Getty Lisa Vanderpump and Kyle Richards, stars of Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, had a significant falling out last year over "puppygate."
Despite Kyle Richards’ infamous saying that “in Beverly Hills, fame and money come and go, but friends should not,” it doesn’t look like her long-standing friendship with Lisa Vanderpump is going to last.
Richards joined the cast of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills during its first season, and has remained a main cast member throughout most of the series. However, the two women, who started the series as close friends, had a pretty significant falling out during season 9. Although the two have had their ups and downs throughout the series, they’ve always come out on top, but the latest issue between the RHOBH stars doesn’t seem to be simmering down anytime soon.
For those who need a refresher, Richards and Vanderpump had a falling out in 2018 after a big controversy flared over a dog that their costar Dorit Kemsley adopted from Vanderpump’s rescue center, Vanderpump Dogs. When the puppy ended up at a kill shelter, Teddi Mellencamp accused Vanderpump and her employees of talking about the situation on camera to make it part of a storyline on the show. Although Richards tried to remain neutral, she questioned Vanderpump shortly after, which caused a heated argument to break out between the ladies and ended with Vanderpump’s husband kicking Richards out of their house. You can view the clip above.
Following the argument, Vanderpump wrote about how hurt and angry she at Richards’ accusations in her BravoTV blog, writing “For me to put my hand to God and swear on my children’s life and still have my friend disbelieve me is unacceptable. I assure you, if any of my friends were as vociferous in their statement of innocence, holding up their children’s life … guess what? I would believe them. That is where the show started but is ultimately where our friendship finished.”
According to ET Online, Vanderpump stopped filming halfway through the season of RHOBH and cut everybody involved with the show out of her life because of the controversy surrounding the puppy.
“I stopped filming halfway through the season,” she told ET Online. “When you are a woman of integrity, and you’re a woman that works really hard and is very compassionate, and is very principally minded, and they keep coming at you and ganging up on you, I don’t know…” After she was continuously accused of leaking the story about Dorit Kemsley to the press, she said she no longer “integrated” with the women on the show, and didn’t appreciate constantly being called a liar.
Although Vanderpump’s blog post seemed pretty adamant that hers and Richards’ friendship was “finished,” Richards spoke to Us Weekly back in November last year, claiming she had been trying to reach out to Vanderpump to work things out, ultimately leaving the decision to end their friendship up to her friend.
“Emails and text messages and, you know, I don’t know what else to do,” Richards told Us Weekly. “As far as I’m concerned, the ball is in her court.”
However, if Vanderpump remains stubbornly set against speaking with her RHOBH cast anymore, and isn’t responding to Richards’ text messages and calls, it doesn’t seem likely that the two will repair their friendship anytime soon.
What do you think about their argument? Do you think Vanderpump is over-reacting to “Puppygate,” or do you think she has a valid reason for cutting her costars out of her life? Let us know in the comments below and tune in to Bravo on Tuesdays at 9/8c to keep up with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
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