RHOBH Producer Admits Dorit Kemsley Almost Didn’t Do Season 14: “Right Up Until the 11th Hour…"

The diamond-studded Dorit Kemsley of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills left no stone unturned in her recent interview on Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast.

At the heels of RHOBH’s Season 14 premiere — which had even the best of us craving a cigarette — the fashion designer and mother of two sat with Bravo producer extraordinaire Alex Baskin. No topic was left off the table, including the shocking news of Dorit and Paul “PK” Kemsley’s “extreme” split.

But during Season 3, Episode 3 of the podcast, Baskin spilled that Dorit nearly didn’t sign up for the current season.

“It was not certain by any means that you even were going to be a part of this season because we had conversations right up until the 11th hour about you doing the show or not doing the show,” Baskin told his guest.

Read on to learn why Dorit changed her mind.

Dorit admitted she was hesitant about being so transparent about her ongoing struggles on the show.

“Obviously, I had a lot going on in my life and my marriage,” she said. “I thought to myself, ‘If I’m gonna do the show, obviously, it’s talking about everything, putting everything out there.’ PK and I were at the very start of thinking about separating or just had separated, so we didn’t know what was going on. And, when you have that unknown, and you know you’re living it, and it’s all gonna play out, really, for millions to watch, you have some hesitation.”

It didn’t help that Dorit wasn’t “exactly great friends” with many in the cast, except for Erika Jayne, she said.

“I didn’t know if I had the strength, the courage, the will, the desire to do another season,” she continued. However, because she felt “better, confident, [and] more strong” than she had in several years, Dorit said the current season was “the most important year” to do so.

The Housewife touched on her P.T.S.D. following the 2021 home invasion — a major storyline in RHOBH Season 12 — for why continuing on the series was essential as she faced personal challenges, like her ongoing split from PK.

“When you’re able to focus on something and, doing the show, it’s almost cathartic,” Dorit said. “You do it, and if you bare your soul, you really feel [it’s] a freeing experience, and I feel like I needed that. I needed to also get things off my chest … I felt like I needed to go through the experience, even though it was one of the most difficult times of my life.”

She said it was a “very, very conscious decision” not just to return but to go “all in.”

“I didn’t want to hold anything in. I wanted to be free of it,” Dorit continued. “I wanted to be unburdened, and I came in this season with that in mind, and that was the mentality I had throughout the whole season, and still do have.”

Although Dorit might be on shaky ground with some of her castmates this season — most notably, Kyle Richards — Dorit had former Housewife Lisa Rinna to help Dorit decide.

“She was one of the only people that I opened up to about not wanting to come back or being undecided,” Dorit confessed to Baskin. “She said to me, ‘Dorit, if you’re going to do it, then do it no holds barred, guns a-blazing. You go in, and you do it. Be yourself. Don’t hold back.’ And that stuck with me.”

Dorit said Lisa R.’s advice came about 24 hours from when Dorit told Baskin she was finished with the series. It also came at a time when PK — amidst their separation — encouraged his estranged wife to continue. But still, the decision had to be Dorit’s and Dorit’s alone.

“It felt like I was leaving [RHOBH] too soon, that I had unfinished business,” said Dorit. “I had too much I needed to say, [and] I didn’t leave the impression that I wanted to leave, really, of who I am.”

Listen to Dorit’s full interview on Bravo’s Hot Mic Podcast, available on Bravo and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.

And don’t miss all-new episodes of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, airing Tuesdays at 8/7c on Bravo and streaming the next day on Peacock.