Farrah Brittany, Alexia Umansky, and Sophia Umansky break down how the family found out about the breakup amid filming Buying Beverly Hills and defend Kyle Richards for how she’s juggled everything amid criticism and pushback.
Even after basically growing up on camera, Kyle Richards’ daughters weren’t necessarily ready to deal with their parents’ marital collapse on camera. And yet, that’s exactly what they had to do after news broke days before they were set to start shooting again for Buying Beverly Hills.
Sophia Umanksy, 24, said that luckily the whole family was together in Aspen the day the story broke in the news media. “I think cameras arrived two days after,” she told the LA Times as part of an interview with her sisters. “So we basically had that experience in one day where we all saw the article.”
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“And it was kind of shocking to all of us,” she said. “Then we had a day to process, I guess, and figure out how we were going to open up about this on camera and how open we were gonna be and how we’re gonna go about it off-camera and on-camera.”
With people already on the way and preparing to film, there was no thought of attempting to delay or reschedule things. “There was nothing we could do about it. They were coming, it was scheduled. The article came out,” added Alexia Umansky, 27.
“We were just putting on happy faces going about, trying to be normal,” Sophia said. “And then cameras were coming the next day. So it was just very little time to really process before the cameras were there.”
It was a short but emotional window for the family to process this monumental shift alone. “I broke down, and I had my dad come in my room, and then my mom come in my room; kind of like one-on-one,” Sophia shared. “The next day, I was keeping to myself so that conversation on camera really was the first sit-down conversation we had.”
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The conversation that played out on Buying Beverly Hills (which you can read all about here) was the family’s first full conversation together because, as Sophie noted, Farrah Brittany, 35, arrived the same day as the cameras. So she didn’t even get that opportunity before the cameras to unpack this new information with her family.
At the same time, the women all said that the cameras are almost background noise to them, with them often entirely forgetting they’re there at all. Farrah said they’re “maybe a little jaded” when it comes to the cameras after all these years.
“It’s just natural that we know that, yes, this is what we signed up for. So there is some sort of expectation — and it’s kind of damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she said of the family exploring such personal topics in front of America.
“If we don’t, then everyone is going to come for us anyways,” she added. “I think we were fine to share what we did. I think we were very honest and open.”
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The daughters were definitely united in their support of Kyle, who has taken some pushback from her fellow cast members on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, as well as the public, for not being more forthright about her marital issues before the story broke.
Production on RHOBH had already wrapped when the story came out, but there was plenty to say about it at the reunion.
“Honestly, it makes me really sad and really mad for anyone coming after our mom for not sharing enough,” said Alexia. “People were demanding answers from my mom, the public was demanding answers from my mom — and we weren’t even ready to talk about it internally, we never had.”
“Above all, she’s a mom, she’s protecting us. Everyone needs to realize that. Even if she is or isn’t ready to share, everything she does is with us in mind,” Alexia emphasized, with Farrah agreeing, “Show does not come number one.”
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She praised her mom for trying to juggle so much, protecting her family, appeasing an audience, navigating her own emotional experiences. “We are very protective of her because we think she did an amazing job, given all the circumstances, and doesn’t get enough slack,” said Farrah. “She’s a human being.”
As for those who think that maybe the whole marital rift was made up to boost ratings on Buying Beverly Hills or something, the sisters aren’t having it.
“I think that’s the most frustrating claim because it’s something we’re actually going through as a family, and for everyone to be accusing us of basically, faking this whole thing for a good storyline is rude and offensive and insensitive to what we’re going through,” argued Sophia.
“This is not easy for us. So I just wish everyone would be empathetic and understanding and not crazy people,” she added. “Who does that?”
Fans can see everything Mauricio Umansky had to say about their marital issues on Buying Beverly HIlls below.
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