Getty Kim Richards and Kyle Richards
Andy Cohen has revealed that producers for “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” refused to sweep the Richards family drama under the rug.
In the newly published “Housewives” book, “Not All Diamonds and Rosé,” the Bravo host and producer reflected on the infamous season 1 scene that featured Kim and Kyle Richards arguing in a limo. In the scene, Kyle famously outed Kim as an alcoholic and told her to “get help” after the former Disney star accused her of “stealing” her house.
The jaw-dropping scene finished out the first season of the Bravo reality show on a cliff-hanger style note and kept fans buzzing for months until the show returned for season 2.
Andy Cohen Said the Richards Sisters ‘Were Begging’ For the Scene to Be Cut From the Show
In the new book, “RHOBH” producer Chris Cullen revealed that the production team had “no idea” that Kim Richards was struggling with alcohol at the time they shot the famous scene. When producers set up the limo scene with Kim, the two sisters had already been fighting and it was Kyle who stormed into the car.
Producer Dave Rupel said he tried to talk Kyle out of getting into the limo because Kim was already so upset and Kyle was “red hot,” but Kyle told him, “I’m getting in the car. You can shoot it or not.”
Kyle revealed that she regretted that the moment played out in front of Bravo’s cameras.
“I was so mad about the things she was saying that calling her an alcoholic just came out of my mouth,” Kyle said. “When people drink, they’re not the nicest people in world, let’s just put it that way. And it doesn’t bring out the best in others around them, either.”
Andy Cohen added that after the Richards sisters realized that their family drama would be on TV for all of the world to see, they asked production not to include the scene in the finale episode.
“The sisters were begging Evolution and Bravo to take the scene out of the show,” Cohen said. “It didn’t happen.”
NBC Universal Executive Vice President of Entertainment Content, Shari Levine, added that the show is “meant to“ capture life as it happens” and that the ladies from all of the “Housewives” franchises have “moments that they want to keep off the air”
“If it’s shot, we will edit it in,” Levine said in the book.
While Kyle is the “RHOBH” queen bee now, back then she wasn’t close with the producers.
“When Kim and I had that fight in the limo, I didn’t know production very well,” Kyle admitted in the book.
Elsewhere in the tell-all, Kyle said she had “so much anxiety after that fight with Kim in the limo in season 1” that it affected her on the show for years.
The Scene Caused a Rift With Oldest Sister Kathy Hilton
GettyKathy Hilton, Kyle Richards and Kim Richards arrive at Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” series party
“Real Housewives” fans weren’t the only ones who watched in horror as Kim accused Kyle of stealing the Palm Desert, California house that their late mother, Kathleen, left for her, and Kyle firing back with accusations of alcoholism.
In an interview on the SiriusXM podcast “Lunch with Bruce,” the eldest Richards sister, Kathy Hilton, said the scene “hurt” her to watch and that she “broke down” when it aired on TV.
On the podcast, Kathy said after Kyle revealed on camera that Kim was an alcoholic she “didn’t speak to [Kyle] for a long time” afterward.
“Paris [Hilton], and I watched that,” Kathy said. “We broke down, you know, when you cry and you’re shaking and your lip starts to quiver and my mommy’s not there and there’s no one it’s like — I felt helpless and alone.”
The limo fight marked the temporary end of Kathy’s “RHOBH” viewing. She previously told “Access Hollywood” that she briefly watched “RHOBH” “up until [Kim and Kyle’s] big fight” but after the scene aired, she was done tuning in.
“The big limo fight. That was it for me,” she said.
Fans saw Kim and Kyle’s rocky relationship continue on camera for several more seasons until Kim quit the Bravo reality show in season 5. Kathy joined the cast as a “friend of” the Housewives in season 11, and while fans have asked for all three Richards sisters to be on the show together, Kim has already shot that idea down.
When asked by Radar Online in September 2021 if she would consider a return to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” Kim replied, “Probably not.”
READ NEXT: Fans Slam Kyle Richards & Kathy Hilton for ‘Acting’ on ‘RHOBH’ Reunion