Photo Credit: OConnor/AFF-USA.com / MEGA
Erika Jayne is back in the spotlight. For many months, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star shied away from public interviews. Now, however, the 50-year-old is ready to tell her side of the story.
After Erika left her husband Tom Girardi in 2020, the once prominent lawyer was accused of embezzling funds from his former clients. Erika is also named in the lawsuits against him.
In an interview with Michael Rapaport on The Wendy Williams Show, the host asked what it was like to film RHOBH during her legal troubles.
“It was the darkest hour of my life,” she said, “but I signed a contract, and I had a commitment and I had to show up for that, and I had nothing to hide so I wasn’t gonna run, so when everybody was like, ‘You won’t show up, you won’t show up,’ I was like, ‘Yes, I will.'”
She went on to say, “When things like this happen to you, you really find out who you are at your core, but more importantly you find out who your friends are.”
Erika explained, “There were days that I really just could not keep it together but … it was up to me to pull myself out of the hole, and that’s what I had to do.”
Then, the pop singer revealed she’s getting death threats, which are “frightening” because she doesn’t know which threats are real and which ones are harmless.
“And I live in an area [where] a lot of people know where I live, so you know some people knock on my door …
Host Michael was shocked by Erika’s announcement, and asked if they were men, women, or kids. “It’s all of it,” she answered. “[They ask] ‘Is Erika here?’ and you know I’m hiding behind the drapes.”
Michael asked Erika to explain the difference between civil and criminal cases.
“[I’m dealing with] civil stuff, not criminal stuff,” she said. “It’s as simple as this: civil means civil liability, punishment, money. Criminal means you go to jail.” She shared that her cases “are ongoing. That’s what the law is — long and arduous.”
Michael asked if the cases changed her perspective on what’s important (after being involved in all the glitz and glam). She answered, “It was fun, and then, you know … Life really, yes, it’s changed who I am at my core. I think it’s change the way I look at people, the way I look at the world. I have a lot more empathy and understanding for those who are really fighting for themselves.”
“You’re put into a situation where really your back is up against the wall, that’s a tough place to be. So whenever I see somebody really struggling or something like that I’m always trying to reach out and say, ‘Are you alright? I understand.”
“There is some light at the end of the tunnel,” said Erika, regarding her current battles. “These things will be resolved but, again, it takes time … Today, as opposed to a year ago, I’m in a much better place.”
Regarding her divorce with Tom, Erika explained: “He does call, you know, and Tom lives in a memory care facility. He has dementia, Alzheimer’s, which was something that I stood up early and I said, ‘hey we have changes here,’ but everyone blew me off, and he blew me off, and I can only do so much.”
She added, “So this is where we are. He does call, and I take his call, and it’s usually like five or ten seconds and sometimes he thinks I’m someone else … It’s hard, I think that because there’s so much about the embezzlement and all of these bad things that people also forget I was married to this man for 20 years, so it’s hard to just kind of cut that chord, like the emotional chord … There’s still that human element there. It’s been really sad all the way around for everyone.”
The star is now dating again, but Erika won’t use dating apps because she’s scared of strangers. “I need to know someone that knows someone,” she explained.
Erika also gave an update on her friend Dorit Kemsley, who was robbed at gunpoint in her house. “She’s doing really well despite what happened. I mean, she’s really tough mentally but something like that can really take you down. That’s just two men coming, or two or three … holding a gun to her. The other one’s saying, ‘kill her, kill her, kill her. Where’s our stuff? Where’s our stuff,’ and you know, that’s hard. She’s in therapy, she’s doing everything she can to go beyond.”
“It was terrible. I mean I remember the day that I got the phone call that morning because it happened at night and I was in my kitchen just sweaty from the gym and I threw everything down and I just got in my car and drove toward her house, as we all did because that was our friend, and her husband was out of town, and how could we help.”
Erika then explained why she recently threw Garcelle Beauvais‘ book in the trash: “When [Garcelle] said, ‘Erika I don’t have to make yourself look bad you can do that on your own,’ ok, she took that piece and posted it on Instagram to promote her book, ‘You know how else you can make yourself look bad, don’t buy my book,’ and I said, ‘Oh, that’s what we’re doing, ok, in the trash.'”
“Look, when they swing first, you gotta swing back,” said Erika. “I never start trouble, but I’m not going to let you, like, you know.”
Erika also doesn’t agree with Sutton Stracke‘s insensitive remarks after Dorit’s home invasion. “I know that we’re doing a television show and under the guise of entertainment but here’s the reality: Dorit could have lost her life, and those children could have as well, so don’t tell me that, ‘Oh well I just got caught up in it’ … [Sutton]’s 50, I’m 50. We’re not kids, we know what was coming out of our mouth.”
She ended the interview, “Crime is real … and you have to be sensitive to people who are victims of crime, you know, a violent crime.”
Although Erika is still facing lawsuits, her name was dismissed from one of them in January.
At the time, her attorney told Page Six, “I’d like to see [the plaintiff] and everyone else take the high road going forward, and not make accusations against Erika without evidence.”