Why Kyle Richards Might Not Return for Another Season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills

Content warning: This story includes sensitive topics.

There's only one remaining original cast member of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but even she is reevaluating her future on the show.

E! News caught up with Kyle Richards during NBCUniversal's upfronts presentation on May 16, and she exclusively revealed that season 12 could easily be her last.

"I always say, 'I don't know,' and each season I think, 'Well maybe I can do one more,'" Kyle said. "And sometimes I'm just like, 'How can I keep doing this?' especially when I get really upset, like this last season when we ended."

In fact, when filming wrapped on the season that's currently playing out on Bravo, Kyle was adamant that her time as a Housewife had come to an end. "I was like, 'There's absolutely no way,'" she recalled. "'I'm done. I'm finished. I want to live my life in peace. I can't take this.'"

The feeling could easily pass, though. Kyle said she often just needs time to "digest" each season. "I don't know," she added. "I just take it day by day."

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Kyle didn't offer an explanation as to why filming the latest season of RHOBH took such a toll on her, but we do know that she and her co-star sister Kathy Hilton had a falling out. As Kyle put it on the May 11 episode of Watch What Happens Live, "We were having a little bit of a rough patch after the season."

At one point, Kyle and Kathy weren't even speaking. But when Kyle's best friend Lorene Shea passed away earlier this month after struggles with mental illness, the pair quickly reunited.

"My sisters and I are speaking again because they've also known Lorene since she was seven," Kyle said on WWHL, explaining that she was able to reconcile with her other sister, Kim Richards, as well. "So, you know, life works in funny ways."

Still grieving the tragic loss of Lorene, Kyle called for mental health reform during her conversation with E! News. "I watched my best friend Lorene—who was my best friend since I was seven years old, one of the closest people in my life who I spoke to on a daily basis—go from being the most outgoing, fun, happy, wife and mom, to only about a year and a half ago, start to struggle with depression that kind of came out of nowhere," Kyle said.

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Citing Ashley Judd's recent Good Morning America appearance—during which Ashley revealed that her mother, country music superstar Naomi Judd, had died by suicide—Kyle echoed her words about mental illnesses and depression. "This disease lies to you," she said. "[Lorene] really felt there was no hope for her and that she would never come back. And there was no way to get her the help that she needed because we were constantly told, 'Well, she's an adult. She doesn't want to come here.'"

"And now she's gone," Kyle continued. "And we're all left to suffer, knowing that if she could have gotten the help, maybe she would still be here today. So, changes definitely have to be made."

Noting that May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Kyle urged people to fight the stigma placed on mental illnesses and suicide. "I don't want it to be something that's so uncomfortable to talk about," she said. "If [Lorene] had cancer, we lost her to cancer, we would be talking openly about that."

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Hear more from Kyle in the above E! News interview.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on Bravo.

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).