Kyle Richards is opening up about her role in building The Agency, and making it clear she sees herself as more than just a bystander.

In a preview for the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion, Kyle didn’t hesitate when asked if she would seek a stake in the company amid her separation from Mauricio Umansky.
“Well, it’s mine,” she said, a statement that quickly raised eyebrows, even prompting Kathy Hilton to ask, “Does he realize that?”
Kyle went on to explain that her connection to the business runs much deeper than people may think, sharing the origin story during a recent podcast appearance.“Well, when it started, we had no money, and we didn’t have help or anything,” Kyle had told The Bossticks podcast late last month. “He came home one day… and he had been fired. He was in the clothing business, and he had lost his job. And I could tell he had been crying, and it just crushed me.”
At the time, the couple had two young children and were struggling financially.
“It was right before Christmas, and he had no money. And I was like, we needed money to buy Christmas presents for the kids,” she recalled.
Kyle said she was the one who suggested a major pivot — one that would ultimately change their lives.
“So I said, ‘Why don’t we go and hire a babysitter once a week, and we’ll get our real estate license together.’ And that’s what we did.”
The two enrolled at Santa Monica College and entered the real estate world as a team — though the early days were far from easy.
“And then I would call him… and I’d be like, ‘Where are you?’ And he’d say, ‘I’m at the golf course because there’s nothing going on. I’m trying to find something,’” she said.

Kyle admitted she pushed him hard during that time.
“I was like, ‘I am not going to live in a two-bedroom apartment for the rest of my life with three kids… I need a house. I need to get out of here.’”
Looking back, she believes that difficult period ultimately led to their biggest success.
“It was the best thing that ever happened to him, being fired that day,” she said.
With Kyle now speaking more openly about her role in their business and their current separation, her comment that The Agency is “hers” adds a new layer to their evolving dynamic — and could become a major topic at the reunion.
