Erika Jayne revealed that her recent experience with domestic violence nearly caused her to step away from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
“We haven’t seen you in this space since you revealed your backstory with domestic violence,” Andy Cohen said during the Thursday, April 16, episode of Watch What Happens Live. “I thought it was so surprising to hear from you, but also powerful. What kind of response have you gotten and why did you feel like sharing it?”
Erika, 54, explained that it was “the right moment” to share her experience on the show.
“The response has been really great,” she continued, before thanking fans.
When Andy asked whether she was “scared” to discuss her experience, Erika replied, “Oh, I wanted to quit the show. I think it was the totality of everything that has happened to me over the last six years and then that. It was so damn heavy.”
She continued, “To talk about it was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I can’t live through this any longer.’ I really just kind of threw my hands up.”
Erika was at lunch with Denise Richards and Sutton Stracke during a February episode of RHOBH when she revealed that she had “recently” experienced domestic violence at the hands of someone she was dating. (The person remained unnamed.)
“Not with any of my husbands. … It doesn’t really matter with who,” Erika said. “It happened not too long ago. It had happened more than once, yeah. And then, like, the third time, I was just like, ‘This is not for me.’”
She added, “I’m just going to say one thing, then I’m going to leave it right here. You have no idea how shameful it is to be the mother of a police officer and have to pick up the phone and call 911 and then call your family member and say, ‘I think you should hear this from me first before you hear it from anyone else.’”
Erika shares son Tommy Zizzo with ex-husband Thomas Zizzo, whom she was married to from 1991 to 1996. She wed Tom Girardi in 2000, filing for divorce 20 years later. Erika has been romantically linked to John “Shrek” McPhee since July 2025.
She shared more details about her experience with abuse in a confessional.
“I met someone and it started out fun. There were no expectations of happily ever after or this is my person or any of that bulls***,” Erika claimed on RHOBH. “It was several months after I met this person that it turned into chaos.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
