Bright lights make people feel self-conscious, as if everything they do is being watched. In low lights, they have a little more freedom to enjoy themselves. For me, candles are everything! I cannot have people over without a million candles being lit. They give off the perfect light—low, flattering, romantic, dramatic, intriguing, and welcoming all at the same time. And put flowers out in as many spots as you can. Flowers make people feel cared for, and they bring freshness and life to a room. I always go to the wholesaler’s flower market in downtown L.A. to get flowers for my parties, because they’re much cheaper there, so if you have a similar market in your area, take advantage of it.
I generally like to have fun, upbeat music that you can dance to, like Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, and old-school stuff like disco. Whatever you want to say about disco, it’s great to dance to, and I think in some ways it’s people’s guilty pleasure. But for particular themed parties I might do something different. Maybe Latin music for a Cinco de Mayo party. I have also had mariachis perform at one of my Cinco de Mayo parties.
If it’s possible, I try to have one extra entertainment going on in some quiet room of the house, like a psychic or a magician. People enjoy going from the music and people and laughter off to another little world for a whole different experience in the middle of the party.
I’ve given so many parties that one day I decided it was silly for me to be renting tables and tablecloths and chairs and dishes and glasses all the time. So I bought everything I need. I researched everything pretty thoroughly first, and found places, mostly online, where I could find party essentials pretty cheap. I had to order my tablecloths, though, because you just can’t find them big enough to cover 120-inch tables and fall to the floor. Since I was going to spend more on them, I chose two basic colors: white for all-purpose and summer, and burgundy for fall, winter, and holiday. Sticking to a few basic colors will help you stretch your entertaining budget.
Here’s another idea I came up with that I’m rather proud of. I got together with a couple of friends of mine and we bought a bunch of the same kind of plates, plain white with a silver border. And we did the same thing with silverware. So now, if I’m having a huge party, I can call them and say, “Bring it on over!” Or they can call me. It works perfectly.
You have to call on your friends when you’re having a party. I couldn’t throw my big parties without their help. My friends Faye and Pauline always help with decorating and flowers and I’m so crunched for time I can’t do it all on my own. Everyone actually likes getting involved. They get excited and say, “Okay, what can I do?” It’s fun. It’s like the party before the party!
That’s what it’s all about—friends having fun. That is the holy grail of entertaining. If you nail that, you’ve got it made.
CHAPTER 12
A Real Housewife
When I was first approached to do Real Housewives, my closest friends were very skeptical. They’re not in show business and in fact won’t even let themselves be seen on the show. I’m like, nice friends! Ha! They were always very supportive of my acting career, and they wanted me to stick with that.
But the acting business has changed so much. I took off a lot of years to have kids, and when I went back, there were huge stars in little guest roles on TV and I just basically felt like I’d been pushed way down the totem pole.
I never wanted to do a reality show or a soap opera. But eventually I agreed.
Real Housewives has been quite an education! I never would have put this job in the category of being “difficult”—until I started doing it! It’s not the backbreaking or heart-wrenching kind of difficult—of course not. But it takes up a lot of time, and because there’s a lot of stress, it can be psychologically difficult! I think all of us on the show quit a couple of times apiece before we finally finished season 1.
Over the course of doing the show I got to know the other girls better, and I learned a lot from them. I even learned about myself! Camille and I clashed big-time in season 1. The dinner-party-from-hell episode with the psychic was just the tip of that iceberg, and the issues between us lingered long after filming ended. But I eventually came to understand Camille as a person, and we became friends.
In some ways the show goes against everything I try to teach my kids. I don’t want them arguing with people, being catty with their friends. I want them to learn how to deal with conflict in a constructive way.
But on the other hand, the show is everything I try to teach them. I want them to be honest and speak up for themselves. Avoiding drama is good advice to give to my girls, but in life, you can’t always avoid it. Drama happens! And you have to get through it. Ultimately, I try to teach my kids that they have to accept their friends’ flaws. That’s what friends are all about. As long as they aren’t toxic friends.
My daughters find Real Housewives entertaining. They know that what I’m like on the show—a bit of a fighter, I guess you’d say!—is just a small part of my personality. They like my strength, but they know a much softer, light-hearted, funnier side of me at home.
By now I don’t have to tell you what really matters to me: my daughters, my family, being a good mom, being a good partner to Mauricio, and being a good friend too.
I’m grateful that I have a great husband and a great marriage, but my mom didn’t—and she was still happy. I have single friends who are happy. And I have some single friends who worry, and ask me, “What do I do if I never get married?”
I say, “Well, if you don’t, it’s okay, because you can have a great life without being married.”
Women are very important in my life. I’d be lost without my friends. Thank God for the telephone! It’s impossible to spend as much time with your friends as you’d like, but that phone is a lifesaver. It drives my husband crazy. I say to him, “But this is my time to spend with my friends, don’t you see?”
It all comes down to the concept of family—whether family means you have a bunch of children or a bunch of sisters or a bunch of friends. Cherish the people you love. That’s the very best advice I can give you.
People ask me what I’ll do when I finish the show, whenever Real Housewives is over.
My honest answer is this: “I’m going to go back to the way I was—being a real housewife again!”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank my dad, Ken Richards, for being the most kind and loving father. I love and miss you.
I want to thank everyone who made this book possible. My publisher, HarperOne, for making me an author! My editor Nancy Hancock and my publicist Suzanne Wickham. Robin Micheli, I couldn’t have done this book without you. My manager, Bette Smith… Dahling! Thank you for always being there for me 24/7.
Doug Ross, the crew of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, my Housewives co-stars/friends, Adrienne, Camille, Lisa, and Taylor, Alex Baskin … for keeping me somewhat sane and making me laugh along the way. All my friends at Bravo, The Lady Sitter Justin Sylvester … my right hand during all the craziness! Rick Hilton, Dr. Estella Sneider, Eduardo Umansky, and the Benton clan for being the best in-laws/family a girl could ask for! The Wiederhorn family, the Sneider family, and the Moghavem family.
My nieces and nephews who I love with all my heart … Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton, Brooke Brinson, Barron Hilton, Whitney Davis, Chad Davis, Conrad Hilton, and Kimberly Jackson.
To all of you who loved and supported me along the way, Lorene, Tina, Faye, Pauline, Jana, Michele (aka Tiny Dancer), Chris, Barbara, Tiffany, Christine, Brooke, Tracy, Wendy, Roxane, Sue. I love you all. Thank you for being the best friends in the world!
My sisters, Kim Richards and Kathy Hilton. I love you both so much!!
To my daughters, Farrah, Alexia, Sophia, and Portia. Thank you for showing me what life is all about. You are my greatest accomplishments. I love you all so much it hurts.
To my husband, Mauricio, my soul mate, my best friend, and my biggest supporter. It’s official… I LOVE YOU MORE!!!!!!!!
ABOUT TH
E AUTHOR
Kyle Richards
This sassy California native was born in Hollywood, into an acting family. She landed her first role at age four in Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain, where she played the younger version of her sister, child actress and fellow Housewife Kim Richards. Her other sister is Kathy Hilton, mother to Nicky and Paris Hilton. Kyle’s TV credits include Little House on the Prairie, Carter Country, Down to Earth, and E.R. Film credits include Halloween and The Watcher in the Woods. Kyle is an avid advocate for the fight against cancer, even completing a sixty-eight-mile bike marathon last year to raise money to help fight the disease. Kyle is married to the love of her life, Mauricio Umansky, one of the nation’s top Realtors. Kyle recently starred in the Lifetime original movie Deadly Sibling Rivalry. Kyle is also developing her own handbag line, and developing her own affordable line of skin care. Her greatest passion, however, is being a mother to her four daughters: Farrah (22), Alexia (15), Sophia (11), and Portia (3). Kyle believes “If you obey all the rules, you’ll miss all the fun.”
Credits
Cover design: Laura Beers
Photo Art Direction: Michele Wetherbee
Copyright
Product names and trademarks are used throughout this book to describe and inform the reader about various products that are owned by third parties. No endorsement of the information contained in this book is given by the owners of such products and trademarks, and no endorsement by the publisher is implied by the inclusion of products or trademarks in this book.
Photographs in the inserts for this book are used by permission of the family, with the exception of the photo of Kyle at age thirteen (on page 8 of insert 1), which is used by permission of Kathy Amerman, and the photo of the family (on page 16 of insert 2) all wearing white shirts, which is used by permission of Adam Bouska. Every effort has been made to obtain permission for all other photographs used. If any required acknowledgments have been omitted, or any rights overlooked, it is unintentional. Please notify the publishers of any omission, and it will be rectified in future editions.
LIFE IS NOT A REALITY SHOW: Keeping It Real with the Housewife Who Does It All. Copyright © 2012 by Kyle Richards. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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FIRST EDITION
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ISBN 978–0–06–211348–1
EPub Edition © DECEMEBER 2011 ISBN 9780062113498
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Photographic Insert
Kathy, Kim, and me (at three and a half months old), 1969.
Our nanny Maria, Kim, and me, 1969.
Kathy and me (at fifteen months old), 1970.
My dad, Kim, and me (at fifteen months old), 1970.
My mom, “Big Kathy.”
My mom at our beach house. She had great style.
Big Kathy
Kathy, Kim, and me, Beverly Hills Hotel, Christmas 1972.
Our holiday card, 1973.
Kathy and me at Kathy’s wedding, 1979. I was ten years old.
My mom and me at a hotel in Hawaii, 1981.
From my Little House on the Prairie days.
Eaten Alive—the movie that gave me anxiety.
At nine years old with Victor French in Carter Country. He also played my dad on Little House on the Prairie.
Me at thirteen years old.
Actor C. Thomas Howell holding Paris Hilton, 1986.
Me with C. Thomas Howell at my sister Kim's wedding.
Clearly the eighties were not good to me. Fifteen years old.
Farrah and me when I was twenty years old, 1989.
My sweet dad and me with blond hair, 1991.
Farrah and me in Palm Desert, 1993. My hair hasn’t changed much.
Me and Mauricio.
Getting ready for my big day.
My brother-in-law, Rick Hilton, walking me down the aisle. January 20, 1996.
Thirty-five weeks pregnant with Alexia. What was I thinking with the underwear?!
With Alexia when she was five weeks old.
Nursing Alexia, July 1996.
Mauricio with Alexia in July 1996. He had just turned twenty-six.
Pregnant with Sophia in Acapulco. I had two and a half months to go. Huge!
With Sophia at six months old. I could not lose the baby weight.
Pregnant with Portia.
With Portia a couple of months after giving birth.
Bath time with Farrah.
My maternal grandmother, “Doe-Doe,” who lived with me growing up, with Farrah.
Kim and me playing around.
Me with my sister Kim and Bethanny Frankel.
My mom, me, Kim, Kathy, and dear friend Wendy North dining at Morton's, Beverly Hills, 1991.
Bad hair day with my best friend since second grade, Lorene.
Me and Kim.
The cousins: Kathy’s, Kim’s, and my kids. From left to right: Kim’s daughter Whitney Davis; Kathy’s kids Conrad Hilton, Paris Hilton, Nicky Hilton; Kim’s daughter Brooke Brinson; Kim’s daughter Kimberly Jackson; Barron Hilton; my daughters Alexia and Farrah; and Kim’s son Chad Davis.
My mother-in-law and father-in-law, Estella and Eduardo.
left to right: Whitney Davis, Brooke Brinson, my daughter Farrah, Paris Hilton, me, and Nicky Hilton.
Lorene, Farrah, and me, Christmas 1998.
BFF Lorene and me playing around, Palm Desert, 1993.
My BFF Tina and me after doing the three-day Avon Breast Cancer Walk right after my mom died. A very emotional day. April 2002.
One of my dearest friends in the world, Faye Resnick, me, and Faye’s daughter Francesca.
Me and Sophia, 2008.
At Farrah's graduation from USC. My exhusband, Guraish, Farrah’s biological father, is with us.
Mauricio and me on Halloween 2007.
Me and Mauricio in Napa Valley. We were on a seventy-mile bike ride to raise money for cancer (appeared on season 1).
Happy together.
Faye Resnick, me, and my friend Tiffany.
My beautiful girls.
The family.
On honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico, 1996.
My four daughters and me on the Caribbean island of Nevis, July 2008.
Mauricio and me in Hawaii.
Fourth of July in Gearhart, Oregon, at Tiffany's.
Mauricio, Sophia, Chloe, and Portia. Nap time.
Mauricio and me in Oregon.
Me, Mauricio, and Portia on Halloween.
At home with family.
My beautiful children, my beautiful life.
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