When the first season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills debuted in 2010, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump’s friendship seemed the most solid of the bunch. The restauranteur and the former child actress-turned-businesswoman were friends long before production began on the reality series. From the first episode, both stars were in long-term, seemingly healthy marriages, and had become accustomed to the social life and politics of life in Beverly Hills from their long residencies in the famous neighborhood.
Any kinship the two may have shared, however, eventually burned out as the series went on. The introduction of divisive recurring cast member Brandi Glanville, and her promotion to a housewife by season three, seemed to throw a wrench in their relationship. Glanville got off to a bad start with Kyle and her sister, Kim Richards, which was not helped by Lisa’s soft spot for the former model.
This tension escalated over several episodes until season four, when Glanville claimed that Lisa had evidence from the press that Kyle’s husband, Mauricio Umansky, had been unfaithful with multiple women. Richards and Vandermpump were able to put the accusations behind them for a while, until another situation involving Kyle’s other longtime friend, Teddi Mellencamp unfolded — a drama known as “puppygate.”
In 2018, fellow housewife Dorit Kemsley adopted a puppy named Lucy Lucy Apple Juice from Vanderpump Dogs, Lisa’s dog rescue charity. When the dog proved unsuitable for Kemsley’s young family after a series of biting incidents, she gave the dog to another family. Lucy was found dumped at a kill shelter, before thankfully being sent back to Vanderpump Dogs, after the puppy’s microchip traced Lucy back to the rescue charity. As arguably the world’s biggest dog lover, Vanderpump was devastated.
Mellencamp accused Vanderpump of leaking the story of Kemsley’s connection to the kill shelter incident to regain control of the narrative and do some PR work for her charity, in yet another accusation of the restaurant mogul feeding stories to the press. When Richards refused to side with Vanderpump, the damage to their friendship seemed irreparable, especially after Kyle’s previous suspicions about the potential press leaks.
Vanderpump eventually quit the series after this season, not even attending the reunion episode over her feelings of hurt and betrayal from the fallout. Instead, she chose to focus solely on her spin-off, Vanderpump Rules. “The objective of the reunion is to reunite, right?” Vanderpump said at the time. “And I have no inclination to reunite with the women who’ve been harassing me for 10 months now.”
Since then, Richards has claimed that Vanderpump does not return her messages and calls, and has cut herself off from her former Beverly Hills castmates. Speaking in 2019, Richards said that “the ball is in [Vanderpump’s] court” regarding a potential reconciliation.
Are Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump still feuding in 2023?
Fast forward to the present day, and Lisa Vanderpump had some words of support for her frenemy in the wake of her highly-publicized separation from her husband, Mauricio Umansky.
Speaking to E! News at BravoCon 2023, Vanderpump said, “I feel empathy for the fact that it was a union that was very special. And [Kyle Richards] loved him; I know they loved each other very much.”
“I’ve had my problems with her, but I just see it as more than that. I see it as a relationship I respected,” Lisa continued. “And I’ve been married forever and a day, and relationships are hard to navigate.”
When asked about the comments by Page Six at the same event, Richards had a similar tone. “I really appreciated her words. That was very, very kind of [Lisa].”
The actor and reality star was also rather complimentary to her former co-star. “She also has a long, successful marriage,” she continued. “I still consider my marriage with Mauricio a success. We’re still a love story. I love him very much.”
For now, things seem to be friendly between Richards and Vanderpump. Whether this is evidence of a truce between the two parties made behind the scenes, or an olive branch extended by Lisa in hard times, is still up for debate. If the Bravo TV stars have truly put their past behind them for good, this will be more obvious in the future.