Heavy/Getty Crystal Kung Minkoff and Sutton Stracke
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast went on a group trip to Sitges, Spain (just outside of Barcelona) in the January 31 episode of the series. While there, castmate Sutton Stracke shared with the group her intentions to spread the ashes of a longtime friend and mentor, dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham. At the end of the January 31 episode, Stracke went from room to room handing out necklaces made of white carnations to her co-stars, but in the “RHOBH After Show” posted on the Bravo YouTube channel, Crystal Kung Minkoff explained why Stracke’s gesture made her uncomfortable.
“We’re going to wear these, and then when we feel like we need to release whatever’s inside of us, we’re going to send them off into the ocean,” Stracke explained to Kyle Richards in the episode.
“I really appreciated the sentiment. I felt immediately uncomfortable because they’re white flowers,” Minkoff shared in the After Show.
Erika Jayne Noticed Crystal Kung Minkoff’s Discomfort
Erika Jayne chimed in during the After Show, explaining that she saw how uncomfortable Minkoff was. “I took [the flowers] off her I think, or I said ‘Take that off,'” Jayne explained. “And everybody was kind of looking at me, I said, ‘In Chinese culture white equals death.’ So who’s uneducated now?”
“Erika’s like Mensa [level smart], she knew a lot. And I just thought I would go with it and somehow change it out. I actually asked if there was red [flowers] but then Sutton said ‘I wanted it to be white,'” Minkoff added.
Stracke was unaware of the cultural significance white flowers held for Minkoff, explaining that she sought out red carnations initially (as they are the flower of Spain), but couldn’t find them in time for her ceremony. “I did not know this, so I apologize for that,” Stracke added in the After Show.
Erika Jayne Surprised Her Co-Stars With Her Knowledge
Not only did Jayne know that white was a symbol of death and grieving in Chinese culture, but earlier in the January 31 episode of the show, she surprised all of her co-stars with her knowledge of world history and geography at the dinner table while speaking with some friends Stracke had invited over to their house.
“I am used to dining and socializing with ‘erudite’ via Tom Girardi. I didn’t get the opportunity to go to college so I have a high school education. But I have a genuine thirst just to know things. Erudites, they love to talk, so I just asked a bunch of questions. Provided they’re not stuck up and looking down at you they’re cool,” Jayne said in confessional.
Jayne shared some of the knowledge she picked up in her dinners with her ex-husband and his friends at the RHOBH dinner table, telling one dinner guest who had lived and worked in Lebanon, “I was told that Beirut is almost like Los Angeles in the sense that it was the sea to the mountains and the snow.”
“Exactly,” the dinner guest confirmed.
“I don’t know what happens to Erika when she gets drunk but she suddenly becomes the world’s oracle,” Minkoff said in a confessional.
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