Though Kyle Richards and Sutton Stracke have known each other for a while, there’s always something more to learn about one another. After their trip to Augusta, Georgia in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 14, Episode 11, Kyle thinks she understands her Southern friend just a little better.
According to Kyle, because of Sutton’s complicated dynamic with her mother, Reba, it’s possible Sutton “needs validation or attention” in her friendships.
“I remember when Sutton was opening her store and she really wanted that validation from her mom and wasn’t getting it. So, just hearing ‘I’m proud of you’ [from Reba] meant so much to Sutton,” Kyle explained in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show video above. “I can’t imagine what that does psychologically, and if you can’t get that love and affection from home, you would want it from somewhere.”
That realization led to Kyle having a new perspective on her friendship with Sutton. “I don’t know, I just all of a sudden made a lot of excuses for the things she has done,” Kyle shared. “She’s someone who needs validation. Or attention, maybe.”
Referencing a Season 13 moment in which Sutton left a Magic Mike Live show in Las Vegas after not getting brought on stage, Kyle continued, “Maybe her being hurt by, for example Magic Mike, feeling like she’s being excluded and walking off … I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist.”
“I’m just making a lot of excuses for her and things are just clearer to me,” she concluded. “A past cast member had a similar situation, where her mom didn’t say ‘I love you.’ And I find myself going, ‘Oh, OK. That’s when someone really needs outside validation.'”
Sutton Stracke and Kyle Richards’ past drama, explained
While Sutton and Kyle seem to only be getting closer, their relationship hasn’t always been so solid.
On RHOBH Season 13, Kyle and Sutton clashed before, during, and after the aforementioned group trip to Las Vegas (which led to Sutton saying her now-iconic “Name ’em” quote). At the center of their issues at the time was Kyle noting that Sutton has “a habit of losing [her] s—t in ridiculous circumstances” while Sutton accused Kyle of not being forthcoming with issues in her personal life.
However, the two repaired their friendship as Kyle navigated her marital issues and eventual separation from Mauricio Umansky.
Where do Kyle Richards and Sutton Stracke stand today?
On the Season 14 premiere of RHOBH, Sutton opened up about her evolved friendship with Kyle. “Kyle’s been going through a lot and I didn’t, I gotta say, in all honesty, I don’t think I was the greatest of friends during this past year,” Sutton admits. “I wasn’t the friend that I normally am.”
“After a few months passed, we did go to dinner,” Sutton continued. “At first we were a bit, ‘How are we supposed to do this?’ [but] 10 minutes later, it really softened. And I think we both cried at some point.”
As for who initiated their reconciliation, Sutton noted in a confessional, “I needed to reach out to Kyle because, one, I missed her. And then I started to see things when I was online shopping that I knew she would like and I missed sending it to her. And I missed knowing how she was.”
That led to the two working on their friendship, and as Sutton put it, “All is right in the world with me and Kyle.”
Watch the RHOBH After Show video above to learn more about Kyle and Sutton’s newfound perspective after their trip to Augusta, Georgia.
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RHOBH airs Tuesdays at 8/7c and streams the next day on Peacock.