Erika Girardi on Confronting Aaron Phypers: "I Purposely Waited for Denise to Leave"

At Sutton Stracke's event in the July 8 episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, everyone agreed to wait for Denise Richards to return from the restroom before the group started discussing with her and her husband, Aaron Phypers, everything that had previously gone down at Kyle Richards' barbecue. Well, everyone except Erika Girardi, that is.

Erika decided to kick off the conversation with Aaron in Denise's absence, which was not an accident, she later revealed during The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 10 After Show, which you can view, above. "I purposely waited for Denise to leave so that I could speak to Aaron. That was a conscious choice on my behalf, because I wanted to talk to him and not have her in there," she explained. "What I said was, 'You know, don't speak to us like that. You don't need to mansplain for us. You don't need to talk down to us. We get it.'"

Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave saw the situation play out this way: "When it comes to Erika, she's not the one that's gonna be initiating the problem, anytime really, but if somebody's directing something at her, she's gonna step up to it, and I think that's what happened."

Looking back at Kyle's barbecue, Teddi said that she felt like the conversation "shifted" from talking about the discussion at Denise's dinner party to "about Aaron and about the way Aaron spoke to us," which is what it felt like was happening at Sutton's event as well. "He's showing up again, and then he starts getting aggressive again. It just makes the situation worse, whereas we could have just maybe had a peaceful conversation with Denise and worked through the situation," Teddi said during the After Show. "Aaron's there flexing his muscles trying to make us feel — I don't know if he's trying to make us feel timid or nervous or what his intention was. It was like, now we really can't close things, finish things off with Denise, because now you're making it about you again."

Sutton said she was surprised by what transpired with Aaron at the event. "For me, Aaron's comment kind of came out of nowhere," she said. "It was funny because Aaron was so nice inside the store, and then once he came with the ladies, he just puffed up."

As to what caused the change, Sutton said she isn't sure. "I don't know. Tequila? I don't know. And I understand he was protecting Denise and felt like that was his place," she shared during the After Show. "I don't think he should have gotten involved. I think it was a really bad idea."

Erika also encouraged Aaron to let Denise fight her own battles with the group in the future. "Look, I think support your wife. Know that she is intelligent and capable. Give her all of that great advice, and let her carve out her own path. We are outspoken, we are strong of character, we are sensitive, we are empathetic at times, angry at times. It runs the whole gamut, and I think that every woman in this group can stand on her own. There's no need to step in," Erika said during the After Show. "Denise is a grown woman. She's perfectly capable of handling her business, and you don't need to speak to us in a way that makes us feel like you have all the answers and we have none and just kind of putting yourself in a position that you really don't need to be in."

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