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Fans of The Real Housewives of Rhode Island were shocked when star Liz McGraw revealed she was departing the series after its first season.
While Liz was initially a fan favorite, she became more divisive as the season progressed, especially after a major fight with Alicia Carmody and Jo-Ellen Tiberi.
This week, RHORI star Rulla Pontarelli shared a new photo at an event with Liz, 56, in it, leading to speculation that Liz had returned to film the show.
An insider exclusively spoke to Reality Blurb to reveal what’s going on.
“Rulla and Liz happened to be at the same event,” the source shared. “But she did not film for the show.”
They did add that there have been some suspicions that Liz could potentially film for the second season, but she has not filmed to date, and they reiterated that the photograph with Rulla had nothing to do with Liz filming.
Liz officially announced her departure from the franchise on July 1.
“I’m full of gratitude for the amazing opportunity to appear on this show,” Liz shared at the time. “As filming for Season 2 begins, I have made the decision to take a step back and focus on my family, my work and my passions.”
“The RHORI cast is an amazing group of women who have created something special. I’ll be watching next season, rooting for the continued success of this franchise,” she continued. “For now, I look forward to enjoying this little corner of the world from the other side of the camera.”
Soon after the announcement was made, a source exclusively shared what led Liz to leave.
“Bravo definitely wanted her to return, but she couldn’t handle the pressure of people coming for her on social media,” they said at the time. “The hate she was getting was a lot, and she was shocked by how quickly she went from being loved to hated by the audience in such a short amount of time.”
“She didn’t like how she was shown toward the end of the season,” they continued.
The insider added Liz “understands” why viewers felt the way they do, but they insisted that “the hatred toward her was insane and overwhelming and became too much for her to handle.”
“The fans are driving stars off the show unfortunately at this point, and they need to chill if they want housewives who are bringing drama and good stuff to the show to stick around,” they concluded.
Liz ended up speaking out on the Two Ts in a Pod podcast about why she departed the hit show.
“I think that the flurry of social media hate was more of a byproduct,” she said. “You know, it’s not easy. For me, the main thing, I think, was anything that can have an entire community believe things about you that are so wholly untrue — that scared the f**king s**t out of me,” she explained. “The hate, the shrapnel of hate, was only a byproduct of it. You know, the notion that I’m on drugs — and believe me, I’ve seen everyone completely convinced of it — anyone who knows me knows I loathe anything to do with drugs.”
She noted this dynamic “just freaked me out.”
“Some people say [I] didn’t like the mirror that was shown. Self-awareness,” she elaborated. “No, I’m very, very self-aware that my reactions at times were hot-headed and unhinged. But how it could go so far into things that were so ridiculously false, that freaked me out more than anything.”
Liz revealed that, in part, she quit because so many people were convinced of who she was based on how she was “portrayed,” but she noted a “bunch of things” factored into her decision to leave.