Credit: Jesse Bauer/startraksphoto.com, Bravo
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Crystal Minkoff opened up about not being allowed to talk about Dorit Kemsley smoking on camera.
“Dorit smoking…Like, she just constantly smoked,” she shared on her ‘Humble Brag’ podcast. “But we… were not allowed to talk about it. We’re like, ‘Okay.’ And they’re like, ‘Wait, everyone pause. She’s gonna go smoke.’ ”
“That’s why I think we wait for her a lot,” Crystal shared, addressing a common complaint women on the show have about Dorit’s tardiness. “She’s smoking.”
“I swear to God, that’s why, she’s smoking,” Crystal reiterated. “So then it was like suddenly she just became like a smoker and everyone’s like, ‘Oh my God, yeah!’ And I was like, ‘Oh.’ And then I just remember like, I would whisper to someone like, ‘Why are we…’ and they’d be like, ‘No, no, no, just don’t talk about it. No one knows she smokes.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, except all 400 people here.’ ”
“But like sort of that was indicative of the show, like that kind of thing,” she added.
In 2024, former RHOBH star Teddi Mellencamp shaded Dorit for her smoking habit.
“Dorit just likes ripping down cigs, and Kyle’s all into working out,” she shared on her ‘Two Ts in a Pod’ podcast. Like things are a little different in where they are in their life right now.”
Dorit was first seen smoking in 2024, on the season 14 premiere episode.
While paparazzi photos previously showed Dorit was a smoker, the scene was the first time she had a cigarette on camera.
“I was actually being chased by paparazzi so I was like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god,’” she shared.
Dorit also addressed the scene in a December interview with British Vogue.
“I remember the headspace I was in,” she shared. “I was coming out of such a dark time. It felt like I’d been holding it together. And then I was just like… f*ck it. So that was what you saw.”
“[I] would have never expected a moment like that would have [resonated with so many people],” she added. “Seeing the I don’t give a f*ck. I really learnt to appreciate the humor and also the power.”
Dorit said she’s “never been driven” by catering her scenes to what the audience wants to see.
“I don’t research and look at Twitter and see what they want… [But] I know that some people do,” she explained.
Dorit did admit she was once “afraid” of how social media would respond to her behavior while on camera, worried that some actions may be “misconstrued” or “twisted; however, she said she has now gotten to a place of freedom in regard to that.
“I reached a point where I didn’t give a sh*t. It’s the best way to do a show like this,” she noted.