Kyle Richards is opening up about a difficult conversation she had with her daughters in regard to her sexuality.
In a couple of new interviews, the 55-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member admitted to questioning her sexuality amid rumors of a romance with country singer Morgan Wade, 29, as she also shared her daughters’ reactions, confirmed she’s taking a step back from Morgan, and offered an update on her fluidity.
“It was the most difficult conversation I’ve ever had with my children and I was terrified to have that conversation. I just wanted to be as honest as I possibly could,” Kyle told Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast on November 11. “There were stories out there about me and … this did make me wonder, you know, and question myself.”
“I really never thought like this before. This is not the way I was raised. That’s not the way my mind even operated. And all of a sudden I was thinking like that and I wanted to be as honest with them as possible because they are my best friends,” she continued of Farrah Aldjufrie, 36, Alexia Umansky, 28, Sophia Umansky, 24, and Portia Umansky, 16.
In addition to wanting to be honest with her daughters, Kyle hoped that doing so would show them that sexuality shouldn’t be a taboo discussion.
“I like to lead by example and I thought, ‘You know, if this is what I’m going through and feeling, I want them to always feel comfortable enough to share with me the hardest conversations and know that they’ll be accepted no matter what,’” she explained.
As daunting as the conversation may have been, Kyle was overjoyed with her kids’ response.
“Having that conversation, their reaction and response to me, I thought, ‘Wow, I mean, I’m just so impressed by these four women in front of me.’ And I thought, ‘Maybe, just maybe, I did do a good job’ — because that was my most proud moment as a mom, just seeing how they all reacted,” she shared. “To have their support — regardless of what happens in my life — means the world to me. They just want me to be happy. After we got past that difficult part of the conversation, the jokes that have ensued!”
“I have been teased by some of them, too, which is fine. But it’s been great and it’s been actually amazing for our relationship, too,” Kyle added.
While Kyle began spending a lot of time with Morgan following her 2023 split from Mauricio Umansky, 54, she stepped back from the friendship after the speculation about their dynamic became too “overwhelming.”
“I think she just didn’t want any part of anything to do with my role [on] reality television and all that came with it. And, you know, the paparazzi and all that was very overwhelming. So I understood that and respected that,” she noted. “I am an open book, but I cannot speak to other people’s lives of experiences when they have not signed up to do this and don’t want to be a part of this … I think anybody would be overwhelmed in that situation.”
In another interview with Decider, via Instagram, Kyle admitted that when it comes to her questions about her sexuality, she’s “still figuring things out.”
“I was still figuring things out, myself, and I think that that is, even being comfortable enough to say that was a very big deal for me,” she explained. “I guess that would be the update, that I’m even comfortable to say that and, you know, I guess that was part of figuring all of that out.”
“It was important for me to have that conversation with my daughters because there was so much talk and speculation, which is what actually got me even thinking about it, to be honest,” she continued. “That would never have crossed my brain, ever in a million years. I felt like being honest with them, what that had sort of sparked in me, and where I was at was important to share with them. I wanted to lead by example by being open and honest and having that very difficult conversation.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14 premieres Tuesday, November 19, at 8/7c on Bravo.
