Reality stars Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky have denied rumours that they are getting a divorce after 27 years of marriage.
TheReal Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH) stars released a joint statement via Instagram this morning (Tuesday 4 July) to shut down the speculation, saying the reports were “untrue”.
It comes after a report by People quoted a source as saying that the couple “have been separated for a while now” and are trying to “figure out what’s next for them and their family”.
In her statement, Richards, 54, wrote that she and Umansky “have had a rough year” and it was “the most challenging one of our marriage”.
“But we both love and respect each other tremendously,” she added. “There has been no wrongdoing on anyone’s part.”
Richards joined the cast of RHOBH in 2010 while Umansky, 53, has made regular appearances on the popular Bravo reality series over the years. Umansky has also allowed cameras into his life when he signed on to star in his own real estate series on Netflix, with their two oldest daughters as agents.
As the couple weathers their personal storm, we take a look back at the ups and downs of their long relationship.
1994-1996
Richards and Umansky first met in 1994, in a nightclub called Bar One when she was 23 and he was 24. A few years before their meeting, Richards had divorced her first husband, Guraish Aldjufrie, with whom she shares a daughter.
Umansky proposed to Richards the same year they met, after she converted to Judaism at his request. While having dinner at Shutters restaurant in Santa Monica, California, he presented her with a bouquet of flowers, in which he hid a rosebud-shaped ring box.
They planned to have a spring wedding in April 1996, but had hold it sooner after learning that Richards was pregnant.
She told The Knot in 2021: “The wedding was originally going to be, I believe, in April, and then we moved it up to January so my dress would still fit because I was pregnant.”
She added: “I don’t believe in getting married again or a vow renewal because we got it right the first time and I just don’t want to mess with what works.”
In June that year, they welcomed their first child together, Alexia Umansky.
2000-2010
For the next decade, Umansky and Richards were focused on growing their family and securing new opportunities through reality TV. They welcomed their second daughter together, Sophia, in January 2000.
Eight years later, their youngest daughter Portia was born in March 2008.
(L-R) Sophia Umansky, Alexia Umansky, Kyle Richards, Portia Umansky and Mauricio Umansky attend KIIS FM's 2012 Jingle Ball at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 3, 2012— (Getty Images)
In 2010, Richards joined the original cast of RHOBH alongside her sister Kim Richards, Taylor Armstrong, Camille Grammar, Adrienne Maloof, and Lisa Vanderpump – thus catapulting her family into reality TV fame.
The premiere episode also introduced viewers to Umansky and their daughters.
From the get-go, the couple’s relationship was put to the test on RHOBH. In the first series, Allison Dubois – who claims to have psychic abilities – told Richards that Umansky would “never emotionally fulfil her ever” when asked for a reading, during one of the show’s most memorable episodes.
2011-2020
In 2011, Umansky started his own real estate firm called The Agency with partners Billy Rose and Blair Chang.
They continued their appearances on reality TV, with Umansky telling fans that what they see on the show was the couple’s real relationship playing out.
In 2013, he told People: “We’re the same, with or without cameras. We’re just super real and we know each other and we’re real.
Kyle Richards and her husband Mauricio Umansky attend recording artist Stevie Wonder’s concert at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve December 31, 2011— (Getty)
“We don’t have any secrets to hide. That’s one thing we talked about, the skeletons in the closet, and we can handle our worst skeletons.”
Two years later, their relationship was still going strong. Umansky revealed that their secret to a successful marriage was being “best friends”.
He said: “We’re a really good match. We get along really well, actually better than you see on television!
“We actually enjoy each other. She’s funny, she makes me laugh. I don’t have big guys’ nights out; Kyle is the person I want to spend most of my time with.”
However, Richards did reveal that they have one argument over and over again – about the temperature in their house.
“We fight about the temperature in the room,” she told People. “He always wants it cold!”
In February 2017, they appeared on the cover of Locale magazine. The cover image showed them hand-in-hand at the front door of their home in Encino, California. That same year, they fell victim to burglary and had more than $1m in jewellery and handbags stolen while they were on vacation in Aspen, Colorado.
Richards told People in 2018: “Everything was taken. Everything my mother, who passed away, had ever collected and saved to give to me — that I had always envisioned of passing on to my four daughters — was gone.
“Even my children’s baby bracelets. Obviously those are the things that hurt the most, things that I can’t replace. They’re completely invaluable.
"The material things, yes they can be replaced, but they also hurt. I feel embarrassed to say that, but those are things that were either given to me by someone that I care about or that I worked really hard for. So it hurts no matter what.”
Before the crime took place, Richards told Entertainment Tonight that the couple had fallen in love with a property in the Valley, north of Los Angeles.
Shortly after, they moved to the new home and put their former house on the market.
2021-now
The couple celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2021. In a poignant Instagram post, Richards wrote that she still feels “happy when I hear your car pull in the driveway and still get sad if we have to spend a night apart”.
“How is that even possible?? May we continue to grow, learn, explore, experience and create incredible memories side by side. I love you forever.”
Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky arrive at the Us Weekly Hot Hollywood party held at Eden on April 26, 2011— (Getty Images)
Umansky told Bravo Insider: “To be quite honest, it feels easy and doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. So it’s been great and beautiful. And, you know, I definitely intend to spend the rest of my life with her. So hopefully it’ll be at least another 25 years, and maybe another 50.”
That same year, they celebrated daughter Farrah’s engagement.
Richards also revealed that she asked for a script change while appearing in the Peacock movie The Housewives of the North Pole so that she wouldn’t have to kiss her co-star on the lips.
She told Entertainment Tonight: “I’ve never kissed anybody else since I met my husband.”
In 2022, they finally sold their home in Bel Air for $6.1m. Later that year, they listed their vacation home in Aspen for $9.75m.
Umansky said cryptically: “Aspen will never be the same. Honestly, that is my little happy place and people don’t know that we live there part-time. When I went back this last time, I took some sage with me. There was a Ouija board involved. Things really got out of control, lemme tell you.”
The real estate broker later announced his own reality show Buying Beverly Hills on Netflix, with daughters Farrah and Alexia. He also wrote his book, The Real Deal, about his business and family life.
Alexia Umansky, Kyle Richards, Mauricio Umansky and Dorit Kemsley attend Wheelhouse's Spoke Studios and the Agency's "Buying Beverly Hills" premiere party at Wheelhouse on November 02, 2022— (Getty Images for Wheelhouse)
He told People he was “nervous” for Richards to read the book because “she’s going to read my perception of a bunch of different things”.
In April 2023, Richards was photographed without her wedding ring, leading to speculation that her and Umansky’s marriage was on the rocks.
But in an appearance on the Two T’s in a Pod podcast, Umansky shut down the rumours. He told hosts Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave and Tamra Judge: “We’re not getting divorced.
“I mean, it’s so dumb. That one stupid story that came out there and then the girls all, you know, decided to talk about it on Housewives, and so now it’s a storyline.”
He promised listeners that RHOBH viewers will see him and Richards directly addressing the rumours in the forthcoming series of the show, which will be its 13th.
