Former RHOBH Star Weighs In on Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump Friendship Fallout

Getty Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump in 2012

During a recent appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Taylor Armstrong weighed in on the friendship fallout between two of her old castmates, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump.

“It was so hard for me to see that,” Armstrong revealed when asked about their feud during her appearance. “I know the pressure that they both felt, and it was heartbreaking.”

On season nine of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Richards and Vanderpump’s friendship came to an end after they had a major feud involving the Puppygate scandal. The scandal was triggered by Dorit Kemsley, who had gotten a dog from Vanderpump’s Vanderpump Dog Center, but then decided that it wasn’t the right fit for her family. After the incident, the story about Kemsley’s dog was leaked to Radar Online.

Richards and the other women on the show were led to believe that Vanderpump was selling stories to Radar Online, and when Richards confronted her friend about the situation, their friendship ended up in flames.

Armstrong was a main cast member of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” during seasons one through three and then appeared as a “friend of” during seasons four through six.

Vanderpump Doesn’t Believe That Richards Has Good Intentions

Since their infamous fallout on season nine, Richards and Vanderpump have not mended their friendship, and are still not speaking. During a January 2021 appearance on Dear Media’s The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, Vanderpump opened up more about her former friend, and how she feels now.

“I seem to run into Kyle a few times,” Vanderpump admitted while on the podcast. “She always runs up to me and she always goes, ‘Hi, how are you?’ And I go, ‘Good.’ But I think when somebody doesn’t have good intention for you, where does that leave a friendship? I want friends around me that have good intention for me.”

Richards Is Open to Repairing the Friendship

Even after their big fight, it seems like Richards still has a soft spot for her former friend. During an April 2020 interview with E! News, Richards revealed that “the door is always open” for Vanderpump.

“I think that anytime you’ve been friends with somebody you care about them that much, that there’s always going to be something there and that’s my personality at least,” Richards told E! News at the time.

Richards continued, explaining, “I felt like the whole thing was stupid and that we could definitely work through that but until she’s open to it then that’s not an option. Yes, the door’s always open for someone that I cared about that much.”

Season 11 of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” is set to return on Wednesday, May 19, at 8/7c on Bravo. This year’s cast will feature Richards, Dorit Kemsley, Lisa Rinna, Erika Girardi, Garcelle Beauvais, Sutton Stracke, and newcomers Crystal Kung Minkoff and Kathy Hilton. Both Teddi Mellencamp and Denise Richards will not be returning.

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