Denise Richards opened up to pal Garcelle Beauvais and her The Real cohosts about why she decided to leave The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
In an interview set to air on Monday, September 21, the Bold and the Beautiful actress, 49, tells Beauvais, 53, that “it was actually a really tough decision” to exit the show after butting heads with almost all the Housewives amid drama with Brandi Glanville, who claimed the pair had an affair (which Richards denied).
“I’ve been a fan of the show and had a lot of fun doing my first season,” Richards told Beauvais and her cohosts, Loni Love, Jeannie Mai and Adrienne Bailon, in a clip from the season 7 premiere posted by People. “And obviously my second season was very challenging and, you know, I went back and forth with it, and at the end of the day I decided it was time for me to move on and, you know, focus on other projects that I have and, you know, just do that. But I am glad that I did it, though.”
Bailon then asked her new cohost, Beauvais, about her statement claiming that if Richards left the Bravo hit, she would too.
“I did say that,” the Spider-Man: Homecoming actress admitted. “You know what, I had a really great time doing the show, it’s up to Bravo, but I’m definitely up for a next season.”
Richards added that she “had a lot of really fun moments” with Beauvais. “You know, all these dinners kind of go sideways quickly and her and I would have side conversations and no one else would really pay attention or hear us cause they were too busy talking about themselves so [we] would just look at each other and laugh at that.”
Richards added that it meant a lot to her to have the Jamie Foxx Show alum’s support. “Garcelle, it almost makes me want to cry,” she said. “I truly could not have gotten through this season without you, honestly. She is a girl’s girl. A good friend. Your loyalty is beyond and I really could not have gotten through this season without you.”
A rep for the Wild Things actress confirmed her departure from the Housewives franchise on September 9 before the second installment of the three-part RHOBH reunion special aired.
Richards was at odds with her costars during season 10 after expressing concern about the women discussing threesomes at a dinner party near her teenage daughters, Lola and Sam, who she shares with ex-husband Charlie Sheen. She then was accused of liking mean tweets about her fellow Housewives. The Love Actually star sent a cease and desist letter to Glanville after the podcast host claimed she had a sexual encounter with the actress while visiting her on set in April 2019. She also sent a legal letter to Bravo to ask the network to remove footage related to the Drinking and Tweeting author’s allegations.