Erika Jayne’s split from Tom Girardi is still a topic of conversation on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills — and she’s had enough.
“I’ve moved past the last three years, but I don’t know if others will let me move past,” Erika, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the season 13 premiere. “I still have legal things that are tying up, and they will take time because that’s the legal process. But I want to move on. … Every time someone asks me about Tom Girardi or something like this, you realize you’re cutting open a healing wound and you’re stabbing around in it, and that hurts.”
Erika went on to say that she’s tired of rehashing the same topics over and over again. “I don’t care who you are,” she added. “If every time you sit down, someone says, ‘So, tell us about this,’ or, ‘Look at this, what were you thinking?’ Isn’t it obvious what I was thinking at that time? That’s what I dislike.”
The reality star and Tom, 84, split in November 2020 after 20 years of marriage. One month later, the estranged couple were named in a class action lawsuit that accused Tom’s former law firm, Girardi Keese, of misusing funds earmarked for the families of plane crash victims.
Erika has never been accused of a crime, but Tom faced further lawsuits and disbarment. In 2021, he was placed in a conservatorship overseen by his brother after he was diagnosed with dementia and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Later that year, he moved into a senior living facility that specializes in memory care.
Tom and Erika are technically still married, but the Pretty Mess author told Us that she’s doing her best to put the situation in the rearview.
“I still will heal. It’s a process,” she explained. “Grief all the way around is a whole process that comes in waves. But what I am doing is I’m choosing to move on. And I wish those around me would allow me to do so.”
Erika went on to say that she doesn’t regret her choice to “stick it out” as her costars questioned her about Tom and his legal battles.
“I can’t change the fact that I was reactive and that I felt so very cornered every day that I came to work. I can’t change the fact that I started out very calmly explaining my position and I was not heard. And then I raised my voice and I still was not heard,” she told Us. “It is what it is. I mean, there was no playbook. There was no one here to walk me through it. I was walking through it alone. Yes, I had lawyers, but they don’t hold your hands. … What I kept telling myself was, ‘You’re right.’ And to hold on and don’t quit.”
Season 13 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills premieres on Bravo Wednesday, October 25, at 8 p.m. ET. Episodes will be available to stream via Peacock the next day.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
