A former associate and client of Thomas Girardi‘s is speaking out about her time working with the attorney, how the 81-year-old really felt about his estranged wife Erika Jayne, and blasting The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star for what she believes is classless behavior.
Kimberly Archie began working with Thomas after he represented her best friend of 48-years, Kathy Ruigomez, whose son was left in a coma and severely burned from the The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) gas explosion in 2010. Her friend, however, is now suing the disgraced attorney for the $11 million he allegedly failed to pay her family. Thomas also represented Kimberly in her son’s wrongful death case while she was working for him, and she says she thought he was a “good guy” at the time, but now claims she was sadly mistaken.
“I often say you can’t go into a shark fight with a guppy, you gotta bring a shark, Kimberly told Heather McDonald on her Juicy Scoop podcast. “And Tom was a shark. I thought he was a good guy shark, and obviously that wasn’t true, but a lot of people thought he was a good guy. I wish I would have understood what was going on sooner, but hindsight’s always 20/20.”
After working with the attorney for years, Kimberly has an insider’s perspective on Thomas and Erika’s relationship and how he truly felt about the reality star.
“When Tom would talk about Erika, he would light up the room,” she claimed. “I fully believed he was madly in love with her. He would be so excited to talk about what she was doing and he seemed so proud of all of her accomplishments, her book, it making the New York Times bestseller list. I mean, when she got Roxy on Broadway, I mean, he loves Broadway and that’s something we would chat about,” Kimberly shared.
Kimberly says when she first heard that Erika was joining the RHOBH, she was completely shocked. As ironic as it is, she says Thomas always advised his clients against doing reality TV because once their cases were settled, he felt they needed to live a “quieter life.”
“When I found out about them doing Housewives I was floored, and I mean floored,” she professed. “Actually, I didn’t believe it. We had talked about a client doing a reality show after they had settled a case, but it was a benign show, a fishing show or whatever, so it wasn’t necessarily that juicy of a show. And he was adamant, like, ‘no reality TV, that’s not what’s good for them, they need to keep a quieter life.’ So, I initially was like ‘wow,’ because it was really wild that he would [agree to do the show].”
The former Girardi Keese associate says she told Thomas she was “blown away” that he had agreed to let Erika do the show due to the intense spotlight, but what Erika wanted, Erika got.
“He literally just said, ‘This is for Erika. This is for her career and I’m gonna do it.’ And that was it and I was like ‘wow!'”
Kimberly, who is also involved in one of the many lawsuits filed against Thomas in some capacity, shared her current feelings about the “Pretty Mess” singer and her recent behavior.
“Her perspective on the victims is really interesting because she’s not saying much. She’s doing a few things like posting lots of photos, and I understand some of them are probably required by different contracts, but still, to taunt people and say we’re all gullible,” Kimberly wondered, referring to one of Erika’s recent Instagram captions. “Really, the victims are gullible? Gullible to what? How come she’s not coming to the US trustee for the bankruptcy case and saying ‘Hey, I’ll help you find the assets.’ Instead, you’re posting selfies and saying we’re gullible? No, you’re an idiot is what you are and you have zero class. It’s a perfect example of money can’t buy class,” she alleged.
Erika has admitted on the show that she did not fit in well with the law world and other attorneys’ wives were not very welcoming to her. As an individual who not only works in the field, but also as a mother who was represented by Thomas after tragically losing her son, Kimberly doesn’t hold back when explaining why Erika didn’t exactly fit in.
“I think one of the things that maybe didn’t sit so well in the world she was trying to navigate, is she created a persona based on money,” she claimed. “When your money – even if it wasn’t stolen – came from people like my son’s wrongful death case, or a burn victim, or somebody’s family member who died of cancer, or was injured in a train crash, or died in a bus rollover that shouldn’t have happened, you probably could have a little more etiquette and class about how to let people perceive how you’ve enjoyed the wealth that has come from these terrible tragedies.”
“There’s an amount of decorum that she could have had,” Kimberly added. “Nobody’s saying that people can’t make a ton of money, but she could have been a little more tasteful about her presentation of having this lifestyle.”
Photos Credit: Milla Cochran/startraksphoto, Jeffrey Mayer/MEGA