Kyle Richards has reacted to Mauricio Umansky and Emma Slater’s “strange” explanation to those hand-holding photos.
In July, it was reported that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills stars had split after 27 years of marriage; however, they later revealed they just separated after having a “rough year”.
In September, Mauricio made his Dancing with the Stars debut alongside professional dancer Emma, dancing the Jive to I Ain’t Worried by One Republic.
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Kyle was spotted cheering him on from the crowd with three of her daughters Farrah Brittany, 34, Alexia, 27 and Sophia, 23, but hasn’t been spotted at a show since.
Last month, Mauricio and Emma were spotted holding hands, which the RHOBH star later admitted “hurt her feelings”.
In a joint statement, the DWTS couple later insisted that their relationship wasn’t romantic, but that they have an “intense, special bond”.
Speaking on the Two Ts in a Pod podcast, Kyle has since admitted she feels “undecided” about the situation.
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“But listen, we are separated,” she told host Teddi Mellencamp, “So, we’re allowed to do what we want.”
“It’s just, you know, strange to see. I don’t know,” Kyle added, struggling to convey how she really feels about the situation.
“We were married almost 28 years. So, that’s hard to see.”
Snaps emerged of Mauricio and Emma holding hands on October 23.
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Taking to his Instagram Stories, Mauricio later said in a video: “We do want to address this story, this whole thing that’s going out and about, about whether Emma and I are dating.”
“About whether we went out on a date. For full clarity, we are not dating.”
Emma explained: “We’re not dating,” before Mauricio continued: “We are really good friends. We’ve been dancing together for six weeks, four hours a day, every single day.”
“Guys you don’t understand, it’s intense. Like you really form a very very special bond.”
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”And I think we’re similar personalities, so we’ve got a super supportive relationship,” the professional dancer continued. “We’re definitely there for each other. And it’s beautiful, that’s a great thing.”
Mauricio explained: “We went to a restaurant to go get some sushi right after rehearsal, we were in our rehearsal clothes.”
“Lots of the stories are wrong. And yes it’s a very emotional week, we were talking about the week during dinner and when we came out of dinner, we were recapping and I reached out to grab Emma’s hand, and she grabbed my hand,” Mauricio justified.
“And then we walked to the cars, just recapping and then the paparazzi caught that moment and it’s become a blown-out moment.”
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It came just hours after Kyle admitted she “was taken aback” by the photos of Mauricio and Emma.
“That was very hard to see. Yes, that hurt my feelings,” she said during her appearance on Watch What Happens Live.
When asked by host Andy Cohen whether she thinks there’s something going on between Mauricio and Emma, Kyle admitted: “I just don’t think you hold hands like that [if you’re friends].”
“I don’t know if anything has happened yet, but obviously, there is something there. Listen, I love him very much and we are amicable, but that really did hurt me.”
