A complete timeline of the 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' Aspen drama, including Kathy Hilton's 'meltdown'
- "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" took a drama-filled trip to Aspen, Colorado, this season.
- Several fiery feuds were reignited in the snowy vacation spot, and a new one was sparked.
"Aspen" was the word on everyone's lips when the trailer for season 12 of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" hit the internet in April. Bravo blogs and fan pages all began reporting whispers of what had gone down on a trip to Aspen during filming.
The episodes featuring the trip finally aired in September. They were full of the frenemy shaming and fabulous shopping viewers love from the Bravo franchise, but the juiciest parts were apparently not on camera.
Viewers were miffed to find out that much of what was whispered about before the season occurred off-screen and the Housewives rushed into confessionals to give their side of the story. See the full story below.
Kyle invited the ladies to Aspen at a Studio 54-themed party for Rinna Beauty in season 12, episode 15
Kyle Richards extended all of the women on the show an invite to her "favorite place in the whole world," Aspen.
Despite the ongoing tension between Erika Jayne, Sutton Stracke, and Garcelle Beauvais, all of the ladies in the group accepted. Friends of the show Sheree Zampino and Kathy Hilton were included on the trip as well.
Mauricio Umansky was the lone husband, but he mostly stayed out of the way.
Richards said her house was too small to accommodate the entire group so she secured another home through her husband's company The Agency. Dorit Kemsley attributed the split to another matter.
"Sutton and Erika are not great, we have to be in two separate houses," Kemsley told her husband PK later in episode 16.
Garcelle shared her opinions on Erika — to everyone but Erika
Jayne has been dealing with legal drama related to her estranged husband, Tom Girardi. The 82-year-old former lawyer has been accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the widows and orphans of plane crash, explosion, and malpractice victims who filed suits through his firm Girardi & Keese. Stracke recalled hearing rumors about the embezzlement during the season 11 reunion.
Beauvais divulged her thoughts on Jayne reportedly being in possession of a pair of $750,000 earrings purchased using money from her husband's alleged wrongdoings during a taping of her talk show "The Real."
It has been alleged the lavish lifestyle the couple showed off on the series was paid for with those funds.
The actor and former talk show host received a FaceTime call from Crystal Kung Minkoff on set.
Beauvais told Minkoff she tried to get out of commenting on the situation but producers asked her about it directly. She knew it would be an issue but opted not to tell Jayne before their group vacation.
"This episode of 'The Real' will not air before the Aspen trip so I hope we can have a good time until she finds out," Beauvais said in a confessional interview.
She prepped for the trip's drama by stuffing sage in her suitcase. "If I could have brought holy water I would," she said on the plane.
The ladies arrive in Aspen
In true Beverly Hills style, the group flew private to the posh snowy paradise. They chomped on gourmet snacks and clinked champagne glasses during the flight.
Richards treated the ladies not staying at her home to a house fit for royalty. It was not equipped well enough for season 12 newcomer Diana Jenkins, however.
Jenkins chose to stay in a hotel despite their accommodations including a private chef, gym, wine cellar, and elevator. In episodes five and six she showed that she tends to send her staff to prepare her accommodations ahead of time when she travels.
"I'm not a great guest," she admitted.
Diana slammed Sutton for being insincere
The ladies gathered together on their first night in Aspen and discussed their issues over an ouija board.
Jenkins accused Beauvais of being "guarded" with her and blamed their distance on the awkwardness she has with Stracke.
Stracke clashed with Jenkins at Beauvais' birthday party in season 12, episode 8, hinting that it was odd that she would opt to attend Beauvais' birthday party when she had just experienced a miscarriage. She told Jenkins about her own miscarriage but Jenkins saw her efforts to connect as "fake."
When the ladies tried to get her to iron out her issues with Stracke at the table, Jenkins called Stracke "slithery" and Stracke was left in tears.
Jayne was so sympathetic to Stracke that the two bonded over snowmobiling.
Earring-gate came to a head in episode 17
In episode 17, Jayne said the earrings were $1.3 million, not $750,000, and that she would not relinquish them unless she was instructed to by the law.
When she was questioned about why she would not voluntarily give the earrings up out of compassion for the victims of her husband's alleged misdeeds, Jayne stood by her choice.
"There is a place to make people whole and it is in a court of law, not in the court of public opinion," she told Minkoff. Minkoff questioned if Jayne had compassion for the victims, which upset Jayne.
Lisa Rinna just wanted to eat her weed-infused chocolate-covered blueberries when things got even more heated.
"You wanna be on the side of the victims 'cause you think that's cool," Jayne shouted at Minkoff.
"What I'm telling you," Jayne continued. "I don't give a fuck about anybody else but me."
Jayne told her friends they should be more concerned with her predicament than that of strangers as well. "Don't say that because you're my friend and I can't defend that," pleaded Richards in response.
Richards tried to convince Jayne to show empathy for those who claimed they never received their funds from Girardi's firm, but she appeared to equate that with admitting guilt. Jayne has continuously maintained her innocence and denies she knew anything about Girardi's alleged crimes. She said she was left in the dark about family finances.
Jayne's behavior led to Kemsley and Rinna intervening and getting her to leave. Jennifer Lawrence, who is an avid viewer of the show, called Jayne "evil" for her comments.
Beauvais told her confessional interviewers she was glad she did not give Jayne a heads up about her comments on "The Real" after hearing her reaction to questioning.
Kathy attempted to promote her family's tequila brand for the second time this season. It did not go as well as the first.
Product placement is par for the course in the Housewives' world but when a "friend of the show" tries to slip a plug for their company it does not always go as smoothly.
Kathy Hilton brought a gift of her Casa Del Sol tequila for Kemsley at Jenkins and fiancé Asher's holiday party and it got a little air time but it did not steal the show. She also orchestrated a tasting of the tequila at the party.
Hilton tried to gather the women together to taste the tequila in Aspen but it was a total disaster.
"Girls ladies, attention ladies," she began as they spoke over her.
"I actually think every other tequila is disgusting and I like this. Nicky [Hilton, her daughter] and James are investors. I'd like you guys to try," she announced.
The ladies were a few drinks in before Hilton started slinging the substance and they were not into the interruption to their turn-up. Richards threw some sisterly snorts at Hilton while Stracke told the confessional she prefers vodka. Jayne declined after reminding the ladies that the last time she had tequila she accidentally cussed out Beauvais' 14-year-old son Jax.
Kathy tried to promote her family's tequila — a third time
Richards loves to get customized hats at Kemo Sabe. She invited the ladies to join her at the highend hat shop, which contains a full bar, in episode 18.
As the ladies were admiring themselves in the hats and chatting, Hilton coincidentally noticed that the shop had her tequila in stock.
"Of course, they have Hilton's tequila and I have a sneaking suspicion that Kathy put it there herself," said Rinna in a confessional.
Rinna ordered a shot of 818 tequila instead of Hilton's and then namedropped Kendall Jenner to the bartender (who was rocking a fabulous pure white hat). Kathy began mocking her immediately, and when the episode aired social media followed suit.
Both tequilas were placed side by side in the center of the frame and got prime exposure on the show.
Hilton got upset that Richards did not intervene in Rinna's efforts to promote 818 out of a sense of family loyalty and stormed out of the shop. The party continued without the Hilton matriarch and the group kept doing shots and sipping margaritas.
"Are we under contract to drink this tequila? I want to know because I didn't sign on the dotted line," asked Beauvais later.
Erika doubles down on her right to diamonds
Kemsley joined Jayne at Jenkins' hotel in an act of solidarity that hurt Kyle's feelings. Jayne, Jenkins, and Kemsley went shopping and drinking without the rest of the group in episode 18.
Jayne wore the earrings that started the controversy on the outing. "Why wouldn't I wear my earrings?" she asked. "They've been my earrings for 15 years and until the day that they are not my earrings, I will wear them," she declared.
She told us she was expensive and she meant it. Alrighty, then Miss Jayne.
Kathy tried to start a conga line at the Caribou club and chaos ensued.
Rinna met with Jayne, Jenkins, and Kemsley to get them to rejoin the other ladies.
Later, they all headed to a nearby country western bar to have fun on their last night in Aspen. The good times did not last long because Jayne called Minkoff an asshole for asking her to show compassion after she helped her out in Mexico.
Some of the women then went to the members-only Caribou club for a quick nightcap afterward where Hilton reportedly had a huge meltdown.
Reports of this incident flooded the blogs before the season started.
Lisa leaves with Kathy
Rinna left the club with Hilton and claimed that when the two got into a sprinter van together, Hilton started throwing shots at everyone including the ladies, NBC, Bravo, and even her sister Kyle.
She alleged that Hilton said, "I will take down this show single-handedly, I will fucking ruin you all." She accused Hilton of being jealous of her sister and the Kardashian clan.
Cameras were down during the trip but Hilton documented the hectic ride in real-time through texts to Jayne.
Everyone knows you can't come for blood on Bravo without receipts.
The ladies leave Aspen — without Kathy
Everyone had their take on what happened in Aspen in the aftermath.
Stracke said Hilton wanted to do a conga line. When no one joined in, Stracke said Hilton got in her face and demanded to go home, and said: "If you don't go home with me, you are not my friend."
Jenkins said Hilton was "raging, screaming at the girls and mostly at Kyle."
Richards refused to leave the club because they had just gotten there and she was confused and had no idea what her sister was upset about. Minkoff described seeing some "commotion" but she did not describe what kind.
Rinna said Hilton's behavior worsened when they returned to the house and that Hilton broke her own sunglasses in anger.
Kathy showed up at Crystal's birthday party
Hilton arrived at Minkoff's 1920s-themed birthday party in episode 19 to everyone's surprise. She was lovable and eccentric as usual, and it really weirded Rinna out.
Rinna was so upset that she apologized to her hostess and hightailed it home.
Kemsley did not storm out but she did allege that there was a "double standard" for socialites in Beverly Hills.
Jayne sided with Lisa after a year of being dragged by the group and the media. "If we're going to talk about Erika's behavior, we're going to talk about everyone else's behavior," she said to Jenkins.
Hilton apologizes to her sister
Hilton visited Richards and apologized for her outbursts — without describing them in detail. Richards quickly accepted, saying that she wanted to keep from returning to the years they did not speak while feuding.
The apology was not good enough for Rinna, however. She pressed Hilton on her statements and took to social media to accuse Minkoff of refusing to admit the full story of what happened at the club.
Paris tweeted in support of her mother on September 8
After the episodes aired, Paris Hilton tweeted that the way her mom had been treated was "so unkind."
Former housewife Denise Richards chimed in immediately
"I felt bad for her you could see her feelings were genuinely hurt," wrote Richards. She also accused Rinna of "going out of her way to take a dig."
Camille Grammer, another former housewife, said if Kathy did lose her temper it was justified on September 28
"So what if Kathy lost her temper around these ladies. Who hasn't on #rhobh Especially when you are being gaslit by some of the ladies," she wrote.
Kris Jenner entered the chat
The Karjenner-Hilton alliance is a Hollywood staple like Botox parties and valet parking.
As the controversy raged on, Kris Jenner showed her support for her old friend by leaving a trail of heart emojis underneath an Instagram picture of Hilton.
Sutton and Erika chow down on Popeyes — served on fine china, of course!
Aspen did lead to one bright moment in the series.
Jayne and Stracke put their differences aside and broke bread over Popeyes in episode 20.
Like a true Southern lady, Stracke served the chicken on fine china, accompanied by sweet tea in crystal.
"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" airs Wednesdays on Bravo and on Hayu in the UK. It is also streaming on Peacock.