Courtesy of Kyle Richards/Instagram
Kyle Richards Grieves Death of ‘Best Friend,’ ‘Other Half’ Lorene Shea: ‘I Don’t Know What Happened’
Kyle Richards is grieving the loss of her best friend, Lorene Shea, who died on May 1, 2022.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star opened up about Lorene’s death on the December 13, 2023, episode of the reality show, describing her as her “very, very, very best friend.”
How Did Lorene Shea Die?
Speaking of her friend’s death in an emotional moment on the Bravo show, Kyle said, “I can’t even say the word. She took her life on May 1.”
“I don’t know what happened, because she was so together,” Kyle continued to her therapist, James, during a scene filmed in late 2022. “I mean, literally, in my will she was in charge of my children, my money, my everything.”
Continuing about the sudden death, Kyle said, “She was so together and then all of a sudden — I don’t know what happened,” calling the lack of “answers” surrounding Lorene’s death “frustrating.”
How Did Kyle Richards and Lorene Shea Meet?
Kyle and Lorene’s friendship spanned decades. On the December 13 episode of the show, Kyle said she and Lorene met in second grade at 7 years old, and that they had “been best friends ever since.”
“Lorene was my other half,” Kyle said about her late friend — who appeared on RHOBH in 2015 — during a confessional. “We always said we were separated at birth. Only she was six feet tall and blonde.”
Kyle even admitted she was closer to Lorene than her estranged husband, Mauricio Umansky. “She’s definitely the most important person in my life outside of my family, who knows more about me than anybody else, including my husband.”
What Did Kyle Richards Say About Lorene’s Struggles With Mental Health?
In a tribute to Lorene posted to Instagram shortly after her death, Kyle described her friend’s battle with “debilitating depression” during her lifetime, saying “the [mental health] system is broken.”
“She had always been a happy person. How did this happen?” Kyle wrote in May 2022. She added that friends and family “rallied around” Lorene and tried to “get her help,” but that “the system made it impossible to get her the help she needed.”
“The system failed her! The system failed her loved ones who are now left in unbearable pain,” Kyle continued in her post. The reality star promised to “do whatever it takes” to “change the laws” to make mental health treatment more accessible.
What Has Kyle Richards Said About Grieving Lorene?
Lorene’s death came as a shock to Kyle, as she said she “never imagined something like this could happen.”
After her therapist told Kyle she needed a “safe place to grieve” during the December 13 scene, the former child star replied that the steps she has taken to improve her mental health in the wake of her loss are “working.”
“I’m doing all the things, and just trying to surround myself around people that I love and love me and support me and only want the best for me,” Kyle said.
