Mauricio Umansky and his Dancing with the Stars pro partner Emma Slater have broken their silence on their rumoured romance.
In July, it was reported that the RHOBH star and his wife Kyle Richards had split after 27 years of marriage; however, they later revealed they just separated after having a “rough year”.
Last month, Mauricio made his DWTS debut alongside professional dancer Emma, dancing the Jive to I Ain’t Worried by One Republic.
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.
Earlier this month, Mauricio and Emma were spotted holding hands, which the RHOBH star has since admitted “hurt her feelings”.
Taking to his Instagram Stories, Mauricio 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.”
The professional dancer added: “Guys you don’t understand, it’s intense. Like you really form a very very special bond.”
”And I think we’re similar personalities, so we’ve got a super supportive relationship. 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.”
It comes 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.”
In a statement shared via social media back in July, Kyle and Mauricio denied claims they were getting a divorce, but admitted they were having a “rough year”.
They wrote: “In regards to the news that came out about us today… Any claims regarding us divorcing are untrue.”
“However, yes, we have had a rough year. The most challenging one of our marriage. But we both love and respect each other tremendously. There has been no wrongdoing on anyone’s part.”
“Although we are in the public eye, we ask to be able to work through our issues privately. While it may be entertaining to speculate, please do not create false stories to fit a further salacious narrative.”
Kyle later admitted dealing with their marriage struggles in the public eye had been tough, telling fans: “You know this has been very hard to do [because] it’s playing out with so many people having eyes on us and [with us] being in the public eye.”
“Obviously we care about each other a lot,” she continued, before noting how they recently returned from a holiday to Italy with their entire family.
Kyle and Mauricio tied the knot back in 1996, and share three daughters together – Alexia, Sophia, and Portia.
The actress also has daughter, Farrah Brittany, from her first marriage to Guraish Aldjufrie.
