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Kim Richards’s interview with Dr. Phil, which was taped last week, aired yesterday. Kim has of course checked into rehab for what I believe is her fourth time. (The last time she was in rehab, in 2011, was reportedly her third stint.) She did not go easily. We’ve heard that Kim does not believe she has a problem despite her high profile arrest for public drunkenness and assault on a police officer, and her interview on Dr. Phil bore that out. Kim was full of excuses, denial and long-winded explanations. Little of what she said added up, but that’s been the case for her for quite some time. Here’s some of what she told Dr. Phil, and he kept calling her on her b.s., not that any of his logic got through to her.

  • Her explanation for drinking the night of her arrest. On the morning of the incident she was arrested, she finally watched the RHOBH reunion episodes and went on Twitter. She started crying when she explained the things that people were calling her on Twitter.

  • She has a lot of excuses “It really felt like this season, I just was tired of being talked about. Taking care of my ex husband and my son and I’ve got little girls and I’ve got a situation with my sister and my niece and my dog and all this stuff. I’m angry at the comments. They don’t know me.”

  • Claims she only had one drink the night she was arrested She cried pitifully and claimed “It isn’t the blog or the season that upset me, it was the relationship with my sister and my niece that’s been destroyed. The mean comments got to me. So I just couldn’t sleep and I poured a drink of vodka like that [indicates large amount with thumb and pointer finger] so I got in the car… it was about when I hit the hotel that I started to feel it.”

  • Claims she didn’t drink more at the Beverly Hills Hotel This was after she drank the vodka at her daughter’s house. She said “I did not [order a drink] the bar was closed.” Kim’s indication for how much she drank at her daughter’s house kept changing. It initially looked like about 2 shots of vodka, but then she made her fingers go farther apart the more she told the story. Dr. Phil pointed out that she was at the bar for an hour and a half and should have sobered up by then if she was telling the truth.

  • Her vague explanation of being arrested Kim claimed that she thought she knew the only other table of people at the bar and started to talk to them. The maître d told her to return to her table, but the other patrons defended her and said it was fine, according to Kim. Then she was asked to leave. Kim said that she doesn’t remember what happened exactly, but that she went to use the ladies’ room “and then a few minutes later they’re banging on the door.” She said “I unlocked it and then they just grabbed me. It’s like a fog.” She said that she didn’t black out completely that night, and remembers it in waves. Then she started crying. This seems to be Kim’s default move, to cry and play the victim when she’s called out.

  • On kicking an officer at the police station “When I got there the way they were grabbing me and doing the handcuffs, yeah I was kind of flailing around. Maybe I did kick him… at that point I was angry and I was frightened.” Dr. Phil pointed out that she was “hours into this” so that if she was acting that belligerent she “had to have been drinking a hell of a lot.” He kept pressing her that it made no sense that she didn’t order a drink considering that she was at a bar. Kim’s response was to cry again and claim she had been sober up until that point.
  • She denies being drunk on the show. “I have not drank once this season on camera.” Notice the qualifier.

  • On if she’s been sober for three and a half years. “I did have drinks a couple of other times in the last few months and it was wine. I was ashamed to say anything at the reunion. I was embarrassed. I would have loved to say to the girls, ‘you’re right,’ but the way they’re coming at me, they didn’t make it easy… I had been sober for over three years so it wasn’t a lie.”

  • Her explanation for arguing with Lisa Rinna. Dr. Phil aired the infamous RHOBH argument in Amsterdam during which Kim accused Lisa Rinna’s husband of cheating on her. She explained to Dr. Phil “I felt very attacked by all the girls.” She claimed that she was sober during that ridiculous argument. “At that point, I was not lying. I had not drank in over three years. Every one of them had come to me and told me Lisa Rinna was talking about me behind my back.”

  • On taking the pain pill “I took a pain pill. One pain pill. Remember I’ve been sober for three and a half years. I hadn’t taken anything. I didn’t even know I was acting funny until they told me.”

    Kim’s three young adult children came on the set to talk about their mom’s issues and urge her to go to rehab. Kim cried and cried and her kids looked so over it. They’ve surely seen this countless times before. Dr. Phil summed it up “I’ve never yet seen an alcoholic that reports things fully and accurately.”

    Then, when Dr. Phil asked Kim to go to a local rehab and said that he would pay for it, she claimed she was having anxiety and left the set. Her daughter, Brooke, followed her and asked her to come back and Kim said “you’re giving me tons of anxiety.” Kim’s son got her to admit that she smokes pot too. She later acted like everything was fine and told Dr. Phil that “going to someplace I don’t know is giving me tons of anxiety.”

    At the conclusion of the episode, Dr. Phil explained that Kim initially said she needed to think about his offer to pay for rehab, that she accepted the day after taping, but that she later had a list of demands for the facility including a private room. Dr. Phil said that he heard that Kim had decided to go to rehab and that “we certainly hope that’s true.”

    I know this has been long so I’ll just sum it up: Kim is an alcoholic who is deep in denial and lies. She surely takes a lot of pills too. I felt the sorriest for her children, who looked pretty miserable and hardened to their mom’s constant excuses. I don’t think the fourth time in rehab will be the charm for her, but I hope I’m wrong.
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    photos are screenshots from Dr. Phil and Bravo

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