Mauricio Umansky opened up about his past feud with Rick Hilton in his just-released memoir, The Dealmaker: How to Succeed in Business & Life Through Dedication, Determination & Disruption, which was released on Tuesday.
While looking back on his decision to leave Rick’s real estate firm to start his own and sharing how Rick and his wife, Kathy Hilton, responded to him doing so, the Buying Beverly Hills star, who also appears alongside wife Kyle Richards on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, confirmed Kyle was “unconditionally supportive” of the decision.
“She’s not only my wife; she’s my best friend,” he wrote in his book, via Us Weekly.
According to Mauricio, he left Hilton & Hyland to launch The Agency in 2011 after Rick refused to make him a “full partner” in his business.
“I went home to Kyle and told her what had happened,” Mauricio recalled. “She agreed with me that it was very unjust. But ultimately it didn’t matter what we thought. In my opinion, Rick wasn’t going to change his mind, and he wasn’t prepared to pay me what I’d earned.”
Still, Mauricio confirmed he would have stayed at Rick’s firm if they agreed to pay him what he “deserved,” offer him a better position, and gave him “an inkling of professional love.”
“For their part, they didn’t see it that way,” Mauricio noted. “They couldn’t understand how I could just make the decision overnight and not give them a chance to convince me otherwise.”
Following his decision to leave Hilton & Hyland, Mauricio said Rick cut ties with him and did the same to Kyle.
“And of course his wife, Kathy — Kyle’s sister — did the same,” Mauricio continued. “They cut all communication and no longer invited us to Thanksgiving dinners or other holidays.”
“He and Kathy held tremendous anger toward us, which is not the way I choose to live my life,” Mauricio revealed. “Naturally, Kyle was very hurt by their reaction, and it was a difficult pill for her to swallow.”
And while Mauricio and Rick have since gotten to a better place, Kyle and Kathy are currently estranged after suffering a falling out amid filming on RHOBH season 12 last year. As fans will recall, Kyle’s friend and co-star, Lisa Rinna, accused Kathy of threatening to “destroy” her and her family during a meltdown in Aspen, which Kathy denied.
The Dealmaker: How to Succeed in Business & Life Through Dedication, Determination & Disruption is available now.