Crystal Kung-Minkoff opened up about losing friends after joining the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on the latest episode of her shared podcast with Cynthia Bailey.
Years after Lisa Rinna, 61, mentioned that she had lost 14 of her friends, Crystal, 41, who was featured on the Bravo reality series from season 11 to season 13, reflected on the drama she faced with her mommy and me group, accusing one of her former actor friends of attempting to destroy her after she took on the role.
“It’s not 14. Well, I’m the one that said the number 14. So I think [Lisa Rinna] said 14 on the show. She brought it up because I told her 14 off-camera,” Crystal began on the January 13 episode of Humble Brag with Crystal and Cynthia. “[There were] seven [from] one group.”
Looking back, Crystal said that she had opened up to Rinna about her friendship drama, who in turn revealed that one of the women had DMed her.
“It sounds crazy. What they’re saying you said about people sounds diabolical,” Rinna told Crystal at the time.
According to Crystal, it was her position on RHOBH that caused one particular friend to cut ties.
“An ex-friend of mine wanted to do the show and had been always someone on their radar, if not offered a spot on the show … She wanted to do the show, but her family, particularly her husband, did not want her to do the show,” she revealed. “[And] I, as her friend, said, ‘I think that’s the right decision for you guys not to do it. If he’s not gonna do it, you can’t do the show.’”
Fast forward a couple of years, and Crystal found herself in casting for the show.
“I told my friend who wanted to do it. And the conversation, while it wasn’t awful, it wasn’t great. It was as expected. It was, ‘Why is it good enough for you and not me?’ And I’d explained different reasons why we were doing it,” she recalled.
Then noting that she joined RHOBH because she felt like it would be a great platform for her, especially amid hate crimes against Asians, Crystal admitted she didn’t tell her friend that because “it felt like an excuse.”
“I just explained that we’re in a different situation. Rob is supporting me through this,” she shared.
And that was the last conversation they ever had.
“I never heard from her again. Ever. We’ve never spoken once again. That was four and a half years ago,” Crystal stated.
In addition to her actress friend ignoring her, Crystal said she came across a group photo of her mommy and me group without her.
“I saw this photo, it broke my heart and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna make it right.’ I sent everyone letters, flowers, every single one. I wanted my friends back. I wrote individual letters to everybody, begging, ‘Whatever I’ve done, whatever I can do as a friend, I won’t even take the show.’ No one responded,” she revealed. “I knew that there was gonna be a narrative in which I did this to her. [And] I think with me, it’s because I’m not an actor. She’s an actor. And I think it’s that, ‘Why are you doing something that you’ve never actually wanted to do? Why do you get to do it? I’ve been vocal about it but I don’t get to do it. Go do something else. Go do something that you wanted to do. You’re now doing my journey.’”
From there, Crystal said she was targeted by a series of “lies and negativity.”
“They would tell people that I made up lies about them to sort of create this campaign against me and my character. And then they started DMing the cast members,” she shared. “It wasn’t just dropping me. It was, ‘Now we have to destroy her.’ They [even told others], ‘If you talk to her, you’re no longer friends with us.’”
As the friend group allegedly reached out to influential women she was close with, Crystal recalled the ladies convincing these women that she was trash-talking them behind their backs.
“They really dug up things on people,” she noted, adding that she struggled to reconcile with many due to the distance maintained amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[And] I’m not the first. Some of the women who are still friends with them, who talk to me privately, they’re like, ‘We warned you, don’t get so close.’ [But] you don’t think that’s ever gonna happen,” she added.
Also speaking of the mommy and me group, as she mentioned that the actress could ultimately be cast on RHOBH, Crystal said that while they tried to turn others against her, her “best friends” stayed true.
“My best friends are amazing because they really stood by me,” she stated.
Live Viewing Thread – This is also the living viewing thread for tonight’s new episode of the RHOBH season 14. Feel free to chat and comment below as the episode airs on Bravo at 8/7c.
