RHOBH’s Erika Jayne Comments on ‘Tax Authorities’ Amid Lawsuits
Erika Jayne is finding the lighter side of her legal troubles.
“Nobody lets me touch money because the tax authorities will say I owe it to them,” Erika, 52, joked during an episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 13, airing Wednesday, November 8.
During the episode, the women went to a Magic Mike Live show in Las Vegas to celebrate Crystal Kung Minkoff‘s 40th birthday. Sutton Stracke showed a stack of dollar bills (“I have a lot of them! Remember these?” she joked), prompting Erika’s comment.
RHOBH viewers have seen a lot of Erika and her estranged husband Tom Girardi‘s legal troubles unfold on the show, as she was named in several lawsuits surrounding his law firm’s alleged misuse of client funds. Although she was never charged with a crime in those cases, Erika came under fire last season for keeping a $750,000 pair of earrings that Tom, 84, bought her with allegedly stolen money. Some RHOBH castmates claimed that by keeping the earrings, Erika showed no empathy for those affected by Girardi’s illegal activities.
After a judge ruled in July 2022 that the jewelry had been purchased with stolen money, Erika surrendered the earrings. However, she appealed the ruling and won last summer.
Erika crowed about her win on the “No Filter With Zack Peter” podcast last month and responded to comments Jon Hamm about the controversy.
“You just want to shake her and say, ‘Honey, they were never yours, give them back,'” says the Crazy men star said to Howard Stern in September 2022. “And then I don’t quite understand…are they $750,000 earrings? Or is it $750,000 per earring? … Give them back.”
Erika slapped the actor and said, “F–k you. …You don’t know what you’re talking about. You know: ‘Those were never yours.’ Real? The appellate judge said yes. Or at least you said you can’t prove that wasn’t the case. So that made me happy.”
Erika Jayne and Tom Girardi’s divorce, legal troubles: everything we know
Pat the… divorce papers. After Erika Jayne went to court to end her marriage to Tom Girardi, Bravo fans were shocked to learn that what seemed like one of the strongest couples in Real Housewives history wasn’t so perfect after all. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star announced this in November 2020 […]
While the RHOBH cast no longer talks about Erika’s legal battle, her relationship with Tom is still a topic of conversation.
“I have been moving for the past three years, but I don’t know if others will let me move,” she said We weekly only last month. “I still have legal matters that are stuck, and they will take time because that is the legal process. But I want to move on. … Every time someone asks me about Tom Girardi or something like that, you realize you’re cutting open a healing wound and stabbing it around, and that hurts.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8pm ET.