Free Life Is Not a Reality Show by Kyle Richards Page B

and have a responsibility to let him know. Why destroy your whole life? Do what you need to do to acknowledge in yourself and to God what you did. Don’t forget it; just learn from it and try to move on.
    When you face conflict in your marriage, look at the bigger picture of what is valuable in your life and what you want to hang on to. You may have to work hard to keep your relationship intact, whether by not stressing the small stuff in order to keep the peace, or by carving out time alone together when it seems impossible to do so, or by forgiving your husband or yourself.
    The important thing is to keep up the good work! Because if you do, you may get to keep that job forever—and that’s a good thing!

CHAPTER 5

Big Kathy
    I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I wear a certain ring on my right hand all the time. I get a lot of questions about it on Twitter and Facebook because people have seen it on the show. It’s pretty hard to miss, since the diamond is ten and a half carats. I have to say, the ring is pretty spectacular—just like my mom, who owned it originally and gave it to me. They’re both kind of larger than life! I wear it all the time not just because I love it, but also because it reminds me of my mom and how much a part of me she is.
    My mother (who was sometimes called Big Kathy to distinguish her from Little Kathy, my sister) had a tremendous influence on my life—on my values, my strengths, my attitudes, and my way of doing things. I’ve even picked up annoying little habits from her that I keep discovering. Ha!
    Mom was a real powerhouse. She had red hair, green eyes, and was 100 percent Irish. She looked a little like the Irish actress Maureen O’Hara and a little like Elizabeth Taylor. And Mom was an Aries, which you may know is a very strong, dominant personality.
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Big Kathy-isms
    My mom was so funny. She had particular expressions she liked to use. When a guy she was dating called her, she’d say “Well, hellooo stranger!” using this deep, deep voice, all drawn out. My sisters and I say that to each other sometimes, just because it makes us laugh.
    She had all sorts of furs, which really bothered me because for ten years I was a vegetarian. I’d tell her, “Mom, please! Don’t buy those! The poor animals are dying for your furs!”
    She’d say, “Darling, if you don’t buy them, then they died for nothing!”
    And she didn’t mince words with people. Once we were out in Palm Desert and Kim’s daughter Brooke had a guy friend over who had pierced nipples. When my mother was introduced to him she said, “Oh dear God, darling, how desperate for attention do you have to be?”
    Even near the end of her life, after she got married for the final time, she was so funny. She called me up and said, “I was looking through Bob’s things.” Bob was her husband. “I see there are three Viagra pills missing! If that f–— thinks he’s going to be doing anything with me, I’m going to tell him he just wasted thirty dollars! Kyle, you know those pills cost ten bucks apiece, don’t you?” I laughed so hard!
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    Mom was such a big personality that even though she was only five foot three, people often thought she was much taller! (Some people think I’m taller than I really am too— almost five three, so can I just go ahead and say five three?—and I guess that’s because I’ve inherited some of my mother’s outspokenness!)
    One of the most valuable treasures my mother gave me, much more valuable than the ring, was confidence. Mom loved me and my sisters so much. She thought we walked on water. I mean, she just made us feel like there was nobody smarter, nobody more beautiful, nobody more talented anywhere. Probably to a fault! But she wanted us to have that kind of confidence growing up.
    She truly lavished attention on us. She was totally focused on her kids and managed both my and Kim’s acting careers, but she always saw her real job as being the advice guru to all