Is the reported feud between Kyle Richards’ husband, Mauricio Umansky, and Kathy Hilton’s husband, Rick Hilton, over? The two men have apparently agreed to a work arrangement.
On Monday, The Agency, the real estate agency that Mauricio started after he left his position at Rick’s real estate agency, Hilton & Hyland, announced that it has the listing for the Playboy Mansion. Mauricio himself is the agent on the listing. The asking price for the famous mansion is $200 million.
The #PlayboyMansion is the crown jewel of LA’s Platinum Triangle. Welcome home. https://t.co/kF0sHfTXbN #HolmbyHills pic.twitter.com/LOkZ5USLzE
— The Agency RE (@TheAgencyRE) January 12, 2016
Mauricio’s The Agency isn’t the only one with the Playboy Mansion in its portfolio. Rick’s Hilton & Hyland also has the listing. Unlike Mauricio, Rick has not taken on the listing himself. It is being worked on by two of his company’s agents, Gary Gold and Drew Fenton . The description for the property is the same on both agencies’ websites.
The @Playboy Mansion | $200M https://t.co/hA0mhJoIKT #luxuryrealestate #beverlyhills @hiltonhyland @soldbygold pic.twitter.com/fntVsoeDEW
— Drew Fenton (@drewhfenton) January 12, 2016
As USA Today reported on Monday, there’s a catch to the sale. A condition of the sale is that 89-year-old Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy Enterprises who has lived in the property for four decades, will continue to live there even after the sale. Presumably, Hugh’s wife, 29-year-old Crystal Harris, will also continue to live at the mansion with him even after the sale and then move on to a different place after his death.
“If a buyer is found for the Playboy Mansion, Mr. Hefner will continue to live at the mansion for the rest of his life,” said company spokesman John Vlautin.
As for why the mansion is being offered for sale now, it seems that Playboy needs the money. CEO Scott Flanders said in a statement that the sale is a strategic move that will allow Playboy “to continue to reinvest in the transformation of our business.”
The fact that it was agreed that Mauricio Umansky’s and Rick Hilton’s separate agencies would both have the listing may be surprising to some people, as it has been reported that Mauricio and Rick have been at odds with one another for years. On a previous episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills , Kyle Richards revealed that her older sister, Kathy Hilton, disinvited her to Nicky Hilton’s wedding to James Rothschild. Later on, Kyle was invited again and made the decision to go. Co-star Lisa Vanderpump piped up that if she was told that her husband couldn’t go to a wedding, she wouldn’t go either. Kyle responded that Mauricio told her to go. In her interview, Kyle said that Mauricio still wasn’t invited because of “tension” in the family.
What’s the story behind the “tension” that Kyle mentioned? After the episode aired, E! News reported that there have been issues between Mauricio and Rick for quite some time. One source said that the feud started when Mauricio left Rick’s agency after being denied a deserved promotion.
“Rick and his team wouldn’t make Mauricio a partner, even after years of working there and a lot of success. So he left. Now, Mauricio is not welcome at any Hilton events. It puts Kyle in a terrible position because she always has to choose between her husband and her older sister.”
Another source claimed that Mauricio, who started in the real estate business when he got a job at Hilton & Hyland, went behind Rick’s back.
“Rick did everything for Mauricio to get him started, he gave him clients, he introduced him to people. And then when Mauricio set up his own company, he did it covertly and informed Rick via email. Mauricio was not made a partner as he was not being 100 percent above board and so there were trust issues. Finally, once Mauricio’s new company was set up, Rick and Mauricio came to a gentleman’s agreement that they would not go after each others’ agents, but then Mauricio went back on that promise and tried to poach staff. It’s a huge mess.”
The article also reported that the tension between Kyle and Kathy is also due to Kyle selling a TV show about her life growing up with her sisters, a show that Kathy doesn’t want.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , Rick Hilton recently spoke out about Kyle Richards talking about his daughter’s wedding, and the ensuing drama, on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills . He admitted that it was upsetting and claimed that Kyle was going to quit the show as a way of making things right. Yet, in an interview with Access Hollywood , Kyle denied quitting the show. Kyle also said that she didn’t want to talk about what was going on with her sister Kathy Hilton.
“We’ve all quit many times [laughing]. The truth is, until the show is officially picked up, no decisions have been made… I think it came about because stuff came up about my niece and the wedding. I really did not want those things in the show, but… we signed up for this, and it’s a reality show. There is no script, so what can we do? It’s our life.”
[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]