'RHOBH' Star Kyle Richards Says She Was Laughing At Erika Jayne's 'Drunken Behavior,' Not Disrespecting Garcelle Beauvais' Teenage Son
July 5 2022, Published 6:01 p.m. ET
Kyle Richards doubled down on the laugh heard around the world after catching backlash for what many took as a chuckle at Garcelle Beauvais' teenage son's expense. Addressing the drama that went down on the preview for Wednesday's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills episode, Kyle insisted she wasn't laughing at Garcelle's 14-year-old — she was cackling over Erika Jayne's "drunken behavior" after the embattled Bravolebrity repeatedly told Jax to "f--- off" at his mother's birthday party.
After catching flak over another preview, which showed her laughing about the incident with Dorit Kemsley and their husbands, Kyle tried to do damage control with a social media post. When that strategy failed, she spoke out to the press in what appeared to be a last-ditch effort to reclaim her fanbase.
"I didn’t even see Erika say that, I was told the next day," Kyle told Metro UK. ‘I was laughing at a friend’s drunken behavior as one does sometimes. Nothing to do with disrespecting anyone’s child especially."
Pulling the parent card, Kyle continued, "I’m a mom of four daughters. I think if I had obviously seen it – because I only saw it actually last night on Instagram, that clip – I would have a different reaction."
Claiming it "wasn’t about Garcelle and her son, it was about Erika," the RHOBH diamond holder said she was disappointed in how fans interpreted her laughter.
"Especially when you’re not used to seeing that, you hear a story the next day, “Oh my God, so and so was so drunk, they did this and that,” and we laughed, it was like that," she explained. "To think that someone misinterpreted it as that, that I didn’t care and being flippant about someone’s child…
"I would hope that after 12 years on this show [that] people know me better."
At the time of the interview, Kyle said she hadn't spoken to Garcelle about the backlash but planned on sending her a text message explaining her version of events.
"Actually no, because I’m in London. I don’t know what time [it is], it’s 2am or something right now, I’m not even sure," she responded when asked if she'd discussed the matter with Jax's mom. "But that’s my plan, in between interviews today, to send her a text."
It's unclear if that text was ever sent.
As for Garcelle, she seemingly fired shots at her costars by defending all three of her sons' characters on social media.
"This is an appreciation post for my sons Oliver, Jax, & Jaid. You boys make me so proud… you are loving, kind, and respectful. You show respect to people even when they don’t deserve it. Respect is a reflection of your character, not theirs," she captioned the smiling shot.
In April, RadarOnline.com revealed Erika's drinking and alleged pill use was a hot topic of conversation during the filming of season 12, to the point that she was confronted head-on by her closest cast member Lisa Rinna.
While the scene showing Erika's inappropriate language toward Jax airs on Wednesday, he's not the only one of Garcelle's sons she tried to mess with during the episode.
She also attempted to hit on Garcelle's oldest child, but he shut her down.