Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ Yolanda Foster is in fighting mode. She’s not only fighting Lyme Disease, she’s also fighting against a wealth of rumors and accusations. TMZ reported that the 51-year-old Dutch model is receiving a lot of money from her ex-husband, music composer David Foster. The couple announced that they were ending their 9-year marriage a few weeks ago. A few days after the announcement, Yolanda called into Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live and told Andy Cohen that her illness was the reason for the dissolution of the marriage. She said, “Chronic long term illness is extremely challenging, not only for the person that’s sick, but also for the caregiver. It for sure changed the dynamic of our relationship.”
Even after the split, it has been revealed that David is still footing the bill for much of Yolanda’s living and medical expenses. David doled out more than he needed to as far as the couple’s pre-nup called for and TMZ reported that, upon selling their $27 million Malibu home, Yolanda got a “big chunk” of the proceeds from the sale. David is also, reportedly, still paying for his ex’s treatments for Lyme Disease.
Yolanda is moving on with her life, sharing a photo on Instagram from the bedroom of her ew condo in L.A. with the caption, “If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it……… #Faith #BuildingTheNew #OneDayAtATime #NightNight.” What’s not part of her new life is a rekindling of her romance with ex-husband Mohamed Hadid. A source close to Yolanda told ET, “They’re not hooking up. They’ve been great friends ever since their divorce and she’s always welcome at his home. If she’s in town and he’s having a family get-together or party she will always show up.”
If there’s not enough drama in this saga, Yolanda took to her Bravo blog after Tuesday’s episode of RHOBH, where Taylor Armstrong called Yolanda’s “sick selfie, happy selfie” Instagram posts “a little much.” Yolanda lashed out at her co-star, stating:
What I saw on the show tonight was just that: IGNORANCE. Maybe it should anger me, but instead it makes me want to fight harder and speak louder for those whose voices can’t be heard. Those of you who have experienced chronic illness, you know what I’m talking about. What defines suffering? You will never hear someone who’s walked in my shoes speak the way Taylor spoke on tonight’s episode. I truly hope she never has to experience the journey she questions me for sharing.
[From Bravo]
So why is she still putting up with the abuse? A source told E! News, “At first, Yolanda’s children were a big reason she decided to do the show. She wanted to boost their careers and she definitely succeeded. Bella and Gigi have become household names. Now, one of the reasons she remains on the show is to help shine a light on her disease.”
photo credit: WENN.com and FameFlynet
Yolanda Foster is the next Kriss Jenner.
Yes, I notice that she’s already fixing up her girls in faux-mances, Jenner style. I don’t believe for a minute that Gigi was sincerely dating Joe Jonas or Zayn Malik. 100% publicity setups.
Her whole demeanor changed when he was around, and it was so fake. He was the center of the universe, theirs was the love story of all love stories, she catered to his every whim. “It for sure changed the dynamic of our relationship.” Yeah, I bet it did. He had to give a little. Bor-ing.
For what it’s worth, my husband has had chronic Lyme for over 20 years. He goes in and out of remission, and although he experiences the “brain fog” that is typical of the disease, it hasn’t entered into his brain the way hers has done, thank God. I really feel for her dealing with it, and I believe her. I think Taylor is a complete jerk for implying that she’s exaggerating, but that is a typical reaction, sometimes even from doctors, to this disease that causes so much horror and is so little understood.
Well, your husband got lucky in one respect—he has a partner who’s there for him. The disease must be horrific for him, but it has to be hard on you too. Sending lots of good thoughts and white light your way.
Thank you, Nona. ❤️
Re dynamic – for sure, I 100% agree with you. I remember an episode where they had a dinner party at the Foster house and then David shut down the party by forcing everyone to sit and listen to him noodling on the piano. They were annoyed with someone who was talking a bit rather than sitting entranced. I realized then that he is the one who pulls focus – always. He wouldn’t like her not able to cater to his schedule.
I remember that episode. The annoying person who was talking too much during his ‘performance’ was a typically drunk Taylor Armstrong.
I’m not a Yolanda fan at all, but I’m sorry she’s ill.
Taylor Armstrong is the tackiest, most classless, dumbest loudmouth on the planet. She’s also a liar and manipulator.
Maybe it’s just me, but I do kind of think the illness is a little much. I’ve known a few people who have Lyme and Yolanda’s behavior is A little startling but not really. The people who I know have it generally feel great most of the time and just go for treatment when it acts up, but they definitely have developed a sort of OCD about their health that can be a little overbearing, and are always quick to say, if someone isnt feeling well, “maybe it’s Lyme.” I’m not discounting it as a serious illness but she’s definitely like Munchausen-adjacent. I wonder if that’s a common trait among sufferers of Lyme’s, which is they all develop a sort of hypochondria.
It’s not hypochondria. They probably have chronic Lyme because they weren’t treated properly in the beginning, and they are trying to be sure that doesn’t happen to you. If you don’t treat Lyme immediately and effectively as soon as it’s contracted, it can cause a lifetime of misery, pain, depression, joint aches, brain fog, and a host of other symptoms that you write off as “acting up.” The treatment they go for is having a shunt installed in their arm with six weeks of antibiotics going through it. You can only do that a certain number of times without damaging your liver, so they live with the knowledge that this may be the last time they can get help when it “acts up.” On top of that, they have to live with the ignorance and judgment of people like you, who have no idea what they’re tak like about, and deal with constant comments about how maybe they’ve developed hypochondria. You’re a great friend.
GNAT, thanks for trying to take up the compassionate perspective.
I have Chronic illness (Hashimoto’s and chronic migraines that are a roller coaster in frequency). One of the most challenging aspects of these diseases is trying to project feeling just fine so impatient or ignorant people don’t side eye you or get tired of dealing with your ups and downs with you. I keep a lot to myself, but my good friends understand I might be less engaging at times.
The guilt and wariness of being a burden or inconsistently prepared to socialize is hard. I have found that I am far less honest and open with people who will be intolerant or relate everyone’s experience to the one person they know who has a chronic illness, but is just fine.
I’m a 25 year Lyme Disease patient. I’m replacing my joints now from the devastating arthritis at the core of it. My second hip replacement is next Monday. After this, my knees are next. The disease ruined my career in broadcasting, made it impossible to stand and walk, has affected my brain, and according to my cardiologist, damaged my heart. I would love to meet Yolanda, who’s put a face on this disease. Please support finding a vaccine for Lyme.
Thank you. You said it well. Having an invisible chronic illness is bad enough, but dealing with the ignorance makes it even worse. I am amazed at how many of my friends are ignorant or just plain stupid about illness. I understand it in most cases, but when someone is constantly telling you about the latest fad or about a positive attitude I want to scream. Often what appears to be a negative attitude is just trying to maintain civility when listening to the drivel some people think they need to share.
I hope all of you will keep heart until they learn more about how to cure or lessen the affects of Lyme. @supposedtobeworking – you’re so right. Although my husband had the classic bullseye rash and sought treatment right away, his first doctor gave him the wrong antibiotic, which started him down this road. His symptoms went away for awhile, then came back. His second doctor didn’t believe there was such a thing as chronic Lyme, and basically said he was making it up. My husband has a high threshold of pain and rarely complains about anything, but the doctor made him feel so stupid that he hates to tell people about it because he’s afraid they won’t believe him. It makes me so angry. He’s doing pretty well right now, but you just don’t know when it will come back. I’m so sorry all of you are going through this.
It’s hard to know what she really feels or what she is going through but after reading and hearing about other people’s various accounts of going through Lyme desease, some say that they were cured and they are now fine and others say that they have or going through an ongoing battle for years. It’s sounds that Lyme desease can be treated and cured(?) but Yolanda and all her various expensive treatments insist that can’t make her better. I hope she is not over dramatising her illness for whatever reason but I really can’t help but think that’s what she is doing now. Hopefully that does not make me a bad person but there seems to be a lot of facts about Lyme desease that are contradicting each other. However, I call bullsh@t on her staying in the show just so she can “spread awareness ” for the desease, because now that her marriage is over and aside from her illness what else career wise has she got going for her.
As for David Foster taking care of her financially, then I say good! It seemed that he left her at her sickest and bailed out emotionally and physically so the least he could do is take care of her financially. He can afford it and at least this way he would not come of as a 100% superficial jerk to the public. Leaving her sick and broke would not have been good for David’s image and sure thats what he was concerned more in the end.
Lyme disease can be cured if it is treated properly at the onset. If not, it imbeds itself into your nervous system and there is no known cure, just treatment for symptoms. It took years and years for doctors to even admit there was such thing as chronic Lyme, in spite of thousands of people who had had it complaining of similar symptoms. She is not exaggerating, dramatizing, mentally ill or anything else. It’s a terrible, lifelong disease, and on top of that, people don’t believe you.
My MIL has Lyme’s, and its been hell. She was diagnosed by the Mayo clinic in the early 90’s after experiencing numbness in her feet and face for quite some time. Doctors had no idea what it was for quite a while. It was expensive for her to get some answers, so many people lack access to the well-informed medical community.
Her current symptoms include lack of balance, numbness in her hands, forgetfulness and being kind of loopy. She recently fell down stairs and broke her pelvis. The effect on her brain has been the most challenging for my husband to understand. It can be tiring dealing with her lapse in short term memory, her anxiety and her lack of understanding of basic conversations. She’ll call us on the phone and ask “Are you Facetiming me?” when we pick up. She calls 6 times in a row, then asks my husband what he was calling for when she does get ahold of us. She panics really easily, and is very clingy when she’s around. She lives 8 hours away, so its not frequent, but getting noticeably worse. The hardest part for her is that she was a surgical vet and lost her ability to work, and she lived for her work.
It is a very fluid disease that has tons of symptoms.
I’m so sorry to hear the extent of her Lyme Disease. Has she received Social Security payments yet? It saved my life.
I’m so sorry.
@Sumodo1, we’re in Canada, and she cold have great care, but she’s in denial. She thinks its MS, even after being told she has MS symptoms as a result of the Lyme’s. Ironically, she said she disregards the diagnosis because there isn’t enough evidence for Lyme’s and as a doctor (of animals, but still), she just can’t buy it.
Nothing you can do for someone who won’t acknowledge the problem.
Thanks GNAT, as you know, some days are better than others, and having good people in your life is hugely impactful. I am sorry about your husband. I feel bad for mine when I’m down and out, but so thankful for having a compassionate man in my life.
I had undiagnosed Lyme disease for over 2 years. I went from a healthy vibrant 27 year old to a bed ridden, night sweating, panic attack having, skin burning disaster. I would shake so badly my teeth would chatter.. No one believed me (but they took care of me).
When I took a friend to the airport and the drive back to my house took 4 hours instead of 1 I had my bf Google all of my symptoms in a row and the first thing that came up was Lyme. I went to my Dr. and said I wanted to be tested for Lyme and he told me I was being ridiculous. I insisted. The rest came back positive and he genuinely apologized to me.
It is a truly insidious disease. It mimics so many other diseases. Also, my bf was tested and he was positive as well. Thankfully, it never progressed to our brains, which is the worst thing that can happen (if you have Lyme.). We went to a Lyme specialist and I took Lamisil for a toenail infection and it made me feel 90% better. Which makes no sense because Lyme is bacterial and that medicine is an anti-fugal. It was a very dark chapter and one of the only bright spots was my beautiful French Bulldog Sophie who was glued to my side and knew how truly sick I was. I still have flare ups but I’m functioning again.
Yea, I don’t think people understand how severe these tick-borne diseases can be. I grew up near Lyme, CT and I luckily caught my own Lyme disease early but I knew many people who had to suffer the horrible long-term effects of Lyme disease because they got the disease before the medical community accepted it as an actual disease. And then this summer I learned about Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (a type of Rickettsia) during a family member’s mysterious illness, which seems even more terrifying than Lyme disease. It’s caused by a dog tick and can cause a host of severe problems, including strokes!, if not caught and treated almost immediately. It’s most common in North Carolina and the surrounding area but it pops up everywhere. I can’t imagine living with the pain and fear a chronic illness must cause, so as much as I’m not a fan of any Real Housewife, I do have sympathy for Yolanda and I’m glad she’s out there raising awareness for Lyme Disease.
In a world where you need to socialize in order to boost your kids’ career, I don’t blame her. Even in non celebrity world, I know end of career lawyers who would “push” their kids’ new career by making them in contact with their own contacts and “pushing” for them to be known. It is a classic behavior. I don’t blame her.
I read somewhere recently that she has more money than David does. Because she got probably half of her ex-husband’s Mohamed’s $100 million fortune. If that’s true I surely wouldn’t be still paying for her expenses if I were David.
Considering David only loved his wife when she was healthy, he better pay her bills. What a jerk. What kind of person bails on their spouse because they are ill. That’s the test. He failed, miserably.
It’s hard to believe after being married for 9 years he’d bail on her after getting sick. But it does happen. But maybe there is more to it than that. I read he didn’t like her latest fame whoring ways. Hated being a part of the show, etc.
He knows he has to pay those bills or else she’ll use it against him in court and in the press.
Yolanda seems to be a kind, caring woman that is attracted to egotistical jerks like Hadid and Foster. David was hardly ever with her as he always seemed to be traveling, even at her sickest.
I think it’s really bad taste for any housewife or anyone else to comment on her illness or lack thereof. These housewives shows literally make me nauseous with the obnoxious self absorbed, back stabbing women they have on every show. They lost me as a viewer couple seasons back.
I just don’t believe Yo about her version of Lyme disease. Everyone reacts differently, sure, depending on when you catch it may mean the difference in severity… ok. But she continues to film? If you’re THAT sick, for godsakes, get off tv, & take care of yourself. And they were only married 4 years, I point this put because this isn’t David’s first, second, or third rodeo. She’s #4, he lived with her & MO when his last divorce cleaned him out – she knew what she signed up for. I think her version of events is skewed to say the least
She must have gotten something incriminating (or just embarrassing) on him. That’s how she rolls.
It’s the least he could do.