News of Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky’s marital problems caught everyone off guard, even the Buying Beverly Hills crew, according to one producer. It was such a revelation that even The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills had to pick the cameras up again once the story broke.
The hints might’ve been there before the official story came out. But even still, Netflix’s producers had to reevaluate the show’s trajectory once everything became public. Read on to see how Kyle and Mauricio responded to production, and vice versa, once it was all out in the air.
How the Umansky Aspen vacation was supposed to go
Buying Beverly Hills producer Liz Fine told Vanity Fair about the difficulty of filming a family. “Listen, we make shows for people to watch. So, when people get excited, we’re very excited,” she said. “But it is always still a family at the heart of it. So, when that enthusiasm is coming from a place of something that is going wrong in the family, of course it’s hard.”
Liz further confirmed, “There was no awareness of any issues in pre-production,” referring to the marital issues. “We received the news that there was any issue with their relationship the same time that the world received the news.”
As fans know, news of the problems came out during the family’s trip to Aspen. July 5 would’ve seen a family day shared between everyone. July 6 would’ve been a tour of Aspen. “The news broke on July 3, and we were like, ‘What are we going to do?’ So, then we had to recalibrate.”
Did someone from Buying Beverly Hills leak the separation news?
As to whether someone from production could’ve leaked the news, Liz wouldn’t comment. But she denied anyone from the show would have gone looking for a news outlet to leak the story. As for the Umansky family, they never asked for filming to stop. “We would’ve respected if that were a request, but no, they continued to film the cast trip,” she said.
According to Liz, the family told her something along the lines of “‘This is very, very delicate, but you’re here, and it would be very awkward for us to not address this in the moment. And we can film. We’ll sit down, and we’ll do the scene.’ They didn’t put any parameters on it at all.”
She further explained, “They cooked dinner together, as they do, and they had this very real conversation, and we just didn’t interfere with it.” In reflecting on how it all played out, she added, “I think everyone was just trying to handle it however they could in the moment.”
Buying Beverly Hills Season 2 is streaming on Netflix with The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills streaming on Peacock.
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