Kathy Hilton Apologizes to Mariska Hargitay for 'Rude' Viral Moment During 'People's Choice Awards'

The 'RHOBH' star was seen applying lipstick during Mariska Hargitay's acceptance speech at the People's Choice Awards.

Kathy Hilton is owning up to the awkward moment she was caught applying lipstick while Mariska Hargitay was delivering her acceptance speech at the People's Choice Awards on Tuesday, Dec. 6. 

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star came under fire after the now-viral video began circulating online, with many people calling her "rude" for taking away from Hargitay's shining moment on stage. 

Now, Hilton, 63, is clearing up the controversial incident by revealing that she has already reached out to the Law & Order star privately to apologize. 

"I adore and I respect Mariska very much, and I already had reached out to her, DMed her, I want to get her address," Hilton told Extra in an interview published Friday, Dec. 9. "I feel terrible," going on to say that she would never "do anything to be rude intentionally." 

The reality star then went on to reveal what really caused the on-stage mishap that has been rubbing social media users the wrong way, explaining that she didn't even know she was in the frame while Hargitay was speaking. 

“I actually thought I was going to sneeze and you don’t want to hear me sneeze, it’s the loudest sneeze," Hilton stated. "I was looking for a tissue, I didn’t have a tissue or a hanky, so I got nervous and just put some lipstick on."

"It was during her speech so I thought...'the camera isn’t going to be focused on me,'" she recalled before turning to the interview camera to say, "I apologize, Mariska, I am really sorry. I look forward to talking to you.”

As Parade reported, Hargitay was on stage to accept the award for The Drama TV Star of 2022, which she won for her performance as the beloved Captain Olivia Benson on the long-running crime series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. 

"I love this award so much because of the two words in it," Hargitay, 58, gushed during her heartfelt acceptance. "The word, of course, the first word is 'people.' And that's people from all origins and all ethnicities and all creeds, and all genders and all identities that make this whole glorious mix of all of us that is the human...And the second word that's even more important is 'Choice.'"

She continued, "So I just want to celebrate our ability in all of us, the willingness in all of us, to choose kindness and compassion and courage and to choose to listen and to learn and to build a bridge between our differences and our divides. That's more important than ever right now."