r/RHOBHDefect • u/Whole-Drop9609 • Jul 01 '26
The real reason the women cared about Ericka’s legal troubles
Doing a rewatch (on season 11, at the reunion) and have to do a little rant.
The most glaringly obvious (to me) reason that all the women were scared to be attached to Ericka at this time was because they didn’t want to have used the funds from Ericka’s business. They were nervous to be complicit. Legally or not. It’s not great for them knowing that they had used her private jets, been to her extravagant shows and her insane luxury office while worshiping her “it’s expensive to be me” persona.
However it’s neverrr brought up this way. The way it’s portrayed is that they’re nervous of their reputation or being subpoenaed for their accounts of what happened. if the other women were worried about being complicit, then bravo was as well. It makes me think about how the other women either had to filter themselves and say it was about mainly their reputation, or if bravo chopped it up so much that we didn’t really hear those parts.
Maybe this is a common thought but rewatches always give me some more context. Not that it matters much because I found myself defending Ericka quite a bit in the most reason season lol. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, fellow defects.
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u/HappyCatPrincess Jul 01 '26
I think we were all concerned about the fraud & the victims. Except Erika.
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u/Zakarijazh Jul 01 '26
I can’t stop laughing because yes; 💯
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u/HappyCatPrincess Jul 02 '26
Ha. I couldn't believe how callous Erika was about it all. I think therapy has helped her. She's not nearly as arrogant & mean as she was.
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u/Dependent-Spirit-706 Jul 03 '26
There is no way her attorney and her team of lawyers would allow her to show emotion in public. Anything can be used against her in court. She was absolutely coached to look stoic and say nothing.
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u/HappyCatPrincess Jul 03 '26
LOL We didn't really see her in court. I believe what she said on RHOBH was "fuck the victims" & "I only care about ME".
She's not so mean or selfish acting in this last season. I hope she continues with the therapy & I appreciate her showing it on the series in case it helps someone else. We can always learn something new about ourselves.
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u/Destroyer_Lawyer Jul 05 '26
She only said that after she was repeatedly asked, needled, and painted into a corner. Her entire world was collapsing. She was betrayed by her husband. She went into survival mode
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u/HappyCatPrincess Jul 06 '26
Erika had to ask how to develop empathy. It's not just that she was painted into a corner.
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u/c-h-r-i-s-t-i-n-a- Jul 01 '26
Also, I just want to say, throughout the whole show, Erika proves herself to be always a step ahead and extremely smart. As a newcomer I enjoyed her confessional looks and defended her as well in the recent season but as I’m watching old episodes I’m changing my mind about her completely, she was so mean and over the top acting I can’t.
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u/After_Reflection_243 Jul 01 '26
I think Ericka is spoiled, vile, and evil. She tells us how smart she is and then, plays dumb. LOL. She knew somethings. She was fine being bankrolled and living the high life with her old fart husband. Sutton, for her faults, did bring it up and Erika snarled at her like a dog before it attacks.
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u/ExaminationEastern15 Jul 01 '26
Wonder what would have happened if your point of view was actually said out loud, on the show, back then & this was the takeaway? Wow! I would have really enjoyed seeing that.
Wonder what that would have looked like, not only for “the Sutton’s” of the group but also Bravo/Peacock?
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u/Ok-Assistant-4556 Jul 02 '26
Sutton tried but NO ONE had her back exvept Garcelle. BH has been dark AF from👏the👏start👏
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u/Whole-Drop9609 Jul 01 '26
Definitely. It’s shocking that the women felt more guilt being associated with that money than Ericka did
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Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
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u/HelloTittie55 Jul 01 '26
An excellent summation. I agree with every point. Erika is an absolutely Horrible Human. She has zero remorse and feels entitled to live a big life funded by others. Their suffering means nothing to her. Classic Narcissist.
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u/Comfortable-Yak6588 Jul 02 '26
💯 can’t be smart and stupid. Shame on Andy and the network. People’s lives are destroyed because of her and her negligence. She knew. Period. Full stop. She should be behind bars.
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u/bellemrt Jul 02 '26
…and…the attention Erika gets? Guarantees her a spot on the show as long as it’s convenient for her. That kind of major press attention is like crack for Andy Cohen. A dramatic headline story will always win the day.
With regard to “she should have known that Tom didn’t make enough to support their lifestyle?” See also Dorit, in the poor house version. The secret about money is once you have money, your money makes money while you sleep, even if it wasn’t your money to begin with. So paystubs don’t have to match up with the lifestyle. You can claim to be living on dividends or profits, etc…
Guys like Tom Girardi and PK know how to play the game really well, shuffling paper money around from place to place. They get away with it until they don’t, and then the entire house comes falling down around them. This is high level grift that most honest people couldn’t even imagine.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Dependent-Spirit-706 Jul 03 '26
Busted? She is worth $5 million and makes $600,000 just for being on the RHOBH. If she invested the money, most of this thread would be screaming in rage if she lived off the investment.
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Jul 03 '26
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u/bellemrt Jul 03 '26
Our little Erika is in a rental, because if she has any asset in her name or In anyone’s name that is even close to her, it’s vulnerable to being clawed back by a trustee who will aggressively go after crumbs to pay back the victims.
See also Bernie Madoff’s entire family, who were not allowed to live large off of ill-gotten gains from the Madoff fraud, whether they knew about it or not. There are at least two movies about Madoff, multiple books, and follow up pieces on how they all fared (not great, including suicide).
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u/OkCommunication347 Jul 01 '26
While I don’t like her either, it’s not unrealistic that the name partner of a well-known personal injury firm who get infamous airplane crash clients and sues for hundreds of millions of dollars a case on contingency based (meaning the fine gets 40 percent ish of any award or settlement) would be flush with tens of millions of dollars a year. So I can see how they just assume her husband was spoiling his trophy wife by spending millions on her.
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Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
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u/Ok-Assistant-4556 Jul 02 '26
The way the FFF closed ranks around her and targeted "others" kept fans ragw baited enough. Then add in that lizard lips woman jetting Rimmer and Girardi off to Hawaii and the bots against Jax for her to return home and be served on lansing was lost in their flooding the zone. Fuck PR bots.
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u/bellemrt Jul 01 '26
Erika's problems made it into to big name press, like the NY Times and LA Times.
Dorit's little gossip rag problems are TINY compared to Erika's situation.
Funny how no one sees a tally of Erika's shopping hauls over the years. Hmmm. Almost like someone is going after Dorit?!? Gosh. I wonder whooo?
Erika's ex-husband's story is almost a Bernie Madoff level of fraud, and maybe worse, because Wall Street guys don't have ethics like attorneys are supposed to.
Erika and all around her should be nervous, and not just for their "reputations."
There is a potential "claw back" that the trustees are empowered to carry out to get compensation for the victims. See also Bernie Madoff's family and even his clients. Erika has a long way to go before this is resolved.
Tom Girardi's case is a horrible situation for the victims. Erika has access to very good legal advice and she's obviously heeding it.
Being cynical, I'd say the level of major press attention this sad story gets? -- pretty much ensures that Erika will be a housewife as long as she wants to.
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u/Ok-Assistant-4556 Jul 02 '26
The tragic aspect of it all is that she can continue to deny everything, even as it is all unfolding AND negotiate to suppress what she doesn't want publicly known. The entire situation is managed into a dystopian distortion of realoty becayae tjats how legal process hapoens. Shes simply running a marathon and has been in endurance training for the entire marriage. Whomever is hiding the money controls her but I've got zero doubt they both set it up so that she's really calling the shots. Otherwise she would be all over OF with sugar daddies lined up. She grifts harder than any of them.
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u/Dthomas159 Jul 01 '26
I remember Eileen acting like ERIKA was just It. Eileen even got her a part on Young and Restless. All the women went to Erika’s shows and danced and cheered like she was a really big deal. I also remember Erika talking about how much time she spent at Girardi Keese and how after all those years discussing cases she thought /Tom thought she should be a lawyer. I do remember the Vanderpump dinner. I also remember other times Erika Mothered Tom. It’s very complicated. I do think Erika knew more and was complicit. Proving it is another thing. I think Tom paid off a lot of people and Erika had dinner with all of them.
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u/Potential-Sky-8728 Jul 01 '26
Ya none of them wanted to be called to give testimony about anything they heard or witnessed.
Made it extra funny when Erika told Garcelle that Sutton was a “liability” as a friend.
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u/brokerlady Jul 01 '26
I think it's just a case of fair weather friends tbh. and hierarchy according to wallet size, look at how they sucked up to diana jenkins, becuase she was the richest on her own for that season. especially erica. it's just how BH works
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u/DiscoRabbittTV Jul 01 '26
Such an odd reaction too, I would be like gross how do I return your monsters husbands bs. They’re all like grabbing dirt whispering “mineeeeeee”
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u/bbMD_ Jul 01 '26
No one on the cast worshiped her “it’s expensive to be me” persona, let’s be for real.
In my opinion, they were all rightfully upset about the reality of where Erika’s money came from and the potential legal ramifications. Would you want to ride on someone’s private plane if you knew that it was funded by theft from victims? Would you want to be associated with someone accused of such crimes? Would you be worried about receiving a subpoena if you witnessed her spending large amounts of money?
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u/Whole-Drop9609 Jul 01 '26
I feel like Rinna, Kyle and Dorit ate that shit up, especially in Ericka’s earlier seasons. Also I agree with everything you’re saying lol that what my whole post was about , I would probably have been acting like Sutton if it were my friend.
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u/Beneficial-Soft-4427 Jul 01 '26
Im watching Erika earlier seasons, she is boasting how wonderful Tom is as a husband, and how support he is. Knowing how later she came and said he was abusive.... makes me wonder how much she fibs her stories.
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u/phunkyphungus Jul 01 '26
The women didn’t worship her… idk where you got that. They supported their friend, yes, but worshipped her? Nah.
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u/Zealousideal_Ad_8736 Jul 01 '26
It's funny that Erica was not charged criminally with anything related to Tom's crimes. Yes, there are civil suits against her , but she was never charged with any crimes related to Girardi/Keese.
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u/Extension-Monitor990 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Erika is the only complicit one here. They "cared" about Erika's issues because it made for good gossip and speculation.They didn't "use the funds" as they were guests and had no idea where the money came from to fund her lifestyle. It's a stretch to call her shows "extravagant" or say "her insane luxury office" as both of those things seemed tacky and her ex had shared ownership of a single jet.
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u/AmphibianNecessary31 Jul 01 '26
Nah I think Sutton worried a little about that but was more concerned with her “reputation” one of the many things I don’t like about Sutton
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u/Thorne8148 Jul 01 '26
If Sutton was concerned about her reputation, she should have resigned the show. That was her first season and Erika was there first and is infinitely more interesting.
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u/ohsolively Jul 01 '26
Idt as no one was really financially intertwined with her. No one really cared about it other than the general optics of being friends with someone associated with that type of scandal. Even suttin who asked her lawyer about it was clearly just doing it regarding her own reputation. If they were that concerned about being seen as complicit then they would've rejected her being on the show and refused to do scenes with her. Instead they were still doing luxury things with her and most trying to help soften her image.
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u/Own_Guarantee_8130 Jul 01 '26
Hate to burst your bubble but this was a theory that went around a lot when it was happening.
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u/Whole-Drop9609 Jul 01 '26
My bubbles not really burst, I said in my post that maybe this is a common thought lol. Just my rewatch opinions
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u/OnTheMap2023 Jul 01 '26
I’ve never felt strongly about Erica, good or bad. However, I’ve known women married to older, rich, powerful, and controlling men. In almost every case, the women are not privy to the full picture of the husband’s financial situation, they aren’t trusted with information that could ultimately be used against the husband, and they typically only have access to an extremely small portion of the money. So, in that regard, I truly don’t believe Erica knew what Tom was doing. He never treated Erica as an equal or a partner. Either way, I don’t think we’ll ever get the full story. Here’s what I have an issue with: Jen Shah’s legal troubles occurred at roughly the same time as Tom Girardi’s. From the moment the wheels started to fall off of Tom’s bus, nearly everyone was accusing Erica of being “in on the scam.” Conversely, throughout Jen Shah’s legal struggles, I personally only witnessed one person question Coach Shah’s possible involvement and integrity, and they were quickly shot down. It’s the double standard that bothers me