The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills finale: Kyle accuses Erika's publicist of leaking Kathy's meltdown

Kyle Richards and Kathy Hilton in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12.
Kyle Richards is still dealing with what her sister, Kathy Hilton, did in Aspen. (Image credit: Bravo)

It was time to say goodbye to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH) season 12 with episode 21. Have no fear! We have a whole reunion to look forward to, but first, let’s dive into the finale.

Garcelle Beauvais hosted a Birkin and bubbles party to enjoy two things the ladies love: expensive Hermès bags and champagne. While Lisa Rinna attended, Kathy Hilton did not, but that didn’t stop the talk about the situation between the two. Lisa explained how she was scared enough of Kathy’s behavior that she had locked herself in her bedroom at Kyle Richards’ Aspen home in the very early morning of the incident. “I feel like Rinna is now more upset about the fact that she had to witness this than looking after me,” Kyle said in her confessional. 

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It was a new day and Kyle was hosting a black-tie event to benefit the Princess Grace Foundation-USA. On the way to Kyle’s home, Lisa caught Erika Jayne up on how her publicist had called her so many times that week because of a drama with Kathy.

Kyle confirmed that Kathy was out of town, and wasn’t purposely not attending the event. While catching up with Crystal Kung Minkoff, Kyle said that it’s not okay that the situation with her sister is being talked about, and it wasn’t helping anything. “I think the question is what’s the motive in talking about it? What’s the point?” Crystal asked. “It’s not like everyone around here is an angel,” Kyle said. “You don’t get to decide what apology is acceptable or what someone needs to do to be forgiven. She was, but she apologized. She apologized and if you care about me, can we not keep talking about it?” Can you tell these comments were directed at Lisa and Erika?

At the dinner portion of the evening, Kyle and Garcelle talked about Kathy, since Garcelle had recently spoken with her. “Well, your friends don’t seem to care about you. Cause if they did they’d let it go,” Garcelle told her. Lisa and Erika overheard the conversation. “I’m telling you right now, those two are coming for me,” Erika said. “Oh, and me too,” Lisa replied.

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As the meal came to an end, Garcelle talked with Sutton Stracke, expressing how she wanted to get to the bottom of why Kathy apologized to Lisa. The rest of the ladies joined them, and Garcelle got right into it by asking Lisa directly what offended her so much that she needed an apology. “I did not need anything from Kathy,” Lisa said. “If Kathy’s apologized, then we should let it go,” Garcelle said. “Who’s not letting it go?” Lisa asked, to which Garcelle confirmed it was Lisa and Erika. “Why do you have an attitude about this? I sense an attitude coming from you and I’m just like, why?” Lisa fired back.

It was clear that Kyle didn’t want to go back to the bad place that she’s been with Kathy in the past, especially with her eldest daughter, Farrah Aldjufrie, getting married. She wants her whole family to be together for it. “We have to let it go now,” Kyle said. “But you can’t just sweep this under the carpet and go ‘that didn’t happen,’” Lisa said. “It can if she wants to do it,” Garcelle said. “I’m not going to take it to my grave, cause I’d get sick if I didn’t express this. That’s how bad it is to have these kinds of things go on and not express them. I’ll get sick and die because it’s that vile,” Lisa said. She verified with each of the women that she did not reveal what happened when she and Kathy got back to Kyle’s house because she was working to protect her friend.

Kyle went inside to get away from the situation, and Dorit Kemsley followed her. They discussed how details from that evening (and other events) were leaked to the press. Kyle 100% believed that it was the doing of someone in the group… because she was told who it was. The other ladies came inside to say goodbye, and Kyle and Dorit were still talking about the leak. Sutton took it upon herself to get it all out in the open. “Did either one of you leak to the press any of this information about Kathy?” Sutton asked Lisa and Erika. They both replied that they hadn’t. “It was someone who works for you,” Kyle said, pointing at Erika and noting it was her publicist, who was also Nicky Hilton’s publicist (Kathy’s daughter). 

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In her confessional, Kyle revealed that Kathy launched an investigation, and that’s how they found out it was someone on Erika’s team. “How convenient to accuse my publicist of press leaks. You know what? Your sister made an *** out of herself in public and everyone saw it. It’s really disappointing to see Kyle try to flip this back on me. Let’s be honest. She’s afraid of Kathy. She’s afraid of what she’ll do to her,” Erika said in her confessional.

Part 1 of the The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 12 reunion airs next Wednesday at 8 pm ET on Bravo. 

Caitlyn Fitzpatrick

Caitlyn has been a professional editor and writer since 2014, and her work can be found on a range of websites, including Hearst's BestProducts.com, POPSUGARStyleCaster, and InStyle. Her favorite TV shows are Law & Order: SVU and Organized CrimeThe Real Housewives franchise, just about anything on Bravo, and Netflix Originals.