Kyle Richards is coming to husband Mauricio Umansky’s defense after he missed an event honoring her late friend Lorene Shea.
“I want to clarify this … I did many times but then I guess I need to again. Moe offered to cancel his trip multiple times. Even though there were many people involved in this trip,” Kyle, 55, wrote via her Instagram Story on Thursday, January 18, alongside a clip from the Wednesday, January 17, episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ aftershow.
She continued, “I told him he did not need to do that. The date of the event was changed last minute and none of the other men were attending. I had a lot of support around me that night. It’s not fair to put that on him.”
In the clip Kyle shared, costars Sutton Stracke and Garcelle Beauvais discussed Mauricio’s absence from the event.
“This has got to be hard on Kyle. You want your husband with you. Kyle, where was Mauricio?” Sutton, 52, questioned.
The clip then showed Kyle offering an explanation to Erika Jayne.
“He was out of town. You know, he also loved Lorene, he really did, and she loved him so much,” Kyle said. “It genuinely was not his fault at all. He would’ve been there for her and for me [if he was in town].”
Kyle hosted the event, which played out on the January 10 episode of RHOBH, with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in honor of Lorene, who died by suicide at age 52 in May 2022.
While Mauricio was not in attendance, Kyle’s four daughters were by her side. She shares Alexia, 27, Sophia, 23, and Portia, 15, with Mauricio and eldest daughter Farrah, 35, with ex-husband Guraish Aldjufrie.
During a confessional, Kyle admitted that she “would have really relied on [Mauricio] on a night like tonight” had it been “a few years ago.”
Us Weekly confirmed in July 2023 that Kyle and Mauricio had separated after 27 years of marriage. They addressed the separation in a joint Instagram statement at the time, noting that they’d had “a rough year.”
Season 13 of RHOBH, which premiered in October 2023, has documented some of the ups and downs in the pair’s relationship. During the January 10 episode, Kyle recalled Lorene telling her to “always appreciate your marriage” two days before her death.
“So now that we’re having a hard time, I think I’m letting her down,” she said.
Kyle further reflected on her husband’s absence during the Wednesday, January 17, episode of the Bravo series.
“Would it have meant something to me if all of a sudden, he showed up at the event for Lorene? Of course, it would have,” she confessed.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
