Kyle Richards called out Dorit Kemsley for her “manipulative” ways and accused her of acting out to avoid a potential demotion or firing during an interview on Monday.
Ahead of next week’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills premiere, Kyle, 55, offered an update on where she stands with Sutton Stracke, 53, and she teased her upcoming project with Reese Witherspoon, 48, and a possible return to Halloween. She also shaded Dorit, 47, for reading her private text at the season 13 reunion and labeled it “manipulative.”
“It was actually the complete opposite of a manipulation. I could not have been more transparent in what I said to her about not wanting to ruin a friendship over a reality show. And I think that was what was manipulative, was her reading that on camera, a private text,” Kyle told Deadline on November 11. “I always look at what people accuse you of, because it seems to be something that they would do to people.”
According to Kyle, the reading of her text was “very upsetting,” and she and Dorit came into filming on season 14 in a bad place because of it.
“You’ll see us work through all that as much as we could through the season. But then we would kind of take one step forward, two steps back,” she shared.
Then, when asked if she felt Dorit was more activated amid season 14 due to the swirling rumors regarding her status on the show, Kyle admitted she did.
“Yes … I’m thinking, ‘We’re friends, [which] is more than a TV show,’ and which is why I felt even more frustrated by the stuff that was going on on camera and the text being read and all of that. It kind of made me think, ‘Okay, well, wow. Talk about a manipulation,'” she explained.
Although Kyle went into season 14 with intentions of patching things up with Dorit, especially after she split from Paul “PK” Kemsley, 57, in May, she said she was “met with resistance” from her former friend.
“I kept trying, but it felt very difficult, and I was met with a very different Dorit [than] I was used to seeing, and it didn’t feel like it was just what she was going through in her life. She just seemed a lot more angry,” Kyle revealed, suspecting Dorit didn’t want to reconcile because it would be better for the drama of the show.
“I think that’s a big part of it. And then I think she’s also maybe angry with what’s going on in her life,” Kyle added.
While Kyle doesn’t like to think that rumors influence storylines on the show, she admitted that she has been met with two-faced behavior from her castmates in the past.
“I do see being nice to my face, and then very different conversations happening with the other cast members. And I’m like, ‘Wait, what do I believe here?’ But then that perpetuates more problems within the show,” she noted.
Looking ahead to season 15, Kyle said she’d like to see Teddi Mellencamp, 43, who is currently in the midst of a cheating scandal, return.
“I know that she would always have my back,” Kyle reasoned. “Teddi, I know would also be, like [Erika Jayne], be supportive. And I can trust her.”
After sharing that Erika has always been steadfast and never made her question their friendship, Kyle confirmed that she and Sutton were able to repair their relationship, at least for now.
“She came into this season, very much wanting to repair our friendship and apologizing for how she treated me last year. I really appreciated that, and I felt it was genuine, and I was grateful, because I care about her, and I just wanted us to be friends again,” Kyle said. “And then, you know, you see the trailer, and you’re like, ‘Wait, what is she saying behind my back?’ So I don’t know.”
Moving on, Kyle said her new project with Reese is “an unscripted docu-series,” and she confirmed she’s open to a Halloween return.
“I would love to do that. I’m grateful that I wasn’t killed off in the last one — since the original one, I’ve survived. So I would love to be back doing something like that with [Jamie Lee Curtis],” she revealed.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14 premieres Tuesday, November 19, at 8/7c on Bravo.
