Hard times in the Hills! Kyle Richards revealed how her friend and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills costar, Erika Jayne, is coping following the release of The Housewife and the Hustler — a documentary about her and her estranged husband Tom Girardi’s ongoing legal troubles.
“I mean, you know, obviously it’s a hard time,” Richards, 52, told Access Hollywood on Wednesday, June 15. “But she’s doing OK.”
The “How Many F—ks?” singer, 49, and the former lawyer, 82, are currently tangled in a legal battle after they were accused in December 2020 of embezzling settlement money intended for the victims of families killed in a 2018 plane crash.
Documents obtained by Us Weekly at the time claimed that the former couple — who announced their divorce one month prior to the allegations — “are on the verge of financial collapse and locked in a downward spiral of mounting debts and dwindling funds.”
Following the release of the documentary on Monday, June 14, Erika’s former bankruptcy lawyer, Peter Mastan, filed a motion to be taken off her case. His decision complicates the situation further as it will force Erika to get a new attorney.
In promos for the current season of RHOBH, the Pretty Mess author claimed she was unaware of Tom’s financial issues. According to the ABC News documentary, which is currently streaming on Hulu, the Georgia native has yet to be legally charged with anything.
However, Jay Edelson, the lawyer who originally filed the class action lawsuit, claims that’s not the case.
“We believe we’re going to be able to prove that Erika was incredibly involved,” the attorney said on the Wednesday, June 16, episode of the “Reality Life with Kate Casey” podcast. “If we’re successful [in our case], that means that we’re going to be able to get whatever possessions [Erika] has back in order to pay off any sort of judgment.”
Despite the drama, Erika’s coworkers continue to stand up for her — assuring that, if anything, her career is safe.
“I don’t think that documentary will affect her future on the show,” Andy Cohen said on Wednesday during SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live. “I will say the idea that Danielle Staub and Dana Wilkey are the experts in this documentary about Erika is questionable at best. So I kind of realized I wasn’t gonna learn anything new from them about Erika.”
