Kyle Richards Needed 'Freedom and Space' From Estranged Husband Mauricio Umansky in Months Leading to Split
Fans weren't the only ones surprised when Kyle Richards and her now-estranged husband Mauricio Umansky started spending significantly less time together.
During a guest appearance on the Friday, October 27, episode of Live With Kelly and Mark, Richards briefly touched upon her shocking split from Umansky as the talk show aired a new preview of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
In the teaser, Richards had a candid conversation with her best friend and costar Dorit Kemsley, who was eager to gather information about the 54-year-old's tension-filled love life.
"I mean, have you had any thoughts recently? Like do you think you would not end up with Mo?" Kemsley, 47, asked, as Richards appeared taken aback and annoyed by the seemingly intrusive question.
"What makes you think this?" asked the mom-of-four — who shares daughters Alexia, 27, Sophia, 23, and Portia, 15, with Umansky, 53, as well as her daughter Farrah, 34, with her ex-husband, Guraish Aldjufrie, 59.
"Well, like even just from Instagram, you know, I usually see you and Mo together, and it just seemed like you were spending a lot of time away from each other," Kemsley explained, admitting she was curious what was going on between Richards and Umansky after 27 years of marriage.
"I feel like I needed a little freedom — freedom and some space," Richards confessed before the clip concluded.
Transitioning back to the live talk show, Richards confessed to Kelly Ripa and her husband, Mark Consuelos, that she was "not thrilled with the questions" Kemsley was asking her during the taping of their drama-filled reality show.
"I wasn’t ready to address that stuff," the socialite expressed, noting her certainty that her BFF knew exactly "what she was doing" by interrogating her while the cameras were rolling.
"It would’ve been better if she had asked me that off camera," she added with a bit of sass.
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"Well, that particular day, I was really not happy," Richards teased. "I feel like you could definitely see that."
While she admittedly wasn't the most pleasant person in the preview, Richards warned viewers she was "not quite" herself, a "little angry" and a "little bitter" throughout the entirety of filming the new season.
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Richards' appearance on the daytime talk show comes months after she and Umansky confirmed their separation in July.
Despite splitting romantically, the former flames still sleep under the same roof, but in different bedrooms.
Since taking time apart, the couple has found themselves at the center of separate online dating rumors: while fans speculated a romance between Richards and Morgan Wade was blooming, others suspected Umansky was seeing his Dancing With the Stars partner Emma Slater.
The spouses have denied having rumored relationships with Wade and Slater, as they both claimed the people in question were just close friends.