Kim Richards’s interview with Dr. Phil, which was taped last week, aired yesterday. Kim has of course checked into rehab for what I believe is her fourth time. (The last time she was in rehab, in 2011, was reportedly her third stint.) She did not go easily. We’ve heard that Kim does not believe she has a problem despite her high profile arrest for public drunkenness and assault on a police officer, and her interview on Dr. Phil bore that out. Kim was full of excuses, denial and long-winded explanations. Little of what she said added up, but that’s been the case for her for quite some time. Here’s some of what she told Dr. Phil, and he kept calling her on her b.s., not that any of his logic got through to her.
Her explanation for drinking the night of her arrest. On the morning of the incident she was arrested, she finally watched the RHOBH reunion episodes and went on Twitter. She started crying when she explained the things that people were calling her on Twitter.
She has a lot of excuses “It really felt like this season, I just was tired of being talked about. Taking care of my ex husband and my son and I’ve got little girls and I’ve got a situation with my sister and my niece and my dog and all this stuff. I’m angry at the comments. They don’t know me.”
Claims she only had one drink the night she was arrested She cried pitifully and claimed “It isn’t the blog or the season that upset me, it was the relationship with my sister and my niece that’s been destroyed. The mean comments got to me. So I just couldn’t sleep and I poured a drink of vodka like that [indicates large amount with thumb and pointer finger] so I got in the car… it was about when I hit the hotel that I started to feel it.”
Claims she didn’t drink more at the Beverly Hills Hotel This was after she drank the vodka at her daughter’s house. She said “I did not [order a drink] the bar was closed.” Kim’s indication for how much she drank at her daughter’s house kept changing. It initially looked like about 2 shots of vodka, but then she made her fingers go farther apart the more she told the story. Dr. Phil pointed out that she was at the bar for an hour and a half and should have sobered up by then if she was telling the truth.
Her vague explanation of being arrested Kim claimed that she thought she knew the only other table of people at the bar and started to talk to them. The maître d told her to return to her table, but the other patrons defended her and said it was fine, according to Kim. Then she was asked to leave. Kim said that she doesn’t remember what happened exactly, but that she went to use the ladies’ room “and then a few minutes later they’re banging on the door.” She said “I unlocked it and then they just grabbed me. It’s like a fog.” She said that she didn’t black out completely that night, and remembers it in waves. Then she started crying. This seems to be Kim’s default move, to cry and play the victim when she’s called out.
On kicking an officer at the police station “When I got there the way they were grabbing me and doing the handcuffs, yeah I was kind of flailing around. Maybe I did kick him… at that point I was angry and I was frightened.” Dr. Phil pointed out that she was “hours into this” so that if she was acting that belligerent she “had to have been drinking a hell of a lot.” He kept pressing her that it made no sense that she didn’t order a drink considering that she was at a bar. Kim’s response was to cry again and claim she had been sober up until that point.
She denies being drunk on the show. “I have not drank once this season on camera.” Notice the qualifier.
On if she’s been sober for three and a half years. “I did have drinks a couple of other times in the last few months and it was wine. I was ashamed to say anything at the reunion. I was embarrassed. I would have loved to say to the girls, ‘you’re right,’ but the way they’re coming at me, they didn’t make it easy… I had been sober for over three years so it wasn’t a lie.”
Her explanation for arguing with Lisa Rinna. Dr. Phil aired the infamous RHOBH argument in Amsterdam during which Kim accused Lisa Rinna’s husband of cheating on her. She explained to Dr. Phil “I felt very attacked by all the girls.” She claimed that she was sober during that ridiculous argument. “At that point, I was not lying. I had not drank in over three years. Every one of them had come to me and told me Lisa Rinna was talking about me behind my back.”
On taking the pain pill “I took a pain pill. One pain pill. Remember I’ve been sober for three and a half years. I hadn’t taken anything. I didn’t even know I was acting funny until they told me.”
Kim’s three young adult children came on the set to talk about their mom’s issues and urge her to go to rehab. Kim cried and cried and her kids looked so over it. They’ve surely seen this countless times before. Dr. Phil summed it up “I’ve never yet seen an alcoholic that reports things fully and accurately.”
Then, when Dr. Phil asked Kim to go to a local rehab and said that he would pay for it, she claimed she was having anxiety and left the set. Her daughter, Brooke, followed her and asked her to come back and Kim said “you’re giving me tons of anxiety.” Kim’s son got her to admit that she smokes pot too. She later acted like everything was fine and told Dr. Phil that “going to someplace I don’t know is giving me tons of anxiety.”
At the conclusion of the episode, Dr. Phil explained that Kim initially said she needed to think about his offer to pay for rehab, that she accepted the day after taping, but that she later had a list of demands for the facility including a private room. Dr. Phil said that he heard that Kim had decided to go to rehab and that “we certainly hope that’s true.”
I know this has been long so I’ll just sum it up: Kim is an alcoholic who is deep in denial and lies. She surely takes a lot of pills too. I felt the sorriest for her children, who looked pretty miserable and hardened to their mom’s constant excuses. I don’t think the fourth time in rehab will be the charm for her, but I hope I’m wrong.
photos are screenshots from Dr. Phil and Bravo
She has never taken the most important steps of taking responsibility for her own actions and seeing what her alcoholism is doing to other people. She sees herself as a victim, and everything is somebody else’s fault. I don’t think she will change any time soon.
GNAT~ this is it exactly. In order to evolve as a human, whatever it is that you might be trying to overcome, but especially with addiction, you need to look at yourself fully and wholly and see exactly where it is that you are contributing to what is happening. Everything out of her mouth is, they did this so I did this. They said this so it excused me to do this. She hasn’t, and might not ever, fully taken responsibility for her own actions. Actions that are either a reaction to other people or actions that cause other people to react. She just refuses to look at herself deeply enough to see where her weaknesses are and how to change the behavior within herself. So, you feel attacked by your co stars, find another way of coping.
Addiction is a hard, hard thing, I’m not even denying that it’s not. But she has a lot of people around her who care, and a lot Of opportunity to take even the smallest steps to recover and instead she blames and denies and deflects.
It’s a sad situation but I don’t see it being resolved until she takes some good, hard looks at herself and inner workings. And maybe watches herself with a counselor on TV to be shown her behaviors so she can start modifying them.
As long as she makes herself the victim she will always have a valid reason in her mind to drink and take pills.
I feel so sorry for her kids
She’s obviously NEVER seen herself on TV! If I saw myself looking and acting like that, I’d crawl under a rock and stay there and never take a sip of anything. But then again, I’m not as ill as this wretched creature.
Nothing, I mean *nothing*, will change in her patterns of behavior until she excises the cancer of whatever happened to her in her youth that damaged her so deeply. She is just like all those people on “Intervention”, but without the courage and insight to own her pain and work through it to sobriety and mental health.
You are correct about that. If you watch enough ‘Intervention’, the amount of trauma is breathtaking. And heartbreaking.
Alcoholics are master manipulators. We’ve seen it with Kim for years – deflect deflect deflect. And until she hits rock bottom she won’t think she really needs help. Because this certainly isnt bottom – she’s still on a tv show, she still has ‘ fans’, she still has enablers.
I really hope she gets help. She looks like too many of my family members before they sobered and got help.
It is possible, and she may not know it now, but her life will be so much better.
I don’t think she takes just a few pills.
thats so crazy, for some reason, as a long time watcher of RHOBC i never put it together that she was on pills until people began saying that recently. now it makes total sense. when she was on that *one* pain pill she was WHACKED. makes one wonder why she decided to be the caretaker of her ex husband
I feel for her kids. I’m glad they seem to be taking the side of Kyle, who also seems exhausted by it all. They need family members to lean on. Kathy Hilton seems MIA.
I just don’t think Kathy Hilton would be a good family member to lean on. Look at her own kids. Paris got away with drug induced crimes and even got out of jail time, and that youngest brat of theirs who terrorized passengers on his plane. He even said in his (drug fueled) rant that his dad had bought him out of these situations before. No, Kathy Hilton is sick and her children are sick. I hope Kim’s children find support and encouragement from outside their crazy family.
She doesn’t have the willingness to get sober yet. You have to be 150% willing before it works. You have to be able to see what part you’ve played in all the chaos and drama that surround you. It’s probably also wise to quit your “job” on the Real Housewives. I know that when I first got sober, I immediately lost my taste for these shows because I saw how unhealthy they are.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be late to a 12-step meeting. HINT HINT, KIM.
If any part of your day is a “fog” you have a problem.
Wow, this woman may be an a**hole, but she is seriously ill and needs help asap.
She thoroughly disgust me now. Her and her Jodi Arias “fog”. Funny how this fog always show up for people as an excuse when they have been caught lying or being crazy. It still amazes me how she was acting irrational and physically kicking a cop and she’s alive to tell her fog story. *eye roll* I doubt this stint in rehab will work for her either since add hes still playing the blame game and doesn’t see herself as having a drinking problem.
The Real Housewives franchises are full of contrived scenarios so it’s hard to tell sometimes which moments are authentic and which are staged or people consciously or subconsciously playing up to the camera. So it was really startling to see Kim with her children on this show. THOSE interactions were real and frankly broke my heart.
Kim presents herself on RHOBH as this warm, fun, dizzy, sweet earth mommy that lives for her kids. I’m sure to some degree that’s an accurate description. But you can see by the kids’ reactions on this show that the relationship is alot more complicated and difficult. I get the impression they lie to her and hold back their true feelings to appease her. Some of them, like Brooke, seem totally over dealing with her. (I bet you anything that’s Kathy Hilton’s take too. Kim perceives that as Kathy being on her side when the truth is, she’s just sick of the drama. The person who still cares is Kyle. The “bad sister” that wants to help her) It’s gotta be exhausting for them to deal with Kim and Kim seems totally oblivious to the damage she’s caused her kids.
Like everyone said above, Kim will never get well until she’s ready to take some ownership over her own choices.
Also just had to add: I’m the furthest thing from a Dr Phil fan but I really love this point:
“I’ve never yet seen an alcoholic that reports things fully and accurately.”
A-effing men Dr Phil
I am 15 yrs along in recovery. I have seen some cases I thought were hopeless, but as long as a person is breathing air, there is hope for recovery. There are also some that never get it because they refuse to be honest with themselves and do the hard work. If she really wants change, she will get off that draining drama filled show. The tweets sent to these housewives by so called adults is enough to shatter a weak self esteem. It is a disaster ending in death if she doesn’t get off that show and humbly work on recovery.
I so agree with you. She needs to get off the RHOBH and concentrate on her well-being. Also, a few alcoholics I know went to rehab numerous times before they were finally able and ready to kick their addiction. So thete is still hope for Kim
I assume (like most) that everything on the Real Housewives shows is all contrived. I can’t think of any other cast member of any franchise saying how terrible and mean the shows were. Point being, that I think Kim is just trying to point fingers at anyone but herself, and she’s running out of places to point. So now, she’s pointing at the show. I would then assume, for liability purposes, that they’re going to have to fire her. She should have been off the show long ago, but at least it gives her a paycheck. Without at least that, I wonder where her life is headed.
Did anyone notice that on every single episode of RHOBH Kim cried? each week I was counting the minutes for it to start after a few episodes. Who cries that much and is okay?
Bitch cut to the chase, the issue is the narcissistic personality disorder. Problem solved.
I do not feel sorry for Kim, I feel sorry for her family. I knew a person who had a drinking problem, and I knew what this person was doing was hurting his family. It took the love of his family to get better, and once he realized THAT he stopped drinking.
Her son also outed that she takes pills not just that she smokes pot.