Why 'RHOBH' Star Erika Jayne Thinks She & Denise Richards Can Still Save Their Friendship

After razzle-dazzling a Broadway audience as Roxie Hart in Chicago in January, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne got a curtain call surprise that left her overcome with emotion. The "XXPEN$IVE" singer's RHOBH costars Lisa Rinna, Kyle Richards, Teddi Mellencamp, Dorit Kemsley, and Sutton Stracke had been waiting in the wings with bouquets of red roses. Noticeably absent, however, was Denise Richards, whom fans learned in the RHOBH Season 10 premiere had "stopped shooting with the group" a month earlier.

As it turns out, that was when her and Erika's communication ended, too. "I haven't talked to Denise since December," Erika tells Bustle. Although fans will have to wait for more tea when the cast travels to Rome — where she teases "a lot of the drama will happen — the two women have already butted heads a bit in the first handful of episodes. After Denise took issue with her costar discussing a past threesome with her children in earshot, for example, the Pretty Mess author quipped in an interview, "I thought I was at Wild Thing's house. Maybe not."

That conflict will likely be a blip on the radar by the time the reported affair between Denise and Brandi Glanville stirs up more drama among the group. According to Erika, Brandi backed up her side of the story with receipts, but that doesn't mean she necessarily jumped right into anyone's corner. "I'm not team anyone other than Team Erika," she says. "I was shown some things, and based upon what I was shown, I made my decision."

As seen in the RHOBH Season 10 trailer, Erika did draw a line in the sand once Denise's husband Aaron Phypers jumped into the fray, however. ("Come see about me, I don't give a f*ck," she tells him in one scene.) "Aaron spoke to us as a group in a way that I just didn't think was necessary, so when he asked me 'do you really want to go there?' it was like, yeah, I'm not backing down from my position," she adds.

When all is said and done, however, Erika says all it would take for her and Denise to rekindle their friendship is a "simple conversation" — though she doesn't expect that to happen until the RHOBH Season 10 reunion. "Look, all the things that happened between Denise and I are perfectly capable of being resolved," she explains. "Nothing that major happened between us. I think these kinds of disagreements are normal on reality TV shows. That's what happens, and here we are."

That drama aside, Erika promises there's plenty of "fun stuff" to come this season as well: "Minus the Denise communication stuff, the group as a whole moved on, and we had a lot of fun together. There's fashion, there's food, there's fun, there's tears, there's laughter, good times, bad times, blowouts, crises, the whole thing. You're gonna enjoy it."