After I had denounced watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, I was sucked in to Season 11, as I could barely watch last season especially with Teddi still on the show. I was never a fan of Teddi so when Erika went in on her, I took great pleasure in that. Even when Sutton assumed she would be boring (you know that honesty game they play every now and then) and while Teddi walked away hysterical crying, her husband continued to eat his dinner, savoring every bite.
Good times.
So here we are in Season 11 and as usual, the drama has heightened on all new levels being Erika is now the front runner of the drama.
If anyone recalls, when Erika came on the show in 2015, not only did she seem like a cold woman, she was also extremely private about her life, not really open to sharing anything personal about herself, her son, etc. in the same breath, somehow managing not to be part of the drama that ensued on every episode.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Remember the argument she had with Eileen, when it seemed Eileen was defending Dorit’s actions. Eileen used a hypothetical term, “she didn’t kill your child”, when the conversation took a 180 and Erika jumped at Eileen’s throat. Not only did this upset Erika, but her anger heightened when she told Eileen, “Don’t you ever bring up my child because he risks his life every day for strangers”.
As we (the viewers) were all trying to understand why Erika became so emotional, and Lisa Vanderpump was clearly confused, when she asked Erika what Eileen meant by that and Eileen responded, “because her son is a police officer. The more Eileen spoke, the angrier Erika became. It seemed to stir the pot more when Eileen was trying to apologize and then wanted to take a moment to “honor her son” which only escalated Erika’s extreme anger, “no don’t do that – I’m not looking for that”. Which I take it as don’t treat me or my family as we are some sort of in need of charity.
Too much, “zero to 100” or just right? How did a figurative speech turn into a debacle where Erika was spewing fuck you’s to Eileen?
Now let’s talk about the argument she had with PK when she went out to one of the “lavish” outings they have and she wasn’t wearing panties to avoid panty lines in one of her tight outfits. While PK was lavishing in her “golden triangle”, it seemed this became a bigger problem in disrespect.
Let’s look at both sides here really quick. What happened with PK apparently looking a little too long at Erika’s coochie, may not constitute sexual harassment in a legal sense, but I’m sure there was an extreme discomfort and unnerving feeling with a man, who just happens to be the wife of a “friend” staring down there. And while I may not believe PK spent his night staring at her, who knows, we are just watching the edited version.
In addition, if Erika decided not to wear undies, does she have a right to complain if she’s showing off something maybe she shouldn’t?
I’m a woman and quite honestly, I would not wear something, where I couldn’t wear panties because of panty lines ruining my outfit. Also, I would absolutely avoid a situation where I would give a man an opportunity to stare at my coochie and not have to experience discomfort of a “stare down”, because that same man can say, “well if you don’t want to walk without your undies and have your coochie out, I won’t stare”. This is an endless argument, no one wins. Sure, we have the women who say, “I can wear whatever I want and I should be able to.” Yes, you absolutely can. Just have common sense.
On season 8, another argument took place on one of their dinners when Teddi claimed Erika had “amnesia” in a conversation that took place with Dorit, Lisa Rinna and I think Kyle (because you know Kyle is always in the mess), and apparently at some point Erika agreed if the same situation happened with her, she would be upset. When Teddi called out, “well you must be having some full out amnesia”, the “zero to 100”, Erika came out, “don’t ever say I’m pretending, I’m telling you the truth, I don’t remember saying that….don’t ever, ever do that to me”.
I bring up these arguments, to show the irrational and misdirected anger Erika seems to exude on her cast members.
Fast forward to this season and all of the sudden, Erika is an open book. Sharing what has been really going on with her and Tom and the lack of emotional stability she has received from her husband, with almost little to no communication, especially during the pandemic, where she has admitted to therapy and medication. I’m confused by the sudden of sharing, unless this will just fall well with what’s happening in court proceeding now. It’s well known throughout history, defendants will put on the greatest show on earth to show the world they are innocent. And regardless of Erika knowing or not knowing what her husband’s dealings were, is anyone tell me, not one person went back to Erika and mentioned their suspicions to her?
Are we made to believe that out of the 21 years she was with him, 20 were good and then the last year was bad (if that were the case).
In one scene, when the ladies asked her why did she stay with Tom as he continued to mistreat her, after mentioning her husband’s infidelity, finding text messages and pictures from another woman (who apparently, she mentioned, suspected this was an affair that was going on for years), Erika’s response was, “where was I going?”
In other words, maybe she didn’t have enough funding to leave and she was stuck.
Looking back at her relationship with Tom, older rich guy meets younger woman and marries her, or as Kyle put it, “trophy wife”, yes, this isn’t news. How many older men have we seen over time, who have enough wealth to support probably an entire civilization on a small island for a lifetime, marry a young woman who looks good under his arm. Hence the “trophy wife” term.
Tom also funded her “Erika Jayne” persona as she traveled to different venues performing and probably not making a dime from it until she got to Broadway.
And let me be clear, this is not me digging at Erika, I have lived in NYC long enough where I attended different independent events and it was the people who were hosting these parties who coordinated with bar owners to meet a ‘bar guarantee’ and once that guarantee was met, whatever percentage the host would receive would be their profit.
In addition of profiting from a ‘bar guarantee’, was the number of invitees. If the host guaranteed the bar owner 300 guests will be in attendance, then anything after 300 would be a profit of whatever percentage the host and bar owner agreed upon. I’m gathering this is what Erika did for herself or she rented out a space where she held performances and I’m sure none of these spaces were free. Coupled with having to pay for space to perform, she also paid for back up dancers, make up, clothing, on top of that, the production of music videos.
These don’t come cheap.
And realistically, if you’re having an event, and you’re not like, Madonna, let’s just say, there is no reason why you should be charging $500 a ticket. I’m not saying she did, I’m using that an example.
I hate having to explain myself but there are so many people who read and take things so literally and get in their feelings, so, I apologize to my common-sense readers.
Now that we have this background scenario, let’s talk about why Erika is “spilling the beans”.
While she was going around talking about how “great” her relationship with Tom was, she was quietly working on the downlow, finding a new place to live, selling her beloved treasures of clothing she had acquired over the years and left the house she called home for more than 21 years, telling everyone, she dropped him off work, drove back to the house, packed up her shit and left. Think about that for a minute. This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, she already knew what her move out day was and when it came, she left.
No sooner after filing for divorce, the news became a media frenzy. Tom allegedly stealing money from clients, I believe the word “ponzi” was used in the LA Times article, frozen assets, etc. To say it’s a shit show, is an understatement.
While all of this is unfolding, Erika comes “clean” about Tom’s health, mentioning he has ‘dementia’ like symptoms, where he’s forgetting things or not understanding what people are telling him. In addition, he’s also having physical issues with his sight, which led him to driving off a cliff. And when Erika had shared the accident with Kyle, she mentioned she didn’t tell her the whole truth about the accident.
So, while Erika was leaving parts of her story out, is anyone asking, why now and is she telling the whole truth? I do believe her when she says she wasn’t aware of Tom’s finances and how he was handling shit. It would be a man like Tom to keep Erika, “in her place” and have her on a need-to-know basis. But in the same breath, are we expected to believe Ms. Erika Jayne would be that naïve to Tom’s business dealings? Are we supposed to believe in a random conversation she had with one of the ladies, that led her to check Tom’s phone and find the “incriminating” photos of another woman? She did mention how people in the firm were contacting her and airing their concerns about Tom’s wellbeing, so if they were doing that, wouldn’t someone be feeding her other shit they suspected was going on?
I’m having trouble believing Erika was completely in the dark.
In the past episode, after she confided with Garcelle and Crystal about Tom calling her every day, she mentioned to Crystal on the way back to the La Quinta house, she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. But apparently Garcelle missed that memo and while all were together discussing their day, Garcelle said, “I hope it’s okay with you Erika, but she told us that Tom calls her every day.”
Why Garcelle, why????!!!!
I don’t know if Garcelle has ever watched the show but this is the second season she is on, and one would think she would know about the “zero to 100” personality.
And of course, as we all know Erika, she went in on Garcelle, telling her to go ahead and keep talking, as if she gave the floor to Garcelle to speak on her behalf but telling her off at the same time.
And the same way she reacted to Eileen was the same reaction to Garcelle, she literally fell apart, crying so hard, to a point of hyperventilating where she couldn’t even speak.
Of course, who was there to comfort her, in all the times Erika has had these falling apart crying scenes, Lisa Rinna. Making sure her “idol” is cared for and comforted, all the meanwhile ready to go on the attack to anyone making sure they “owned it”. Lisa Rinna knows better than to get on Erika's bad side because Erika will take that zero to 100 shit and tear her up in ways Lisa has yet to experience.
Now Lisa is already on dicey ground with Garcelle and as far as I can see, Garcelle looks like she has no issue being on that show and not having to acknowledge Lisa Rinna at all.
While the same faces ensued in the scenes with Eileen and Erika, everyone is also asking the question, if Erika is being forthcoming and this falling apart of tears, has to be more than what she’s telling them.
Looks like Sutton will be the one asking those very questions on the next episode.
In closing I want to say, I like Erika. I always have. But I also think she’s full of shit. Any person who keeps too quiet about their lives, most likely lies about things about their lives to make themselves look good. And when she has these outbursts, I think it’s only because it’s touching feelings she hides and deals with privately until she can’t anymore.
For her to explode on Eileen for using figurative terms, as if Eileen was wishing Erika’s son’s death was a bit over the top.
Erika took what Eileen said to heart and all I can ask is why? Was it something someone said to her years ago about her son and it just came up again and misdirected her anger at Eileen?
And PK….why make it a big deal he was staring at her hooha and then talk to him like a piece of shit? Is it because Tom talks to her like a piece of shit and she stays quiet just to keep a roof over her head, so, take it out on PK??? One should always ask why, when someone goes off the deep end, what is really going on?
I think as much as we all would like to know, the truth will stay with the two people who spent 21 years together.
Until then. Take care of you.
