Lisa Vanderpump wrote in her latest Bravo blog post that her friendship with Kyle Richards is “finished” in the wake of Puppygate.
The restaurateur and animal activist, 58, explained that the last year “has been extraordinarily challenging” as she’s dealt with her brother Mark’s suicide.
“I admit I floundered – I didn’t cope – as I wallowed in the depths of depression, having some good days and many bad,” the Vanderpump Rules star admitted of her distance from her costars.
She then addressed the confrontation between her, her husband, Ken Todd, and Richards, 50, after the former child star came to her house to encourage her to talk to the other women. They ended up in a heated argument and Todd kicked Richards out after she accused his wife of lying.
“For me to put my hand to God and swear on my children’s life and still have my friend disbelieve me is unacceptable. I assure you, if any of my friends were as vociferous in their statement of innocence, holding up their children’s life … guess what? I would believe them,” Vanderpump wrote. “That is where the show started but is ultimately where our friendship finished.”
She then went into an in-depth explanation of the Puppygate scandal that has taken center stage in season 9 after Dorit Kemsley gave away a puppy that she’d adopted from Vanderpump’s charity and the dog, named Lucy Apple Juicy, ended up in a kill shelter.
Soon Teddi Mellencamp and Richards got involved. Lisa Rinna later waded into the mess and accused Vanderpump of tricking her and the other housewives into appearing in scenes about the canine drama to help her launch her Vanderpump Dogs spinoff series.
Explaining that she and her employees were horrified that the dog, who’d been born and bottle-fed at her facility had been discarded, Vanderpump admitted that “feelings were running high.”
“I sent Dorit a text urging her to get in front this issue,” Vanderpump wrote in her blog post, adding, that she didn’t “believe for one minute that Dorit would’ve knowingly left the puppy in a shelter, but she was guilty of a careless choice.”
Saying that she doesn’t “give a damn at this point,” and instead is focusing on the work of her foundation, Vanderpump admitted that she hasn’t watched any of the episodes, “as I have decided not to revisit a painful time in my life.”
She added that the housewives’ trip to the Bahamas “was supposed to be a brief respite” but instead was “an emotional nightmare that pulled me even deeper.”
She ended her post by encouraging fans to keep watching this season.
“And always remember, ‘I am passionate about dogs…’ You know the rest,” she concluded. “And to my castmates, I will ‘see you next Tuesday.’”
