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Erika Girardi is reacting to Tom Girardi’s criminal conviction.
Cameras picked back up after wrapping season 14 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to capture Erika’s reaction to a federal jury finding her ex-husband guilty on four counts of wire fraud in August. The reality star, 53, has been hesitant to speak on the legal issues in the past, but admitted in the March 25 finale that she “never saw this coming.”
“Tom was loved, he was admired, he was accomplished,” she said. “And this is how his story ended. I don’t know that I’ll ever get over that.”
That day, Kyle Richards stopped by to see how Erika was handling the news, and she admitted that she felt “terrible.”
“Right before this verdict, I was doing so good, I was feeling good, I was excited,” she explained. “And then the next day, I became tired. I started to want to sleep a lot. I just didn’t want to slide back into that terrible place.”
Erika filed for divorce from the 85-year-old personal injury attorney in 2020 after 22 years of marriage. Less than a year later, news of his legal troubles began making headlines, leaving fans speculating about Erika’s involvement, although she has maintained she had no knowledge of the crimes and has not faced any indictments.
“When I found out about the verdict, the wall started to close in — it immediately took me back a couple of years when everything was just out of control,” she told Kyle. “My drinking, my medication, it was just all of this pressure. And I thought, ‘Oh, my God. It’s happening again. It’s happening again.’ I literally felt like I was being dragged down, like I was being dragged under the ground.”
Revealing that his charges potentially carry 80 years in prison, Erika quipped that Tom, who was diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s in 2021, “ain’t got 80 days in him.”
“It’s very difficult because you think, ‘Well, I know this person differently,’” she shared. “It f—– me up inside. This was not what I expected to happen.”
“It’s not over for me,” Erika continued. “I still have s— in front of me. And he put me through a lot. This experience with this man, while it was great, this ending is not okay. Not okay for many reasons. And my feelings of sadness, my feelings of being overwhelmed, my feelings of loss and all of it, they’re all very real. And I also don’t have to apologize for my feelings. Because no one lived in that house but the two of us.”
Since authorities began investigating Tom, Erika has faced criticism from the public and her RHOBH costars for her apparent lack of empathy toward his victims, from whom he embezzled over $15 million.
“It’s not as easy as everyone thinks,” Erika explained. “I loved Tom very much. There’s part of me that still loves Tom very much. I have incredible memories, I have terrible memories, and I wish things were not this way.”
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The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ three-part season 14 reunion begins Tuesday, April 1, at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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