It was inevitable. We all knew it was coming. And still, when you hear the accusations that Brandi Glanville (someone said her name three more times) against Denise Richards, it’s enough for your jaw to open like a Halloween skeleton on November 3.
Before evaluating what I think is true and what is not, let’s put Brandi’s story in chronological order, shall we? It seems that Brandi and Denise were introduced by their mutual friend “Alec” and had dinner together (possibly with Denise’s husband Aaron, but I’m not clear about it). They hit it off right away, Denise told Brandi that he can play with other women and Aaron is great with that as long as he’s not any other guy. Denise followed Brandi into the bathroom and they went out.
Then some time later Denise did Brandi’s podcast. The episode aired on May 3, 2019, which is after the show’s season 9, but before season 10 began filming. Brandi says that when she went up to the film set to meet Denise, she was supposed to sleep in the folding crib, but there was no crib. He shared a bed with Denise while one of Denise’s daughters and her friend slept downstairs. The next night they were wasted and hooked. (“Like kissed?” Asks Teddi naively. “Live it all,” says Brandi, as if throwing a full pile of Cosmos in Teddi with his mouth.)
Brandi says she did it because she thought everything between Denise and Aaron was great and that he wouldn’t mind this, but she was still uncomfortable because the daughter was downstairs. Brandi says that in the morning Denise said that Aaron would never be able to find out, which made Brandi feel like a cheater, and according to her it is the last thing she wanted to be. She and Brandi did not speak for months. The connection happened in April, according to Brandi, and the women started their journey on December 15, according to Instagram that the cast posted while there. That means they barely spoke for eight months, or until Brandi met Denise at Kyle’s party.
Apparently Denise was pretending that none of it happened, but she kept texting Brandi to make sure her secret was safe. After meeting Brandi at the party, he called her and told her some bad things about the cast. Denise said she hated Teddi but that Teddi would do anything to stay on the show to get out of his father’s shadow. She said Erika was an “icy bitch” and didn’t like Lisa Rinna either. Brandi, and the other women at this tea-spilling slumber party, think she did this to keep Brandi close and bond with her now that she saw he was dating the ladies again. He also said to Brandi something like, “I keep my private life private and I’ll also keep your secrets,” which Brandi saw as a threat.
Okay, this all comes out after the party where Brandi behaved like a complete fool. She seemed quite welcoming to Denise, patting her butt behind the bar, but Brandi was lost. She was so drunk that she was stumbling on the dance floor and biting her hilariously while holding a microphone on stage.
He also dropped a bit of a real bomb when he spoke to Adrienne, the Queen of the Maloofs, a race of mole people who live under the mountain. In the past, Brandi talked about how Adrienne used a surrogate to have her children, something Adrienne wanted to keep out of the show. Brandi eventually apologized for doing that and going public with her business, but then said that someone else made her say that. Are you referring to Lisa Vanderpump? Are you saying that you were manipulated to deliver that truth? It looks like Lisa tried to get her to do all kinds of things (remember that mistake about her bringing tabloids on a group trip?), But Brandi didn’t say her name and the editors refused to show a shred of Lisa or her. false accent, so it’s kind of a weird sort of Lisa erase.
The only reason that is relevant is because it talks about Brandi’s character and whether we should believe her. If Lisa “Evil-Lyn” Vanderpump manipulated her so easily in the day to stay on the show, could she be manipulated by someone else into saying everything about Denise to get back on the show? Could I be making all this up?
I don’t like to believe Kyle, who says: “Brandi can be many things. She can be bad, she can be a bitch. But I don’t think I’m a liar. However, that is very true. Brandi can definitely carry a nuclear bomb into a knife fight, but she’s always been on the right side of the story. She was not lying about Adrienne’s substitute. She was telling the truth about Lisa’s meddling. I think she is not making this up about Denise. The whole story reeks of plausibility. Brandi has such a detailed account of everything that happened, I can’t believe that she added so many details and that it is false. I will be interested to see her tell this story over and over again (and once again in the meeting) to see if it always matches. I want to see if Brandi has her story clear, but I really think so.
However, I still have a lot of questions left. If Denise really hates all these women, why is she pretending to be his friend? What does Denise get from being so double? Is it so simple that you just want fans to like it? They would love her so much if she said, “I hate Teddi, he is the worst,” because, let’s face it, there are many people who hate Teddi and think he is the worst. So what does Denise play? What does she gain from this? Are you really trying to clean up your reputation?
The other big question is how all this came about. As it unfolds in the show, Teddi is at Kyle’s house planning his baby shower. Kim comes to leave some dresses that she borrowed from her sister. She is simply taking Brandi to her birthday dinner that night. Kim tells Kyle that Brandi is in the car and Kyle says, “Go get her, let’s go say hi.” Then Brandi, camera-ready and groomed by the gods, sits on Kyle’s bed and spills not only her insides but parts of herself that are generally only seen by her closest acquaintances.
So how exactly do we get here? Brandi received an invitation to the party along with Camille to add some flavor to the season? (I love Garcelle, but, once again, she couldn’t be bothered to show up for Erika’s Shoedazzle party.) Was she really happy as we saw her? Brandi really told Kim and Kim told Kyle and Kyle told the producers and they put it all together? Or did Brandi tell Kim and Kim told the producers and they made it possible, because Kyle seemed really surprised by the news? (And I was terrified of Kyle in Watchman in the forest when I was a kid, so I know she’s not such a good actress.) Did Brandi tell the producers to go back to the show? I think we are entitled to a little more transparency. I really think these shows are quite real, much more real than many fans give them credit for. However, the machinations behind this seem mysterious dot dot dot.
Do I believe what Brandi has to say? Sure I do, but I have a lot of questions and I’m intrigued to hear Denise’s side of the story. But so far this has been a blessing. Just the look on Kyle and Teddi’s faces after Brandi leaves all of this in front of them and they’re sitting there, stunned and whispering like they’re not bothering the ghost of gossip that still inhabits that room, trying to process over a million Really different bombs at once. I also loved it when Teddi tells Rinna about the conversation in the car after arriving in Rome and tells them they got hooked and Lisa casually says “So they screwed up.” I mean, give me that as a name tag and send me out for tea on Fire Island, because it would be true for every child carrying a vodka soda that I greet.
Regardless of what happens, this will be one of the best Real Housewives trips of all time, machinations or not, and I can’t wait to see what happens. You know they are going to say Brandi’s name more than three times, so he will appear as the Pope at the Swiss Guard pool party on Fridays.
