Heavy/NBCUniversal Kyle Richards.
Kyle Richards revealed why she made it “a point” to appear on the second season of “Buying Beverly Hills.” The Netflix reality show stars Richards’ estranged husband, Mauricio Umansky, and three of their daughters.
In a June 2024 interview with Us Weekly, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star explained that her husband and daughters have always backed her on Bravo, so she felt she had to do the same for them.
“I obviously want the best for him and my daughters,” Richards told the outlet of Umansky. “I made a point to show up to support them this season — we had to work that out between the two networks. They have been showing up for years on Bravo.”
Richards added that she regularly receives compliments about her daughters Farrah, Alexia, and Sophia from fans who watch them on the Netflix hit. “To see them soar and learn from my mistakes on the show. … And just seeing them be true to themselves makes [me] so proud,” she said.
Kyle Richards Did Not Appear in the 1st Season of ‘Buying Beverly Hills’
GettyJoey Ben-Zvi, Brandon Graves, Jon Grauman, Alexia Umansky, Mauricio Umansky, Sonika Vaid, Allie Lutz, Farrah Brittany, Melissa Platt, Santiago Arana and Ben Belack attend Wheelhouse’s Spoke Studios and the Agency’s “Buying Beverly Hills” premiere party at Wheelhouse on November 02, 2022 in West Hollywood, California.
Fans were a little surprised to see how much Richards appeared in the second season of “Buying Beverly Hills,” considering her cameo on the first season consisted of one FaceTime call. She logged several scenes for season 2, appearing in three of 9 episodes, per IMDb, including a bedtime chat with Umansky. Another whimsical scene featured the mom of four riding her bike in Aspen with two huge Hermes shopping bags in her hands.
In 2022, Umansky told Us Weekly that his wife didn’t appear in the first season of his show because Netflix is a rival network of Bravo. “I think that’s just an issue between networks,” The Agency founder shared of his wife’s absence that season.
But at the time, Richards told Insider she was simply too busy to appear on “Buying Beverly Hills.” “I’m really excited for my husband and the girls,” she said in July 2022. “But I really have my hands full with the ‘Housewives’ and my acting and producing again. My plate is full right now.”
Kyle & Mauricio’s Split Storyline Segued Onto ‘Buying Beverly Hills’
NetflixMauricio Umansky and Kyle Richards on “Buying Beverly Hills.”
By the time filming for season 2 of “Buying Beverly Hills” rolled around, news of Umansky and Richards’ separation had been leaked.
According to Vanity Fair, Netflix lucked out with the timing of the couple’s split. While such a storyline would have normally been reserved for RHOBH, filming for the Bravo show had wrapped two months prior. Meanwhile, the whole family was in Aspen filming “BBH” in July 2023 when People magazine prematurely reported that Richards and Umansky had separated after 27 years of marriage but were still “living under the same roof.”
“Buying Beverly Hills” executive producer Liz Fine told Variety that producers were not privy to any issues with Umansky’s marriage ahead of filming. “We received the news that there was any issue with their relationship the same time that the world received the news,” she said.
She added, “Part of that [Aspen] trip, July 5th, was going to be a family day with just the Umansky family, including Kyle. That was always the plan,” explains Fine. “The news broke on July 3rd, and we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’ So, then we had to recalibrate.”
She also noted that the Umansky family never set any boundaries on what could be filmed. Richards did head back to Beverly Hills to shoot pickup scenes for RHOBH in the aftermath of the leaked split news. One year later, she’s filming RHOBH season 14.
During a May 2024 Amazon Livestream, Richards said the new season is very different for her now that her husband has moved out of their house. “Obviously a lot of things have changed since last year,” she told fans. “So, there is a lot to talk about and unpack. And I don’t know. It’s just very, very, very different.”
Richards also promised that Umansky “will” make appearances on the new season of RHOBH despite their split.
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Kyle Richards Reveals Why She Appeared On 2nd Reality Show