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The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Without Kim Richards? Kyle Richards Admits It's "a Little Strange"

For the first time in RHOBH history, one of the Richards sisters will not appear at all.

By Billy Nilles Dec 18, 2017 7:49 PMTags
Watch: Kyle Richards Says It's "Strange" Doing "RHOBH" Without Kim

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are welcoming back a few familiar faces for season eight.

There's OG Camille Grammer, returning in an official Friend of the Housewives capacity, as she's done in the past. And fellow OG Adrienne Maloof will pop up for an appearance during the cast's big trip to Las Vegas early in the season. But there's one RHOBH constant who will be MIA all season long for the first time in the show's history.

We're talking about, of course, Kim Richards.

Part of the original cast and responsible for some of the Los Angeles-based installment's most infamous moments, Kim gave up her diamond at the end of season five, but remained a fixture in the series for the last two seasons as she sparred rather viciously with Lisa Rinna. (You'll recall the bonkers bunny incident during the season seven reunion. #NeverForget.)

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And while some are likely relieved that Kim won't be around any longer, others in the cast, including her sister Kyle Richards, are admitting that filming without the OG was a bit odd.

"You know, it's a little strange not to do the show with my sister, but I respect that she needed to step away," Kyle told E! News at the show's premiere party in West Hollywood over the weekend. "She's enjoying her grandson. I think it's best for her, actually, this time. It was hard because, you know, we started this show together, and even though we would fight sometimes, we'd also have fun and laugh together, so it was very weird in the beginning. But then I see her with her grandson and I'm like, 'Oh, OK. I get it.'"

While the cast has always been in a bit of flux since former Housewife Brandi Glanville was introduced in season two, at least one OG wishes that the original six was still intact.

"In an ideal world, I would've loved the original cast to have stayed together," Lisa Vanderpump told us. "But people change and things change in people's lives and maybe that's not the ideal situation. But there is some kind of old poignancy, really, about missing them...But maybe it wasn't right for Kim to even make guest appearance this year. Maybe she just didn't feel that that's what she wanted to do, you know?"

For more on Kim's absence this season, including Camille and Erika Girardi's thoughts on it, be sure to check out the video above!

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills returns for season eight on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)