A complete timeline of 'Real Housewives' star Erika Jayne's divorce and legal troubles

"This is not a step taken lightly or easily," Jayne told Us Weekly at the time. "I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together."

Jayne and Girardi had been married for 21 years. They met in the 1990s while the future reality star was waitressing at Chasen's, a popular Hollywood restaurant where Girardi was a regular.

The pair started dating after a year of friendship and were engaged within six months, according to People.

The lawsuit, which was viewed by Insider, claimed that Girardi was embezzling money from the "widows and orphans" of victims of the 2018 Lion Air Flight 610 crash.

In October 2018, the new Boeing 737 MAX plane crashed into the Java Sea just 13 minutes after taking off from the Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew on board. Girardi's law firm, Girardi Keese, represented "nearly a dozen families" of multiple victims of the crash in their subsequent litigation against Boeing.

In its suit, Edelson PC claims that Boeing transferred "substantial, but confidential" settlement amounts to Girardi Keese for the victims' families once a settlement was reached in early 2020, but that those funds were never distributed to the victims' families. It alleges that Girardi instead kept the money "for his own purposes and doled it out to his friends and family," including Jayne, and that the couple was using their divorce to hide the funds.

"At the heart of this deception is Defendant Girardi and his need to fund outrageous lifestyles for himself and his soon-to-be ex-wife Erika Jayne," the complaint continues. "To keep up their celebrity status, Tom and Erika must project a public image of obscene wealth at all times, and at whatever the cost."

Neither Girardi nor Jayne responded to Insider's previous requests for comment regarding Edelson PC's lawsuit.

In November 2020, Jayne had requested that Girardi provide spousal support in their divorce and pay her legal fees.

The following month, Girardi asked the court to terminate Jayne's right to spousal support and requested that the reality star pay her own attorney's fees, according to court documents obtained by Page Six.

US District Judge Thomas Durkin asked Girardi to explain what happened to the money, but his lawyer told the judge she had "advised him to decline that" and said Girardi would not be able to pay the $2 million figure, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"These are widows and orphans," Durkin said during the hearing. "Half a million dollars for any one of these families is a significant amount of money. Life changing, given the tragedy they went through."

The judge subsequently found Girardi in civil contempt, which "is used to coerce a party to perform an action" in compliance with the court, according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.

Durkin also froze Girardi and his firm's assets. According to the same report, Girardi only spoke once during the Chicago hearing — which he attended via telephone — so that the judge could hear his voice.

A source told People reporters Ashley Boucher and Melody Chiu that the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star filed for divorce from Girardi because "he was cheating on her with multiple women."

The source said that Jayne had "known about his infidelity for years" but had recently reached "her breaking point."

"When she was performing her last week on Broadway, he left her high and dry and was frolicking around town instead of supporting her and attending her shows," the source told People. "She realized she would never be a priority to him."

Jayne was performing in "Chicago" on Broadway in the role of Roxie Hart. Her stint was cut short after theaters closed in New York in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The source told People that Jayne and Girardi's split was "a long time coming."

"His short-term memory is severely compromised and, on information and belief, he is often not oriented as to date, time, or place," the petition states, according to The Blast. "Left to his own devices, it is highly doubtful that Tom could manage most of the activities of daily living for any significant period of time without assistance."

People reported that Tom Girardi had a mental assessment on February 26, as part of his brother's petition to become his permanent conservator, and a psychiatrist diagnosed him with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer's disease in a sworn declaration submitted to the court.

"Dementia impairs his ability to understand the hearing," Long Beach forensic and clinical psychiatrist Dr. Nathan Lavid wrote, according to the same People report. "His emotional distress is directly related to his dementia and exacerbated by his confusion."

According to court documents obtained by The Blast and People magazine, Jayne no longer lives at the couple's $15 million Pasadena mansion. Dirt reported on May 5 that the home had been listed for sale with an asking price $13 million.

The palatial property, which was seen on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," is over 10,000 square feet and boasts four bedrooms and six bathrooms.

In contrast, Jayne's reported current home — which she appears to be renting — is 2,015 square feet and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to a Realtor.com listing obtained by the New York Post.

"Erika has been living in the [rental] house for a while. She's made it her own space and loves it," a source told People. "She's doing well and is happy."

Insider's Stephanie Clifford reported in March that Jayne has been listed in "at least five lawsuits" against Girardi. Jayne has been listed as a co-debtor for personal payments to American Express and the Bel-Air Country Club, and as co-owing money to Girardi Keese clients who have yet to receive their settlement money from cases.

Edelson PC is also seeking Jayne's deposition on Girardi's mental state.

Meanwhile, California rendered Girardi's law license inactive in March and the state bar's investigation is ongoing. California was also seeking $5.4 million in unpaid taxes from him, according to Clifford's report, and his Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Land Rover had all been subsumed in bankruptcy proceedings.

Also as of Clifford's March report, Girardi owes $11,000 to an orchid florist, $134,000 to a car-leasing company, Lamborghini Financial, and nearly $7,000 to a high-end laundry, according to the proceedings. As of the March report, Girardi was living on $3,000 a month in Social Security benefits.

In the trailer for the show's new season, Jayne is seen telling her fellow castmates that she thought she was "going to hold that man's hand until he died," seemingly referring to Girardi. She also appears to insist that she didn't know about the lawsuits before filing for divorce.

"Orphans and widows, it makes you feel sick," Dorit Kemsley proclaims during a dinner party, directly referencing the lawsuit.

"Did you know any of this?" Kyle Richards then asks Jayne.

"No one knows the answer but him," Jayne responds.

Season 11 started filming in October 2020, before temporarily halting production due to COVID-19 concerns in late November, and eventually resumed.

In the clip, which appears to have been filmed before Jayne and Girardi's split and legal troubles were made public, Jayne spoke about how the stresses of the pandemic (including her Broadway role in "Chicago" getting cut short) led her to seek psychiatric help.

"Like all of us, I'm busy all the time, and when I came home from New York, it was really silent. And then when I didn't have anything to do, I was walking the halls of the house, and I couldn't sleep, and I couldn't shake it, and I couldn't shake it…I was feeling this incredible…dread," Jayne told her fellow housewives.

"Every day I woke up and I dreaded waking up," she added.

Jayne said she called a psychiatrist and went on the antidepressant Lexapro.

"And it was the greatest thing," said Jayne. "I did not want to have to see a psychiatrist. I felt that it was a sign of defeat."

In a confessional shown as part of the clip, Jayne also spoke about how "these women don't know about my life, and about my personal life."

"Everyone has problems. Everyone. And the bigger your life is, the bigger your problems are," Jayne said in the confessional.