The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion was always going to make or break Dorit Kemsley and Kyle Richards’ friendship.
After years of blind loyalty to one another, something shifted between them while filming RHOBH Season 13, and after watching the first part of the reunion, the chances of them reconciling are slim to none.
Andy Cohen knew this was one of the juiciest storylines because he put a pin in their fiery argument early in the episode before revisiting it later. Hey, he has to keep viewers invested for a whole hour!
Going onto the reunion stage, Kemsley felt manipulated into silence by Richards following a text sent the night before filming the three-part end-of-season special.
Richards was unafraid to speak her mind and clarified she claimed the fashion designer exaggerated their relationship as payback for “all the things that you have been saying throughout the season.”
“Such as?” Kemsley said, clearly bewildered at how hot Richards came in out of the gate.
The Halloween alum was upset that the person she thought was her friend was bringing things up, such as the Morgan Wade situation.
Kyle Richards says Dorit Kemsley is important to her
As the two prepared for the mother of all arguments, the Celebrity Apprentice star said although Kemsley was “important” to her, their relationship wasn’t the sort where they would go for lunch with one another.
That was a shocker, even for this longtime viewer, because they genuinely spent so much time together on-screen.
Richards then proceeded to go for the jugular by saying that Kemsley had to “sit on cement” when they went for a walk because “she doesn’t work out,” hinting that they don’t have that much in common nowadays.
Kemsley reasoned they were in Palm Springs, where Richards’ friends’ idea of “going for a brisk walk” was 10 miles.
Richards acknowledged the conversation was veering away from any resolution and stated that her point was that she believed Kemsley knew saying something about the Morgan Wade situation would “create a bigger problem” in the media.
Dorit Kemsley believes the media made the Morgan Wade situation big
Kemsley, clearly taken aback for about the 100th time by Richards, said what we all were thinking:
“The Morgan situation has been in the media, and it was not because of my comment.”
Indeed, the rumors have been out there for months. At one point, we thought it was an elaborate hoax. Now, there’s a chance there’s truth to them.
Richards doubled down on her love for Kemsley and maintained she is very “important” to her, but Kemsley wasn’t ready to put this aside and called the How I Met Your Father alum a “punisher.”
“You’ll shut me out. We hadn’t spoken in a couple of months and then, all of a sudden, you text me the day before the reunion, you know, do you really think that I’m an idiot?” Kemsley wondered.
“I mean, it felt very manipulative,” she added before conceding that she would never come to the show to “destroy” Richards.
Kyle Richards didn’t believe her message was manipulative
Richards said the message wasn’t supposed to be “manipulative in any single way.”
Just when it seemed like there was resolution in sight, things took a hard left turn at the end of the episode when Cohen brought up Richards’ life changes.
The conversation turned to whether the Kathy Hilton incident in Aspen was the tipping point for Kemlsey and Richards.
The former wasn’t ready for that conversation, saying, “There’s nothing I’ve ever wanted more than for you and Kathy to be okay.”
Kyle Richards believes Dorit Kemsley panders to the audience
That wasn’t enough for Richards, who claimed Kemsley wanted “to be on the side of whoever the audience is with.”
“I’ve noticed that a number of times,” she affirmed as Kemsley, once again, looked shocked.
Seriously, there were so many times during this episode we pulled the same expressions as Kemsley.
“To me, it feels more like you care about the audience,” Richards added.
Talk about hitting someone when they’re already down. Sheesh.
“That is the most hysterical thing I’ve ever heard,” Kemsley expressed to Richards, Cohen, and their co-stars as the first part of the reunion concluded.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo. Seasons 1-13 are now streaming on Peacock.