How 14 Seasons of RHOBH Changed Kyle Richards: “I Don’t Try to Run From Things”
Ahead of the Season 14 premiere, the longest-running cast member opens up about the biggest changes in Beverly Hills — from interview looks to social media.
Since 2010, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans have watched as chic everyday clothing transformed into curated outfits styled carefully by a team, weekly blowout appointments were scrapped for glam squads on retainer, and memorable one-liners have gone from something a viewer might live Tweet while watching an episode to phrases fans chant at BravoCon and proudly sport on merch.
While most Bravoholics would probably agree that the world of The Real Housewives has grown bigger than anyone could have imagined, nobody knows it better than the cast members who have been there since day one.
As the longest running cast member of RHOBH, Kyle Richards has lived it all: Every dinner party, every bombshell revelation, every extended olive branch... even the ones that took the form of a stuffed bunny. So what does Kyle think has changed most about The Real Housewives?
Well, for starters, fashion.
Kyle Richards Pinpoints the Exact Moment Fashion Changed for RHOBH
“I mean, Season 1, I had a plastic clip in my hair,” Kyle said during a chat with The Daily Dish, noting that she styled her own locks for her earliest interview looks. “But things have changed in the last few years and now, the bar has been raised extremely high in Beverly Hills.”
While earlier seasons were marked by cocktail dresses, statement necklaces, and platform pumps, the sartorial choices of the RHOBH cast are more difficult to define these days. Recent seasons read like a runway show, complete with custom couture looks and legendary archival fashion.
Kyle noted that Erika Jayne’s Season 6 addition to the cast in 2015 felt like the beginning of a vibe shift. The fashion-obsessed performer immediately captivated viewers’ attention, with a closet full of show-stopping pieces worn both on-stage and off.
“I was like, ‘Okay, well, that’s her thing.’ It made sense,” Kyle said, referring to Erika’s signature, fabulous style and ability to turn any situation in to an occasion to turn a look. She went on to add that the stakes were raised once again, when Dorit Kemsley — and her impressive wardrobe — joined the show for Season 7 in 2016.
It's very different now. It's not casual.”
During a Season 8 cast trip to Berlin, in a 2018 episode titled “Better Latex Than Never,” the new era of RHOBH had officially made its mark. As the ladies gathered in the hotel lobby — arriving in outfits each more fabulous than the last — they marveled over one another’s duds, including blazer dresses over lacy corsets, intricate bubble-shaped ponytails, and feather-adorned heels. The gawking ended when the women realized Erika was running behind, and they might miss their scheduled boat tour if they continued to wait for her. “I hope she’s just preparing her next fabulous Erika Jayne look for us, and it’s just taking a little extra time, which it does. Those looks are major, honey,” Lisa Rinna said after a few failed attempts to reach Erika.
“Is this a costume party?” Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave mused in an interview during the episode. “Or is this a girls’ trip, where we’re sightseeing? I missed the fucking memo!”
Erika eventually met up with the rest of the group, confirming that the look was the reason for her tardiness. She was donning a red latex blouse that had required “lube and baby powder” to get into, a mile-long blonde ponytail, and a fierce liquid cat-eye.
“You’re like a new person,” Kyle remarked to Erika during the episode, noting in an episodic interview that the outfit made it clear "what the holdup was."
In seasons to come, glam would prove to be a standard excuse for showing up late, interview looks would become more conceptual, and the first few minutes of each reunion would be filled with Andy Cohen asking the women about the fashion vibes they were channeling. (Remember when the Season 13 reunion kicked off without Dorit, who was running behind due to a wardrobe malfunction with her “surrealist” inspired outfit?)
“The looks can be over-the-top and I kind of just say to myself, ‘I understand that things are changing, but I have to be myself,’” Kyle continued. “So, I’m only willing to go so far... Some of the women travel with hair and makeup... that’s obviously newer... It’s just interesting. It's very different now. It's not casual.”
But even as her fellow cast members spend more time getting ready for a dinner reservation than some viewers may before attending a wedding (as a guest or bride), Kyle’s standing her ground.
"They all look amazing, but I can't, after 14 years, all of a sudden be like, 'Okay, I'm going to follow suit.' I have to just be me."
So what does that look like for Kyle?
“I love to wear jeans and sneakers. I’ve gotten more casual throughout the years on the show,” she shared. “I just like high heels less and less these days because I’ve been doing the show for so long. It used to be fun to be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to a big party, what should I wear? I want to do my makeup. It’s going to be so fun!’ Then when you’re doing this so often, you’re like, “No. I don’t want to deal with it, the lashes, the heels, today on my chill day.'”
Kyle Richards Remembers the Pre-Instagram Housewives Days
When I started on the show, I had a Blackberry still. There was no such thing as Instagram, by the way.”
Another major shift Kyle’s noticed?
“Things have definitely changed because of social media,” said Kyle. “When I started on the show, I had a Blackberry still. There was no such thing as Instagram, by the way.”
Even in the earlier seasons of RHOBH, when Instagram was new, the ladies had not yet harnessed it as a tool for gathering receipts, showcasing glam, or launching paid partnerships. Kyle’s first Instagram posts are filled with vacation photos edited with the Amaro filter, quick shots of manicures with glitter accent nails, and unposed pictures with her daughters.
“It’s just evolved into something totally different,” she explained.
As much as social media has the power to impact the narrative of the show – like the ladies teasing Dorit for being late to a wellness retreat because she’s taking photos of her ‘fit – RHOBH influences social media, too.
Kyle Richards Experiences an Emotional Breakthrough Ahead of Season 14
If you’ve ever jumped at the sound of your own voice when you've made it onto a friend’s Instagram Story, it’s probably tough to imagine what it could be like to see yourself on television for 14 years. When asked what she’s learned throughout her experience, Kyle expectedly had a hard time narrowing her answer down.
[The show] helped me to be more articulate in my feelings. It's helped me to be more confrontational.”
“I have learned so much about relationships, and people in general in doing this show for 14 years. I’ve also learned a lot about myself in 14 years doing the show,” she said.
From the very first episode of RHOBH, Kyle has candidly shared the complicated relationship dynamic with her sister (and then fellow cast member) Kim Richards. After making a few appearances throughout the years, Kyle and Kim’s half-sister, Kathy Hilton, joined the show as a friend of the cast in Season 11. The sisters have continued to share their lives – both the good and the bad – on-camera. There would also be appearances and storylines influenced by Kathy's famous daughters, Paris Hilton and Nicky Hilton.
The Umansky family has also experienced plenty of ups and downs in Kyle’s 14 seasons; from milestones with her daughters Farrah Aldjufrie, Alexia Umansky, Sophia Umansky, and Portia Umansky, to the 2023 separation of a 27 year marriage with Mauricio Umansky, which viewers watched play out in Season 13.
In a 2024 interview with The Daily Dish, Kyle reflected on watching her children grow up on screen, citing Portia’s journey specifically. “When we started the show, she was in a crib and diapers. Now, she drives and is applying to colleges,” Kyle said. “It’s just so wild to think that this much of my life has been covered all these years, and she has no memory of any life before the show."
After over a decade of living her most significant events on-screen, Kyle had a specific breakthrough while filming Season 14.
“A lot of the times I’ve gotten what appears to be really mad or angry, in a scene in the past, when it was actually that I was very hurt and I was trying to hide my emotions, because I didn’t want to come across too vulnerable, for some reason,” Kyle revealed. “I think I was kind of raised that way, and I realized that’s what happens to me. Instead of stopping and taking a breath and saying, ‘That really hurts me,’ I would just automatically go to like, ‘AH! I’m mad at you.’ I would scream and then I would walk away and be like, crying my eyeballs out. Why wouldn’t I just say, ‘That actually hurt me’ instead?”
"It’s helped me to communicate better, doing the show for this many years,” she continued. “It's helped me to be more articulate in my feelings. It's helped me to be more confrontational, even though I don’t like confrontation... I don’t try to run from things as much as I used to.”
To see Kyle Richards and the rest of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills open up about what's going on in their lives, tune into the Season 14 premiere on November 19.
