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Sutton Stracke spoke of her decision to cut professional ties with her former assistant, Avi Gabay, admitting that she didn’t believe his firing would end their friendship, after the season 15 premiere of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Thursday.
As Sutton, 54, also confirmed that she and Avi are no longer speaking and reacted to Avi’s recent outing with Garcelle Beauvais, 59, her castmates, including Kyle Richards, 56, who shaded their “agenda,” also weighed in, with many expressing shock.
“We had a great run. But things come to an end. It was just a business decision for me,” Sutton began on the December 4 episode of the RHOBH: After Show. “[But] I was coming to a point in my life where no children were going to be in my house, I didn’t have a storefront that needed tending to. So, it was just time. And you know, we had run our course.”
“I just didn’t need anybody in my house all the time,” she added. “I don’t know why this has become such an issue because people let staff members go all the time.”
That said, Sutton and Avi didn’t just stop working together — they stopped talking completely.
“I don’t talk to Avi … I think I was surprised that in letting him go, that it was going to terminate the friendship as well. That was a surprise for me,” she admitted.
Kyle was also surprised that they cut ties.
“I knew that they were very close and they had this sort of funny dynamic together. I could see that she could be a little challenging at times. But he seemed to know how to respond to her in a sort of funny way and brush it off, so I was surprised,” she reasoned.
Bozoma Saint John, 48, agreed, saying, “Avi seemed like such an integral part of her day-to-day life, and so I couldn’t even imagine that she would be able to operate without him. Not saying that she’s incapable of it, but I was just shocked that something crazy detrimental had to have happened.”
According to Jennifer Tilly, 67, she believes that Sutton’s firing of Avi became such an issue for fans because he was around so much.
“You two were so funny together and I think that the fans liked to see the two of you laughing and dancing, so maybe they perhaps thought of Avi more as a member of the family as opposed to a staff member,” she explained.
Also on the RHOBH: After Show, the cast reacted to Garcelle’s recent appearance with Avi at the premiere of her new Lifetime series, Taken at a Truck Stop: A Black Girl Missing Movie.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding. Oh sh*t,” Dorit Kemsley, 49, replied.
Kyle, meanwhile, shaded the duo for having an “agenda.”
“It seemed like there was an absolute agenda. They both, Garcelle and Avi, knew that taking that photo together, it would go everywhere and it would spark questions and commentary,” she noted.
As for Sutton, she said she “had no idea that Garcelle liked Avi so much.”
“But apparently they have a good long-term friendship,” she stated.
Jennifer was also “taken aback.”
“Obviously, Garcelle can invite whoever she wants to her premiere, but it did seem a little bit deliberate,” she noted.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 15 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
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