Erika Jayne Reveals How She Met Her New Man: ‘It Felt Really Nice’

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star shared insight into her budding new romance with her former co-star Teddi Mellencamp on their Diamond in the Rough podcast.

“I met someone and we went out on two dates, and then we went to get a manicure-pedicure,” Erika began.

She and bodyguard John McPhee were spotted out in Los Angeles together earlier this month, which made headlines amid her ongoing divorce from Tom Girardi.

“We were just simply walking in Koreatown, and [we were photographed together]. Obviously, we didn’t know,” she said of the photos that were shared on Page Six. She said it “felt really nice” to hold someone’s hand.

“I feel comfortable holding this person’s hand, and he’s a nice man,” Erika said on her podcast. “I haven’t been seen with anybody in five years, so this is a really nice person, and I enjoyed my time with him. He doesn’t live here.”

McPhee is a bodyguard for fellow reality star Heidi Montag, which is how the pair met.

“I saw him on a friend of mine’s podcast, because I watch everybody’s podcast late at night before I go to bed,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wow, that’s an interesting interview.’ Then, I saw him again on another and I thought, ‘God, that guy’s kind of interesting,’ and I saw him backstage with Heidi in London just randomly.”

She added, “It was random because [Heidi] went on, and then I went on after her. I thought, ‘That’s the guy from the podcast. I’m gonna walk up and say hello.’ I introduced myself, and I was, like, ‘Hey, my name is Erika, and I’ve seen you on a couple of podcasts. I’m a fan.'”

Erika filed for divorce from Tom in November 2020 after 21 years of marriage. The following month, Tom’s legal troubles began as he was accused of stealing settlement funds meant for the families of plane crash victims. Though Erika was named in multiple civil lawsuits over the years, she has not been charged with any crimes.

Tom, 86, was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison on June 3, after being convicted in his California wire fraud case. He was also ordered to pay over $2 million in restitution to victims. The disgraced attorney was found guilty in August 2024 on four counts of fraud, with prosecutors revealing he embezzled more than $15 million from clients over the years.

“It’ll be four years in two weeks that I left home and everything happened,” she said during an RHOBH After Show in December 2024.

“In that four years, I’ve been able to accept a lot of things, heal through a lot of things, and I will continue to do that,” she continued. “I’m not completely out of the woods. I’m still being sued in a lot of places, but those things will resolve. It is what it is. I just try to maintain the healthiest attitude possible going forward.”

On the recent RHOBH reunion, Erika also said that divorce was on the back-burner — explaining, “that was like the lowest of my problems. What difference does it make? Divorcing an incompetent person, I don’t know how that works.”