Heavy/NBCUniversal Kyle Richards.
Garcelle Beauvais spoke out about Kyle Richards’ separation from Mauricio Umansky.
In a November 2023 interview with E! News, Beauvais said she was shocked by the news of her co-star’s split. “I thought they were the perfect couple, I thought everything was great,” Beauvais said. “Unless you’re in someone’s bedroom, you really don’t know.”
In July 2023, the longtime “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” couple confirmed they were having marital problems. Richards gave more details during a November 2023 appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” where she admitted to host Andy Cohen, “[The separation] originated from me.”
Richards and Umansky married in 1996 and share four daughters.
Here’s what you need to know.
Garcelle Beauvais Said Kyle Richards’ Separation is ‘Sad’
Fans watched tension build between Richards and Umansky as the 13th season of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” filmed earlier this year. With filming wrapped, Beauvais admitted she doesn’t have “any insight” as to the status of the couple’s relationship. “I think it’s really sad, but I think 27 years of marriage, things shift, and obviously there’s a shift,” she told E!. “There’s a shift with her for sure, but I think they’re having a hard time. It’s sad.”
When the separation was first announced, Beauvais told Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” that she and Sutton Stracke had been “suspicious” of the couple and that their marital issues became “a topic of conversation” during filming for the Bravo reality show.
Garcelle Beauvais Said Kyle Richards Has Changed
In the new E! interview, Beauvais said Richards is definitely a “different” person now. On the show, fans have seen that Richards quit drinking completely and embarked on a serious fitness journey. She also got five tattoos and began hanging with a new bestie, singer Morgan Wade, who is just 28 years old. When speaking about her sobriety, Richards said that she sometimes felt pressure to drink. She told co-star Dorit Kemsley, “This is who I am. Just take it or leave it.”
In a confessional, Stracke claimed Richards, 54, was going through a “mid-life crisis.” During a cast trip to Las Vegas, Beauvais jokingly asked Richards how long her sobriety was going to last and admitted she missed the “old Kyle.”
On November 16, Richards talked about her lifestyle changes in a fan Q&A on Amazon Live. “It’s been difficult this past year,” she said. “Something that doesn’t get talked about on the show, when they keep saying ‘this has been a hard year.’ They don’t talk about yet — for some reason it has not been shown or edited around — but they’ll show later, I lost my best friend a year and a half ago. And I was filming after all that and the reunion was after that. So that was another big part of what was going on in my life.”
In May 2022, Richards’ childhood best friend Lorene Shea died by suicide after struggling with depression. On April 18, 2023, Richards and her RHOBH co-star Dorit Kemsley hosted a charity event for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The charity event was filmed for “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to reach the toll-free Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week (dial 888-628-9454 for assistance in Spanish). You can also speak with a trained crisis counselor anytime by texting HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line.
READ NEXT: Original ‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Shares Secret About Iconic Scene