“I’ve come to realize that there’s a big chance that we’re not going to end up together,” Kyle says in a confessional.
Kyle Richards is finally revealing the reason behind her and husband Mauricio Umansky’s separation.
Season 13 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills appeared to end on a high note with the couple’s lavish white party, but cameras were called to pick back up, just one month later, after a People Magazine article broke the news that Richards and Umansky were separating.
After getting the cast’s reactions, most shocked — and some, a.k.a. Sutton Stracke — not so much, Richards was comforted by castmate, Erika Jayne, who had some sage advice for Richards: “focus on your happiness.”
“You’ve raised these girls. You’ve been a good wife to this man. You’ve been a great sister, a great daughter,” Jayne reminds Richards. “But if you’re not happy, inside, whatever that means for you, you must take that time and find out what you need and where you need to go with this life.”
Throughout the season, Richards has been very upfront about the tough year the two had before filming began. Her husband’s booming real estate career has been at the center of the tension between them, as Kyle has said she doesn’t feel as if he prioritizes family time and time with her as much as work.
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And while rumors about infidelity have run rampant since the pair joined the show in 2009, Richards continued to insist that the separation has nothing to do with outside forces.
“There’s literally nothing to do with anybody else. This is really just about Mo and me. It’s not about our family. It’s not about external family. It’s not about another person on his side or my side, this is just about Mo and me,” Richards maintains.
The episode then cuts to Richards and Umansky’s emotional sit-down with their four daughters, something the pair were both reluctant to do as they were trying to work their marital woes out privately.
“I feel like my kids have basically lived a fairytale, but then I felt like, the article coming out, they thought that the rug had been pulled our from underneath them because things are worse than they led on to be,” Richards in a confessional.
She continued, “I just felt so bad to let them down, because we really did have an amazing marriage for a long time.”
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Opening the floor to their daughters for questions, both Richards and Umansky are insistent that they want to clear things up for their girls, who seem shocked and saddened by the news that their parents could be going their separate ways.
“All those other times they were just rumors that came out of nowhere,” a tearful Sophia says. “And this time, we all know that you guys aren’t having the best year. So it kind of hit a little different and everyone and then everyone reaching out just made it that much more overwhelming.”
“I mean, I think the most important thing is just for you guys to know we haven’t told you guys everything because we tried to protect you, and then all of a sudden you kind of get blindsided by this public news, and then you don’t know about it, it’s probably difficult,” Umansky explains. “I just wanted to make sure that we were open and you guys knew what were going through and see if there were any questions.”
“I just want you know that we haven’t talked about divorce,” Richards adds. “Just so you guys know that.”
As for what’s next, the Richards and Umansky tell their daughters that they are going to continue to live under one roof while they try and figure things out — as difficult as that may be.
“We are trying to figure out what we want and trying to work through this, and I don’t want to leave and I don’t want dad to leave, so we’re doing this while we’re under the same roof,” Richards explains as she tears up. “So that’s been the plan. And if that, we feel is not working, not effective, then we go to the next step, which is, I don’t know. And if it is working, then great.”
Richards and Umansky’s youngest daughter, Portia, breaks down, with the entire family on the brink of tears in a moment that truly seems to be tearing them apart.
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“We’re not broken, just bent,” Richards assures. “We’re a very strong family and we always will be.”
In a confessional after the family sit down, Richards shares more insight into her split from Umansky, which she says ultimately came after a breach of trust between the pair.
“I’ve come to realize that there’s a big chance that we’re not going to end up together,” Richards says. “There were things that happened that made me lose my trust that I wasn’t able to recover from.”
As for what broke that trust, Richards didn’t say, but will likely reveal more once the reunion airs next week, with a sneak peek at the three-part special noting that while it wasn’t on the table at the start of their separation, divorce has been discussed by both her and and Umansky.
“I just want to be at peace wherever I’m at because I haven’t really had that,” Kyle says before breaking down in front of the cameras.
See what happens next when The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills three-part season 13 reunion begins February 28 on Bravo.
