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Richards shut down speculation that Real Housewives of Beverly Hills led to the longtime couple’s split, instead citing their growing careers, and a lack of time and communication that caused them to go their separate ways.
Kyle Richards is opening up about her relationship with ex Mauricio Umansky.
While on the latest episode of Bravo’s Hot Mic podcast, Richards revealed whether The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills affected her relationship with Umansky, and shared what ultimately led to the breakdown of their nearly three decades of marriage.
“Every situation, every marriage is different. For us, it had nothing to do with the show. We did the show together for many years, and we were fine through it … I was very happily married. The show did not affect us in that way at all,” Richards insisted.
While the RHOBH star said that the real estate broker and father of her children was always “very supportive” and someone she could lean on during the most difficult of times, it was the “money and the attention that comes with fame” that ultimately impacted their marriage.
Looking back at the early years of her marriage, before becoming a Bravolebrity and when Umansky’s real estate business, The Agency, was still getting off the ground, Richards reminded viewers that she and her husband “started out with nothing.”
“I had three kids and a two-bedroom apartment,” she shared, before calling those early days “some of the best times” of her and Umansky’s life.
With money and fame came new opportunities and new pitfalls for, at one time, Bravo’s golden couple.
“It opens up a whole other world, you know. You’re traveling, you’re going places, he’s getting attention that he didn’t get before, there’s more people looking at him all of a sudden. He’s a rich man … it’s a very different situation,” she explained, adding the fact that Umansky was “a great husband” and “a great dad,” which was also something appealing to others.
“Just having that thrown in your face all the time, and of course, me being busy and traveling, I think all of that just did not help,” explained Richards, who split from Umansky in July 2023, added.
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The Halloween alum did admit that she maybe held on too tight to their marriage and family unit out of her fear or losing it.
“Honestly, it was just a fear of mine,” she confessed. “Holding on too tight because I was so afraid something would ruin and take away what I love so much and [what] I’d built.”
She continued, “[The] next thing you know, you’re like, ‘Wait, what happened to the things that we used to live by before?’ It’s just, everything’s different now.”
And their world did in fact change, with Housewives success and Umansky’s growing real estate empire making things they used to do a challenge.
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In one instance, Richards explained, she sometimes wanted to join Mauricio for work events but could not because of the presence of RHOBH fans and photographers. Other times, it came down to Richards being unable to come with Umansky on work trips due to filming commitments or watching the kids.
“So, there was little things like that,” Richards said. “Just not making our marriage a priority because there were so many things going on.”
And while she’s been criticized for not opening up about her personal life in seasons 13 and 14, Richards said that she enjoys being transparent and even finds it therapeutic, but chose to keep some things private for the sake of her family.
“I am very open and I’m happy to share about myself. In fact, I find it therapeutic. But there’s certain things that either my kids didn’t want me to say… at the end of the day, I have to think about that stuff too.”
