Jim opened up a bank account with her and provided her with, over time, a significant amount of money to pay for lawyers, to make a down payment on a rental. I mean, if she didn’t have the help of a friend who had a lot of money, she was lost. I mean, it was it was bad,” Borges notes before asking Wilkes, “How much have you spent on this?”
Wilkes replies, “I have no idea, a couple of million,” but reveals it has cost him this legal practice. However, he notes that he can’t “concede.”
Wilkes goes on to explain that he is a longtime friend of Tom Girardi and spent a lot of time with Erika and Tom throughout their marriage.
He notes that Tom Girardi changed significantly around 2019.
“I’ve known Tom since about 2000. Erika Tom and I would spend time together hanging out. We probably did 4, 5, or 6 trips with. Tom knew a lot of fun people,” he details.
“Around 2019, Tom changed. Tom came very angry. You could tell you there was a little hustle in him, but he was always cordial. And he stopped being cordial. That scared me,” Wilkes continued.
He concluded:
“Erika has been the victim of a great injustice. Her crime was having a husband who wasn’t trustworthy that she stayed with for twenty years.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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