Getty Denise Richards.
Denise Richards said Bravo pulled a fast one on her when she was a cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
While speaking on the February 11, 2022 episode of Sirius XM’s “Jeff Lewis Live,” Richards opened up about her two-year stint on the Bravo reality show. The mom of three also addressed the famous scene during which she shouted “Bravo, Bravo, f***ing Bravo!,” presumably as a way to get cameras to stop rolling while she was being questioned by her co-stars regarding an affair rumor about her and Brandi Glanville.
During her interview with Lewis, Richards claimed that’s not exactly how things went down.
Denise Richards Said Her ‘Bravo!” Line Was Taken Out of Context
Hulu/BravoDenise Richards
Viewers saw Richards scream the “Bravo, Bravo, f***Ing Bravo” phrase after Teddi Mellencamp confronted her about the affair rumors while the cast was out to dinner in Rome. But Richards claimed she actually said it earlier in the evening when her co-stars came at her during a different conversation.
“When I sat down to that dinner, I was dealing with some stuff with my children,” Richards said on Lewis’ podcast. “So at that dinner, I said something about my family.”
The “Bold and the Beautiful“ star, who is mom to daughters Sami, 17, Lola, 16, and Eloise, 10, added that she regretted what she said and used the “Bravo” phrase to alert producers that she didn’t want the comment about her family to make it to TV.
“This is before what I heard Teddi said about Brandi,” she added. “So I blurted out what I was dealing with and I said the ‘Bravo, Bravo, f***ing Bravo,’ because I was told to do that from Kyle [Richards] and [Lisa] Rinna— whether they want to admit it or not, that’s the truth. [They told me] if you say something about your kids or say the name of a school, to do that and Bravo won’t air it.”
Richards added that Bravo’s decision to make it appear she said the line after Mellencamp confronted her was “shady.” ”
Denise Richards’ Former RHOBH Co-Stars Confirmed the ‘Bravo Bravo Bravo Phrase Originated in Season 1 as a Signal for a Makeup Break
GettyCast members Camille Grammer, Adrienne Maloof, Kyle Richards, Kim Richards, Lisa Vanderpump and Taylor Armstrong arrive at Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” series party on October 11, 2010 in West Hollywood, California
On an episode of the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” aftershow in July 2020, Kyle Richards revealed that the cast members started using the “Bravo” phrase in 2010 to get cameras to stop so they could touch up their makeup
“We’d like use that time to quickly like you know put a little powder because it’s not like we have, you know, glam!” the RHOBH veteran explained. “So we would touch up our makeup and then they’d be like, ‘Pull the cameras back up!’ But we for some reason — it was the show was so new to us, we didn’t want to be like caught touching up our lip gloss, which now you’ll see us do that in scenes all the time — that we’d go, ‘Hold on! Bravo, Bravo, Bravo! …That was that.”
Dorit Kemsley added that she has “never seen anyone do it to cut something out or not have something used or not to put an end to a conversation” in the way that Denise Richards did.
“When you mention the network’s name then, you know, the network can’t use that footage and I think that that is where what she was hoping to achieve by saying that,” Kemsley revealed.
Denise Richards Said She Did Not Make a Lot of Money on RHOBH
GettyDenise Richards, Lisa Rinna, Kyle Richards, Dorit Kemsley, and Teddi Jo Mellencamp attend Erika Jayne x ShoeDazzle Launch Event! at Lombardi House on November 12, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
It’s unclear exactly what Richards was paid for her two seasons on RHOBH. According to The Things, she reportedly originally signed on to the show in a four-season deal for $1 million per season, but she exited halfway through.
During the podcast interview, Richards also set the record straight about rumors that she was the highest-paid Housewife of all time. The “Wild Things” star said she joined the Bravo reality show because she thought it would be “fun” but she made it clear it wasn’t a high-pay gig.
“I don’t know who started the rumor when I first joined the show that I got $4 million,” she said. “No offense to Bravo but they don’t pay a lot of money. So I did not get $4 million.”
Despite the low pay, Richards said she showed up to work and only left when she was pushed too far.
“During those dinners, if I would leave, it was after a certain point,” she explained on the podcast. “I think that they wanted me to fight and I’m not going to fight about certain things.”