Kyle Richards And Mauricio Umansky Discuss ‘Challenging’ Year On RHOBH Before Finale Bombshell

Throughout the season, Richards has been very upfront about the tough year the two had before filming began. Her husband’s booming real estate career has been at the center of the tension between them, as Kyle has said she doesn’t feel as if he prioritizes family time and time with her as much as work.

On tonight’s penultimate episode of the season, Kyle was seen first venting to Sutton Stracke about the situation and opening up about her therapy sessions with Mau.

“What I have learned in therapy is we have really been working a lot and taking on a lot and that’s really created so much time apart,” said Kyle, who noted how the two “started out with nothing,” so their successes in recent years have created big changes for them.

When Sutton stressed that they would have to make sacrifices, Kyle was quick to say they “both” needed to — before saying Mauricio “will never not work.”

“I’ve made sacrifices and compromises. I’ve been a really good wife and a great mom and I’ve supported him through everything,” she continued in a confessional. “I want to feel that Mau is prioritizing me as much as I have him all of these years.”

She went on to tell Sutton about how, when their children were younger, she spent a lot of time driving them around everywhere while Mauricio “really wasn’t.” Now, with most of their daughters grown up and almost out of the house, she’s found she has “the freedom to be able to do some things for me and I like it.” That includes doing things like producing and appearing in films, with Richards saying she wants to keep doing that so she has something to do when the kids finally do all leave the house.

“I don’t want to be where my husband’s up here and I’, down here,” she said, using her hands to demonstrate an inequality, “I want to have my life too. It just feels good to be independent.”

Later in the hour, Kyle and Mauricio were seen talking to each other about going to couple’s therapy together. In a confessional, Richards explained she thought it was important they do that “because the more difficult things have become between us, the more difficult it has been to communicate.”

Addressing how the past year had been “very challening” for them, Kyle said that though the therapy session shave been good, she always leaves them thinking about something else she wants to address during the next one.

“It becomes fun!” exclaimed Mau, getting some serious side-eye from Kyle, who did not share that sentiment. “I wouldn’t say fun. It feels good. I wasn’t laughing in those sessions,” she clarified, before Mauricio said he was happy with the adjective “good.”

“We’ve gone through a tough few months, tough year. Having a session with him helps me be more in tune with myself,” he added. “All I’m saying is that, this is helping us. I think we’re in a way better place. Way better place. And we’ve been married in 27 years, we’ve never had so much going on in our lives. It’s become hard. It’s become really hard.”

He said that he never wants Kyle to become someone who stays home and goes shopping while he works and hoped she would keep up with her “amazing” career as well.

“You’ve got all these amazing creative ideas about shows and things. And I’ve grown a lot … I’m opening up 2 offices a month, it’s crazy stuff,” he continued. “We’re both growing, we’re both changing, we’re about to be empty nesters, we’re in our 50s.”

When Kyle pointed out that they aren’t empty-nesters yet, Mauricio said they should start thinking about when they are. Richards, however, stressed how much they needed to think about the now, because she wants to “be in a place in my life that I feel happy and fulfilled.”

In a confessional, Richards admitted that she sometimes gets “frustrated that I don’t feel like I”m being heard.” She added, “I’m not gonna stay in a situation that I’m not happy in, things I wouldn’t want my daughter to accept, I’m not going to accept for myself.”

The scene ended with the two holding hands, as Mauricio said that they have “throughout this process stopped loving each other.”

A preview for next week showed that, despite Mau saying they were in a “way better place,” there are still some really tough conversations to be had. The promo showed the couple sitting down with their daughters — after headlines about the separation hit PEOPLE — to discuss what’s been going on between them behind closed doors.

“We haven’t told you guys about everything because we tried to protect you,” Mauricio tells them, as the girls are all in tears. The footage ends with Kyle adding, “We’re still a family and we always will be. Always will be.”