Kyle Richards and Daughter Sophia Reflect on “Rough” Chapter Amid Mauricio Umansky Split

Kyle Richards is no stranger to her life being in the public's eye. 

After all, in addition to an acting career, Kyle has spent 13 seasons on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. However, as the Bravo star and her daughter Sophia Umansky recently detailed, their latest chapter hasn't been the easiest to have play out in the public eye.

Specifically, this last season of the Bravo show documented Kyle and husband Mauricio Umansky's marriage troubles, which ultimately led to a separation. 

"I've shown so much over these 13 years of my life," she recently told E! News Justin Sylvester and Carolina Bermudez. "The first scene we shot all together, I said, 'My husband and I are having a hard time.' And that was very hard for me to share on camera, because I was processing that myself."

Kyle—who is mom to daughters Farrah, 34, Alexia, 27, and Portia, 15, in addition to Sophia with Mauricio—added, "We hadn't even shared that with our daughters yet."

And for Sophia, while she might be used to her family's time onscreen, this past season was unlike any other.

"It's definitely rough when there's so much going on at home," the 23-year-old said. "I mean this is already a lot to process in itself and to have the whole world talking about it—that's what it feels like—is a lot."

Though she noted that there are both pros and cons to their lifestyle. 

"I am grateful for everything that my mom being in the spotlight has brought into our life," she reflected, "so it's really, it's hard to say. But now it's rough." 

But as for what the future holds for Kyle and Mauricio, who were married for 27 years before their separation last summer? They're going step by step.

"Right now, we are just taking it a day at a time," Kyle said. "And we still live in the same house, and we get along. Our girls never grew up with fighting in the house and it's still not like that. We just don't argue."

As she put it, "It's just trying to work through things and taking it slowly."

Keep reading for a breakdown of Mauricio and Kyle's separation.

It was the bombshell that rocked the Bravo world when it was reported that The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards and her husband Mauricio Umanksy had split after 27 years of marriage.

But fans didn't have to wait until the RHOBH premiere to get a status update on the couple, who are parents to daughters Farrah, 34, Alexia, 27, Sophia, 23 and Portia, 15.

"Any claims regarding us divorcing are untrue," the pair said in a joint statement shared to Instagram on July 4. "However, yes, we have had a rough year, the most challenging one of our marriage. But we both love and respect each other tremendously. There has been no wrongdoing on anyone's part."

The pair then asked "to be able to work through our issues privately" despite their reality TV history.

"While it may be entertaining to speculate," they wrote, "please do not create false stories to fit a further salacious narrative."

But soon after Kyle and Mauricio issued their joint statement, fans, did, indeed begin to speculate about Kyle's friendship with Morgan Wade, noting the country singer's prominence in the Halloween Ends star's Instagram posts since their April 2022 meeting.

Kyle addressed the rumors head-on when asked by photographers about her connection to Morgan.

“We are very good friends,” she told told paparazzi in West Hollywood, Calif.

And, when asked if her relationship with the 28-year-old was “just a rumor,” she responded bluntly with a “yes.”

As for their matching tattoos, Kyle noted she also has coordinating body art with bestie Teddi Mellencamp. 

Amid ongoing rumors about their relationship, Kyle posted a slew of pictures from a family vacation to Aspen, including a group shot of herself, Mauricio and their four daughters. And she was ready to clap back at one suspicious commenter. 

After one user wrote, "We love 'damage control' Kyle," the 54-year-old responded, "If y'all like to read into every little crumb, read into this [middle finger emoji]."

Days after setting the record straight about their friendship, Morgan dropped the music video for her single "Fall in Love With Me," which starred Kyle as her love interest and featured the two women striking up a steamy romance.

In an joint Instagram video, the pair shared the backstory for their sexy collaboration.

"I've done several music videos and every time there's someone in it they always assume we're dating or something's going on," Morgan explained. "If you go on the Internet, you'll see people are obsessed with us being friends.

"In response, Kyle joked back, "Excuse me, they want to know why I'm friends with you."

While Morgan noted, "We thought it would kind of be a good idea to kind of poke fun at that and troll the trolls a little bit," Kyle admitted, "Well, if they're gonna talk, you might as well give them something to talk about." 

One person who liked the video was Mauricio, whp commented three fire emojis on Morgan and Kyle's joint post about the project, adding, "So good."

The couple and their children went on a family trip to Italy, both sharing snaps from their getaway.

Mauricio posted a August 20 snap of the entire family at night aboard a boat, which he captioned, "Summer Vacay 2023 on point," while Kyle uploaded a sweet snap with her daughters. The Halloween Kills star captioned the post, "That's amore," alongside red hearts and the Italian flag emoji, 

Despite their seemingly hunky-dory Italian getaway, Kyle shared that she had been "dealing with a lot of stuff lately" while answering fan queries during an Amazon Live session.

"That's a very loaded question," Kyle responded after a fan asked about her and Mauricio's relationship. "You know, this has been very hard to do [because it's] playing out with so many people having eyes on us and being in the public eye, but obviously we care about each other a lot."

Kyle was quick to clarify chatter surrounding the "fun girls' trip" she went on to Paris with Morgan and one of her childhood friends during another Amazon Live discussion.

“I mean, there’s just so many things out there online," Kyle said. "I’m like, 'Why do people just make things up, invent things about the trip?'"

Kyle explained that the pair went abroad to capture footage for an upcoming documentary about Morgan, which the Bravolebrity is producing.

"They see that there’s a camera there, and they completely ignore that there’s a camera there, act like we were just like – I don’t even know what,” she continued.

Kyle then emphasized that “there were cameras there,” squashing rumors  that they were on a romantic getaway. 

"Can you guys get your act together?” she stressed. “But yes, it was a great shoot.” 

When Mauricio made his debut on Dancing With the Stars, Kyle was in the ballroom to support him and his partner Emma Slater as they performed a jive.

And Kyle took her support a quick-step further, detailing how to vote for Mauricio on her Instagram Story.

After the DWTS premiere, Mauricio offered a status update on their marriage.

"We were dealing with our own things, kind of, super quietly and internally, just our own issues," he explained on the Sept. 28 episode of The Agency's Red Mic podcast. "I mean, certainly, we're not separated. We're not divorced at this point. We are not any of that stuff. We're still dealing with our marriage."

The 53-year-old noted he's grateful they went nearly three decades without ever encountering marriage troubles.

"It's been an amazing 26 years and it's been a difficult one year," he said. "Kyle and I are blessed, where we actually had 26 years that we did not have a bad year, and I know most marriages have bad months, bad weeks, bad years."

Mauricio then addressed rumors that he and Kyle staged their separation to garner publicity. 

"I am not going to destroy my life to put a plant in the news so people can get more entertainment," he stated, insisting that he's "not that smart or that conniving."

In the season 13 trailer for The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, it's confirmed that Morgan got a "K" tattoo, which Kyle inked ontoher body. In one scene, Kyle introduced Morgan to a tattoo artist, with Morgan joking that they met because, “She stalked me.”

And, like the public, Kyle's co-stars had questions about her friendship with the singer.

"You put the first letter of your name on her body?" Dorit Kemsley asked her longtime friend in reference to the tattoo. "What is going on, Kyle?"

But it was a tense conversation between Kyle and Mauricio that really had the Internet buzzing as the couple seemed to joke about the infidelity rumors surrounding them, with the real estate mogul telling his wife, "I'm just glad it's you out there having an affair." Kyle then quipped back, "For once it's me."

Just days after dedicating a DWTS performance to his wife, who he called his "rock," Mauricio was photographed holding hands with his partner Emma, sparking rumors of a romance off the dance floor.

Kyle admitted she was "taken aback" by the photos on Watch What Happens Live. "That was very hard to see," she told Andy Cohen. "It hurt my feelings."

While she couldn't confirm if there really is a budding romance between the pair, she did share her perspective on the pairing.

"I don't know if anything has happened yet," she noted, "But obviously there's something there and listen, I love him very much—and we are amicable—but that really did hurt me."

So much so, that she admitted she deleted a recent Instagram post in support of their run on DWTS.

However, she added, "I also voted for them."

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