‘RHOBH’: Read The Text Erika Jayne Sent To Announce Her Divorce

During last week’s preview, we got our first glimpse at the Erika Jayne drama to come this season on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and in the latest episode…well, we didn’t get a whole lot more.

Of course Bravo waited until the last minute of the episode, making us sit through the Crystal vs. Sutton drama that only seems to get weirder and more awkward as it goes, and then a flashback to Election Day 2020, before they gave us the goods: the women reacting to the news of Erika’s divorce from her husband Tom Girardi.

We see Kyle Richards look at her phone, think about putting it down, but ultimately can’t as she knows the group chat is about to go off. Dorit Kemsley is seen making several faces before simply asking out loud, “What?” Exactly.

We see the text Erika has sent to the group, which reads: “Ladies, I truly consider you my close friends and this is why I’m reaching out to tell you that I filed for divorce this morning. Thank you for supporting me. This will be tough.” Dorit reads it out loud, as surely a lawyer also did several times as Erika was crafting it, before the women all jump on a FaceTime call to wonder what is even happening.

They all claim to have had no idea, despite just spending a handful of days with her in Tahoe, with Dorit asking, “After 22 years?” and Lisa Rinna stating, “It’s Erika, so whatever’s going on, she had to do it like this. She couldn’t tell anybody.”

“It’s a long time to spend with someone to all of a sudden be done,” Kyle remarks of the situation, while Rinna can only offer an “It’s sad,” and Kyle closes out the brief snippet with a “What the hell?” just as we’re all saying from home.

Since this news broke on Election Day in November, big enough to still make waves across the internet as the safety and freedom of our country was being determined, everyone involved with the show has been claiming that Erika is NOT going to hold back this season and will be speaking freely about all the matters in her personal life, which is extra surprising considering there’s that whole pesky ongoing legal issue as well. In the months since, Tom’s law firm has been sued, he’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and apparently Erika has no money — oh, and all on top of claims that the divorce is allegedly fake or simply a way for Erika to save…face/money/her life and not have to go to jail. Needless to say, there are still a lot of interesting texts she has yet to send these women.

I am intrigued to see how this plays out, not just because the end of the episode lets us know this matter is TO BE CONTINUED, but I am also managing my expectations around this central drama of the season. As you’ll remember, previous central drama topics have included Puppygate and Denise Richards and Brandi Glanville’s “friendship”, and we all know how those went down. Viewers have griped that Erika doesn’t open up enough, but with these matters much more significant and serious, can the show really address the frustrating and depressing events in her life and also remain fun, frivolous, and fabulous? The good news for Kathy Hilton is that she probably won’t need a Red Bull to get through the rest of this season.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesday at 8 pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

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