Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/NBCUniversal
Kyle Richards may be the longest-running cast member of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — but that doesn’t mean she never thinks about moving on from her role on the Bravo reality series. In fact, during a recent interview, Kyle admitted that she’s frequently contemplated quitting.
Before revealing if she’ll have a role on husband Mauricio Umansky‘s new Netflix series, which also stars her two oldest daughters, Farrah Aldjufrie, 33, and Alexia Umansky, 26, and sharing whether or not Kris Jenner will ever join her on RHOBH, Kyle addressed her thoughts on leaving the show.
“There’s always times that we are like, ‘I’m done. I can’t do this anymore,’” Kyle admitted during a July 4 interview on Goss.ie.
Although Kyle has certainly had times where she’s questioned her future on the show, she said that season 11 wasn’t one of those times, explaining that she was at the height of her career with two shows and two movies, including The Housewives of the North Pole, in the works, all which were led by NBCUniversal, Bravo’s parent company.
“I was really busy and overwhelmed, but I was really grateful. They’ve been very good to me, too, so you definitely don’t walk away after a year like that, so then you think, ‘Well I can hang in there another year,’” Kyle explained. “And then drama unfolds, and next thing you know you’re crying and you have anxiety and you’re like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ But I just take it each year as it comes along.”
According to Kyle, the deciding factor in her ongoing returns is based around her ability to have fun with her castmates.
“As long as you still have times of having fun on this show then it’s great because we do have a lot of fun,” she stated.
Throughout her 12 years on RHOBH, Kyle has shared a lot about her life. And, while she said she has no regrets about what she’s shared, she does have “a lot of regrets” about certain behavior.
“I have a lot of regrets over the years, the way I reacted to certain things or handled certain things or even something that I said flippantly that I didn’t quite realize in the moment,” Kyle noted. “Without the cameras, sometimes we say things and you go, ‘Oh I didn’t mean that, what I mean is…’ You don’t really get that luxury in reality television so there have been moments where I’m just like, ‘I’m never gonna shake that one.’ But you also learn a lot about yourself in doing a show like this. Like, ‘I wish I handled these things differently,’ or, ‘I don’t really like how I react to certain things,’ or ‘I need to work on that or myself.’ So in a weird way, it can be really good for you if you’re open to growing and changing.”
As Kyle filmed the latest season of RHOBH, Mauricio and her daughters were filming Buying Beverly Hills, which is described by Netflix as a real estate occu-soap. And, because her contract doesn’t allow her to be in production on two shows at once, Kyle was unable to film for their upcoming series.
“We were actually shooting at the same time, so it wasn’t really an option, but I’m very excited for my husband and my daughters. I think it’s gonna be great and they’re going to do well,” Kyle stated.
Kyle then admitted that while she previously didn’t want her daughters to follow in her footsteps, she felt this project would be good for their business, and the business of her husband’s real estate firm, The Agency.
“The second this came up, I said, ‘Well, I’ve sat there and said: I would never want my kids.. I would never let them [join a reality show].’ I said, ‘That’s going to come back and haunt me for sure.‘ And of course, now here we are. But we are in real estate… So the idea was like, you know what, my husband and my daughters, they’re businesswomen, he’s a businessman. It’s great for our company and our brand, and we can kind of have some fun doing this till we build up our brand,” she reasoned. “They wanted to be in television but they’re business-minded first so I said, okay fine. Do what you think is right for The Agency.”
Also, during the interview, Kyle said that fans shouldn’t be holding their breath for Kris to join RHOBH.
“Never. Kris Jenner is a very very very busy woman. She does not need to be adding being a housewife to the list. Even though I would love it, she’s too busy,” Kyle confirmed.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.