RHOBH 's Lisa Vanderpump Severs Friendship with Dorit Kemsley Over #PuppyGate Drama
Lisa Vanderpump closed the door on her friendship with longtime pal Dorit Kemsley on Tuesday’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
The restauranteur has been on the outs with Dorit and the rest of her Bravo costars in the wake of the #PuppyGate drama, cutting off communication with them after she was accused of leaking negative stories to the press. But she attempted to give Dorit another chance, meeting with the Beverly Beach owner to hopefully put their feud in the past.
Helping motivate peace were Vanderpump’s husband Ken Todd and Dorit’s husband Paul “PK” Kemsley. But though they stressed that they wanted to put things behind them, neither could convince Dorit to believe that Vanderpump wasn’t behind the leak.
“You have to understand, it’s very difficult for me to believe you had nothing to do with that,” Dorit told Vanderpump. “I care enough about our friendship that I know it has to be based on honesty, much like I believe you had something to do with the original story. … Period.”
Her refusal to believe Vanderpump’s proclaimed innocence closed the door on their bond. “You’re no friend of mine,” Todd told Dorit, getting up from the table to support his wife. “PK, I’d like to stay friends with you, but after that? No way.”
“The fact that Dorit has taken this stance has basically ended the whole bloody thing,” Vanderpump said. “Let me just go on with my life. It’s easier talking to Congress than talking to that stupid cow.”
Of course, this isn’t the first friendship that Vanderpump has ended over the #PuppyGate accusations.
In a previous battle, she previously kicked longtime ally Kyle Richards out of her house after Richards brought up the claims. “Unfortunately, our friendship ended on that day,” Richards told PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “It seems so silly because it did not have to get to this point.”
Like Richards did, Dorit mentioned multiple times during her meeting with Vanderpump on Tuesday’s episode that she cared about their friendship and wanted to stay friends in spite of the disagreement.
“You care enough about this that you want to do away with a friendship that I believe is stronger and more powerful than this incident, and that saddens me,” Dorit said. “I can still say that this happened, but I still love you enough and I still care for you enough that I can put this behind us. I want to, more than anything. … We can agree to disagree. … I love you and I want to move forward.”
PK felt the same way. “Why can’t we just say, look, somewhere in the mix, this thing got messed up. Can we just eradicate it and move forward?” he asked. “You don’t have to ruin a friendship over this. You’re being too black and white.”
It was all or nothing for Vanderpump and Todd, though.
“I’m sorry, I have to draw a line in the sand. If you believe I gave the story … we don’t have a friendship,” Vanderpump said. “I stand by it. What do you want me to do? Do you want me to take a lie detector?”
“What’s the point of having a friend … who thinks you’re a liar?” she asked. “No. If I was you, I wouldn’t want to be friends with a liar, so why would you? … I don’t want love like that if you don’t believe me. I don’t want love like that.”
Added Todd: “You can only move forward if you understand that Lisa never ever lies. She’s the best friend you will ever have and if [Dorit] doesn’t believe her, no friendship. … My wife is the most honest person you will ever meet in your life. … You’re still saying you don’t believe her. … If you think she’s lying, you can’t be a friend of hers.”
Eventually, PK got to the point where he told Vanderpump that he trusted her word — but only after telling her, “I believe that someone in your camp leaked that story.”
“I’m telling you on my kids’ life that I didn’t leak that story and I don’t know who did,” Vanderpump shot back.
“At that point, I would accept that,” PK said. “I believe if Lisa Vanderpump is sitting here and saying, ‘I swear on my kids’ life I didn’t leak that story,’ you have to accept that. You have to accept that. That is moving on.”
Dorit didn’t accept it, though. “I’m not going to beg for someone’s friendship when they’ve told me it’s this condition,” she said. “I can only hear that someone doesn’t want to be my friend for so long and then it’s kind of like, I feel like the idiot.”
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.