Kyle Richards has opened up about discussing her sexuality with her daughters (Getty Images)
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards has revealed that she was terrified to speak to her daughters about her sexuality, in the wake of media speculation.
Richard, who has starred in the California-based Real Housewives show since its first season in 2010, recently divorced her husband of 27 years, Mauricio Umansky, as speculation surrounding her relationship with singer Morgan Wade swirled.
Speaking to Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast, Richards said the chat with her four children – 36-year-old Farrah, Alexia, who is 28, Sophia, 24, and 16-year-old Portia – was “the most difficult I’ve ever had with [them] and I was terrified. I just wanted to be as honest as I possibly could”.
She added: “There were stories out there about me and… this did make me wonder and question myself.”
Richards, who shares Farrah with first ex-husband, Guraish Aldjufrie, and the other three with Umansky, said she had “never thought like [that] before” about a female friend.
“This is not the way I was raised. That’s not the way my mind even operated. And all of a sudden I was thinking like that and I wanted to be as honest as possible [with the children] because they are my best friends.
Real Housewives stars Sutton Stracke and Lisa Barlow have explained what their gay fans mean to them, and why they’ve always been fiercely protective of the queer community. If you’re looking for Real Housewives stars, you’d be hard pressed to find two more fabulous than Beverly Hills icon Sutton Stracke and Salt Lake City legend Lisa Barlow. With the former coining the legendary “Name ’em” moment in the most recent series of Beverly Hills and the latter being Queen Baby Gorgeous herself, it’s no surprise that the LGBTQIA+ community is obsessed with them – and speaking to PinkNews ahead of the first Hayu FanFest, both Sutton and Lisa explain exactly why the feeling is mutual. “I feel like I am a gay man trapped in a white Southern girl’s body,” Sutton jokes. “I was a ballet dancer, and so my community has always been that! I’ve alway been very protective of the LGBTQ+ community since I was a little girl. “I went to a fine arts high school and in Augusta, Georgia, and… the South can be somewhat restrictive. And so those were my people. And from a very young age, it was always: ‘Ah. Don’t you dare!’ “I feel like I am part of the community, I am in it.” Agreeing, Lisa adds, “My gay fans mean everything,” before explaining that her own grandfather was gay, making her “the by-product of a gay man,” and therefore an “advocate of the LGBTQIA+ community forever.” But it’s not just how ‘fabulous’ the gays are that has drawn both Sutton and Lisa towards them; as Sutton says, there are real life implications of a whole community receiving the support of the Real Housewives franchise. “One of my favourite moments has been with a fan who has said, “Thank you so much for your support. I’ve come out to my family [because of you].’ “That really means so much knowing that we can make people feel safe and loved. They have another community. “[It’s so important to be] using the platform that we have to make sure that the world understands that there is nothing to be afraid of, of being gay, being trans, there’s nothing to fear.” Ahead of HayuFest, which also announced The Real Housewives of London, Bravo host and Real Housewives executive producer Andy Cohen explained to PinkNews why the franchise is so gay – and getting gayer. Catch up on all seasons of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Hayu. Catch up on all seasons of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and stream season 5 with new episodes dropping same day as the USA on Hulu. #realhousewives#realhousewivesoftiktok#rhobh#rhoslc#suttonstracke#lisabarlow
“I like to lead by example and I thought: ‘If this is what I’m going through and feeling, I want them to always feel comfortable enough to share with me the hardest conversations and know that they’ll be accepted no matter what’.”
She need not have worried: the children’s reactions were nothing but accepting.
“Having that conversation, their reaction and response to me, I thought: Wow, I’m so impressed by these four women in front of me’, and I thought, ‘Maybe, just maybe, I did do a good job’, because that was my most proud moment as a mom, just seeing how they all reacted.”
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Although Richards has not labelled her sexuality, she revealed that she was spending less time with Wade.
“I think she didn’t want any part of anything to do with my role [on] reality television and all that came with it,” the star said.
Season 14 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is due to begin on Tuesday (19 November).
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