RHOBH: Trouble in Paradise?
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS TALK TO US! A new Housewife, deteriorating friendships and an OG star retires?!? Strap in for season 9 — it’s going to be a bumpy ride
DENISE RICHARDS
Having dipped her toe in the reality TV water a decade ago with Denise Richards: It’s Complicated, RHOBH’s newest addition, 47, comes prepared. The recently remarried Malibu mom (her wedding to Aaron Phypers will be featured this season) got a crash course in the Housewives’ Art of Ruining Meals. “During dinners, things would usually go sideways — I just didn’t know what direction,” she says. “It was never boring!”
ERIKA GIRARDI
Fans of the series already know this season
centers around cast drama with OG Housewife Lisa Vanderpump, and voice of reason Erika tells Us she has nothing to do with it. “I didn’t betray anyone,” says Erika. “That’s not who I am.” The steely blonde, 47 — lawyer’s wife by day, vinyl-clad pop star Erika Jayne by night — brings her characteristic
toughness back this season: “No one’s in my corner,” she says. “I’m
in my corner.”
DORIT KEMSLEY
Designer Dorit is at the center of this season’s
tumult. A rumored blowup over a dog Dorit, 42, adopts from Lisa V.’s rescue center makes for some “jaw-dropping” twists involving “lies… and maybe some bad intentions,” she says. Nearly as surprising? Dorit’s ability to make nice with “friend of the Housewives” Camille Grammer, who she’s feuded with. “There are moments that are really great [with Camille],” she says. “It’s positive.”
KYLE RICHARDS
For RHOBH’s first eight seasons, original cast member Kyle and her BFF Lisa V. rebounded from every tussle; but this year’s rift may prove irreparable — especially after Lisa’s husband, Ken, “kicks me out of the house,” Kyle reveals.
“I never imagined it would get to that level.” One positive note: Kyle, 50, is back on good terms with her sister
Kim, who pops up this season. “Let’s hope it stays [that way],” she says.
LISA RINNA
The onetime pot stirrer admits she spent last season trying to stay out of the drama, and the QVC clothing designer and momager (to model daughters Delilah and Amelia) is staying above the fray. Her long-standing feud with Dorit — in season 7, Lisa accused the then-freshman of drug use — has been mended. “Dorit and I were able to say, ‘We’re going to move on,’ and we’ve stayed true to that,” says Lisa, 55.
TEDDI MELLENCAMP
A meek newcomer no more, rock royalty Teddi (dad is John Mellencamp) “speaks up” in her sophomore season: “That’s a huge shift for me,” she says. Another shift? Her relationship with frenemy Erika. “We’ve gotten to know each other in a completely different way,” Teddi, 37, says. And now that she’s an experienced Housewife, she has advice for newbie Denise: “I said, ‘When these girls say casual, they mean cocktail!’”
LISA VANDERPUMP
Life isn’t all diamonds and rosé for the glamorous grande dame of Bravo. After losing her brother, Mark, to suicide, the dog-loving restaurateur, 58, found herself embroiled in yet more emotional turmoil on the show. “I had a difficult time in my life,” she says. “Housewives this year wasn’t a joy, that’s for sure.” As for rumors that this season will be her last? “Nothing has been decided yet. That would be a
little premature.”