‘Housewives’ Star Kim Richards Called Out By Dr. Phil For ‘Deflecting’ Behavior

Housewives star Kim Richards was interviewed by Dr. Phil McGraw shortly after her April 16 arrest. During their chat, the doctor criticized the reality star for attempting to deflect from her very serious issues and struggles with addiction.

During a sneak peek at the interview, via Extra TV on April 27, McGraw was seen slamming the Housewives star for her “deflecting” behavior, which had previously been spotlighted on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 5.

“Addicts and alcoholics are great at deflecting, and I think she’s shown a lot of that behavior. I’m not real good at letting people do that; as a result I think that can be very frustrating when you don’t let people wiggle, and I don’t let people wiggle. I didn’t let her wiggle, and think it was very frustrating for her.”

Previously, the Housewives star seemed to be surrounding herself with enablers, who weren’t prepared to put her in her place or call her out for not addressing her problems. However, on the Bravo reality show, Lisa Rinna and others confronted the Housewives star about her recovery plan, wanting to make sure she was doing what she could to ensure she would remain sober. At the time, Richards insisted she was clean and actively recovering, but now fans are questioning whether or not that was true. Even McGraw asked the Housewives star if she had been lying to fans for months about her sobriety.

As for why the Housewives star stormed out of the interview at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, McGraw was unclear about what happened.

“Well, I’ll let people decide whether this was a storm-out or an anxiety storm, but again, when that’s their stock and trade of deflect, change the subject, control, manipulate, and you take those things away from them, they kind of run out of coping energy, and I think when it happens, you’ve gotta have a big anxiety rush — and I think that’s a lot of what’s going on.”

During the interview, the Housewives star confirmed that after several weeks of estrangement from sister Kyle, they are back in touch.

“We talk about that on the show, talk about her relationship with Kyle, you’ll hear her speak about that. They’ve not been in a lot of contact, but they did have some contact with regard to this event, so that comes out.”

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the Housewives star opened up about the hours leading up to her arrest while talking to McGraw. According to a sneak peek, via the Daily Mail, the Housewives star relapsed at her daughter’s house, where she drank a glass of vodka.

[Photo via Twitter]