In what is perhaps the most logical occurrence in the history of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise, a representative for Denise Richards has confirmed to Variety that she will not be returning to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” next season.
The drama around Richards during the show’s tenth season has fueled this season’s ratings — “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” has been the top-rated cable show on Wednesday nights this year — but the actor has clearly been miserable throughout. As this season went on, Richards had to fend off nearly the entire rest of the cast, as well as former “RHOBH” cast member Brandi Glanville, who claimed on camera she’d had a one-night-stand with the married Richards.
The drama has divided the “Housewives” fandom into contentious groups, with many viewers being #TeamDenise, others being #TeamBrandi and a third subset of the audience who think Glanville may be telling the truth, but are horrified by her thirsty insistence on spilling Richards’ business on camera.
In addition to what Glanville said, the “RHOBH” cast who’ve pitted themselves against Richards have accused her of trying in her second season of the show to control her image after perhaps being too free-wheeling about her sex life with her husband last year.
The show, for its part, has broken down the fourth wall between production and the narrative as it never has before. Apparently, there used to be a trick the cast would use when they didn’t want something to be aired, which was to say, “Bravo Bravo Bravo” — but that did not work for Richards when she tried to employ that tactic. And after Richards was confronted with Glanville’s allegations again and again during a trip to Rome with the cast, she walked out of a restaurant on the final night, but was then shown being talked by a producer into going back in so they could achieve some kind of closure. (Spoiler alert: No closure was achieved.)
During the finale episode, Richards and longtime friend (ex-friend?) Lisa Rinna had a showdown, during which Rinna asked Richards about sending Bravo a cease-and-desist, which Richards met with an icy stare she had patented in the movie “Wild Things.”
Bravo posted on Instagram Wednesday evening about Richards' departure.
"She’s bold, beautiful, and saying goodbye to Bravo, Bravo, Bravo. Thank you @deniserichards for two amazing seasons of #RHOBH."
A version of this story originally appeared on Variety.com.