Erika Girardi/Erika Jayne: Let them eat cake

[ryebread]

She might be an enigma after all.

 

 

[Almost 3000]

Oh, I like the stocking look so much better than the patched up cat suits. Rather more like Dita Von Teese.

[Dahlia]

I enjoy her! This woman is my favourite 'character' on this show. Her husband though? Things that make you go hmmm

What was up with that police chief love fest. Weird

[LemonSoda]

I've enjoyed her so far too!

[ebkitty]

Erika is one of my faves, love her husband too! Can't wait until her & Lisa become close friends, it will be hilarious hearing the 2 banter together!

[kokapetl]

I'm impressed by her Botox and fillers, it actually succeeds in making her look younger.

[ryebread]

I'm impressed by her Botox and fillers, it actually succeeds in making her look younger.

 

I agree.  But she started off being very, very beautiful imo, so that helps.  Whatever work she's had done is top notch.  She's teetering on the edge of her lips going into duck territory but I think she's smart enough to know just when to draw the line.

 

Her make-up is usually so beautiful.  But again, she's got perfect skin so there's that.

 

I don't know how I feel about her yet.  I like her more than not.

[trimthatfat]

I saw her on WWHL and honestly, she's now my fave HW. She's pretty funny. Whatever work she has had done looks good on her.

[Almost 3000]

This was my response to a poster mentioning that Yo, in the Yo thread, probably suggested Erika to the franchise because Erika visited her while she was sick.

"I think Erika is very sly. Now I have to watch to see if she's destructive or benign. I haven't put my finger on that one yet which is unusual because I usually read the wives pretty quickly. She does seem to have the ability play a long game so..."

I'm really on the fence about her but so far she seems to play things pretty close to the vest or in her case the pussy.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Almost 3000

[zoeysmom]

I think Erika has what many of the others wanted-this extreme character she plays and then the housewife role.  Best of both worlds.  At some point I hope she makes a connection with at least one of the other cast members.  She will be pure boredom if all we see is her in the role of Yolanda's nursemaid.

[LIMOM]

She has the potential to bring LIFE to this show.

Bring it on, Erika.

[Cherrio]

Erika is really not a Beverly Hills housewife.     Their home is in Pasadena.  I looked it up today because while I am sure her husband makes a great living, it would not be enough to afford and maintain a large historical (she claims to have restored it, animal print carpet?) in the Platinum Triangle which is Bev Hills, Bel Air and Holmby Hills.

[kokapetl]

Isn't Pasadena old money?

Edited January 7, 2016 by Kokapetl

[nexxie]

So far my take is that neither persona is real.

[KFC]

I don't have a strong opinion of Erika yet, but I don't think their living in Pasadena is any great signifier that they lack the wealth to live in a Beverly Hills property. Plenty of incredibly wealthy Los Angelenos would prefer not to live in BH or the surrounding neighborhoods. And there's definitely a lot of incredibly pricy, well-to-do real estate in Pasadena.

 

This show should really be called The Real Housewives of Los Angeles, since most of them don't live in Beverly Hills anyway, but that's sort of true across the entire franchise, so it doesn't really bother me. Especially not when so many people view LA and Beverly Hills as synonymous.

[emma675]

I can't help it, so far, I like her. 

 

She seems to be more than just a vapid blonde trophy wife--she's got a career (and I like that she's not afraid to say it's a little sleazy), she's witty, she owns up to a lot of the things in her life that would make some people give her the side-eye, and she's standing up to LisaVP. If we can get her to ditch Yolanda and just hang with the other ladies, I'd be happy.

[Umbelina]

I'm still up in the air about her. 

 

She does sex shows basically, so that side of her could be interesting.  Then the other side is SUPER bland and cautious, she has different names for her "two" selves, right?

 

She seemed nice, careful, and very, very boring on WWHL.  Everyone is wonderful, everyone is truthful, everyone is just peaches and cream and jelly beans on the show!  Yuppers!  Then Andy asked her to do the Pet the Pussy move, and after all that extremely tip-toe-y NICEness, she's up their slapping her crotch while grinding.  So she's got her "butter wouldn't melt" super proper side, and then her very trashy other side.  More of the second please.

 

I did like the way she handled Lisa's attempted shade, but will that be enough? 

 

Her house looks like an 80 year old's from the 1930s, and not really in a good way.  The English style garden looked lovely, but those take a ton of water, and California is in a severe, state-ending style drought, so what the hell?  They aren't living in misty old rainy England. 

 

Time will tell.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Umbelina

[Wings]

She was very contained on WWHL.  I can see why they replaced her half way through, if that is true.  Maybe they just added Katherine (?).  Erika is not about to give them anything at all.   One reason could be protecting her husband's career but giving her credit, it may be the way she is.  

[KFC]

I think they added Kathryn Edwards because another potential HW (Cody Simpson's mother) had to drop out, due to visa issues of some sort.

[kokapetl]

I'm still up in the air about her.

She does sex shows basically, so that side of her could be interesting. Then the other side is SUPER bland and cautious, she has different names for her "two" selves, right?

She seemed nice, careful, and very, very boring on WWHL. Everyone is wonderful, everyone is truthful, everyone is just peaches and cream and jelly beans on the show! Yuppers! Then Andy asked her to do the Pet the Pussy move, and after all that extremely tip-toe-y NICEness, she's up their slapping her crotch while grinding. So she's got her "butter wouldn't melt" super proper side, and then her very trashy other side. More of the second please.

I did like the way she handled Lisa's attempted shade, but will that be enough?

Her house looks like an 80 year old's from the 1930s, and not really in a good way. The English style garden looked lovely, but those take a ton of water, and California is in a severe, state-ending style drought, so what the hell? They aren't living in misty old rainy England.

Time will tell.

The house was probably built by, designed for, and paid for, by people long dead, so I can see how it doesn't look like an Apple Store. Edited January 8, 2016 by Kokapetl

[Umbelina]

I don't get the apple store comment, sorry.

 

I just don't care for the oppressive look of the decor, not my style.  I do love her stove, which she says she's never used.  It just all seems so very tastefully dated. I love old stuff, but this just didn't do it for me.

[LIMOM]

I don't get the apple store comment, sorry.

 

I just don't care for the oppressive look of the decor, not my style.  I do love her stove, which she says she's never used.  It just all seems so very tastefully dated. I love old stuff, but this just didn't do it for me.

Not my style either but it is quite well done.

"Timeless old money decorating" is what I call it.lol

[kokapetl]

The mansion looks old and dated because it is. It has a chapel, that's how dated it is. The renovations seem to acknowledge and respect the original design, the chapel hasn't been turned into a janitor's closet or anything like that.

[zoeysmom]

I guess they honored the time old tradition of a Burlesque dressing and costume room.  I admire she wants to refurbish the house, she has an excellent designer but they need someone to get on the maintenance.  It would not bother me to see less frou frou, Hearst Castle styling and an updated, streamline but not gut or tear down job.  It will be interesting to see in Harry Hamlin recognizes the estate as he was raised in Pasadena. 

 

Erika has about three more episodes to be interesting and by that I mean engage with the women, if not  then I am afraid she will end up on the Joyce pile. 

[Petunia13]

I actually think the furniture wasn't that great nothing I'd see in books or architectural digest. The interiors of the rooms look purchased not collected. It wasn't very period or grandiose if that was the excuse for the style that it was "true to the character of the home."

I was surprised to hear she has an adult son from a previous marriage and a cop at that. It reminds me of Sofia Vergara and her adult son. They both are so young looking and sexy many must mistake their sons for their bf.

[KFC]

I'm already prepared to like Erika if she stands up to Bethenny next week. And I say this as someone who generally enjoys Bethenny on RHONY, but I can't stand how she's steamrolled that series, and I suspect she might do here. B needs to be kept in check (by someone other than loony Kelly), which is becoming more and more of a rarity because all the other HWs are afraid of antagonizing her because of the clout she wields at Bravo.

[zulualpha]

I'm with you, KFC.  First of all I love Kentucky Fried Chicken and secondly I can't stand Bethenny, never have liked her.  She's pushy, bossy, self righteous, narcissitic and rude imo.  If Erika stands up to her and tells her to fuck off that's me you'll hear giving the standing o. 

 

I wonder if Erika's house is connected with the Huntington Estate in any way?  Does anyone know the history of the place?  Erika mentioned she did lots of restoration and it sounds like the house has a past worth noting.

[LIMOM]

Hopefully, EriKa is that girl......

I am so rooting for her

[hatchetgirl]

A load of attorneys live in Pasadena. The housing near the Huntington is really of the hook insane, pricewise, sizewise, etc.

She interesting. The 2 sides must be exhausting exhausting to keep up. I like that she had that line about being poor sucks and being rich. I'm surprised to see her hubby spring the RHW thing, but he is a plaintiff's attorney. Lol.

Oh and his big Erin Brockovich win? Got turned over on appeal by an attorney at my firm. Yeah, sold my soul to the devil but he pays well. ;)

[straightshooter]

I like her so far.  She's very different from all of the other HW's and definitely has her own life apart from being the missus.  She seems pretty no-nonsense and carries herself in a dignified way from what I've seen - maybe she uses up all of her less classy attributes as Erika Jane, but she seems cool to me.  

 

To be honest, though, even if I couldn't stand her, I'd still LOVE her for being such a threat to the queen of superiority complexes, LVP herself.   I don't care how cool she's trying to appear, she's shaking in her boots and doesn't have me fooled for a second.  Lisa was immediately on the hunt for something, anything about Erika that would scream of inferiority next to her highness.  Apparently a 76 year old husband was the winning lottery ticket for the bitchy ol' bat.  

 

So glad you're here, Erika!  I sure hope you'll feel free to flirt shamelessly with Lisa's equally smug (in addition to grumpy) husband!  Pleeeeeeease!

[LIMOM]

A load of attorneys live in Pasadena. The housing near the Huntington is really of the hook insane, pricewise, sizewise, etc.

She interesting. The 2 sides must be exhausting exhausting to keep up. I like that she had that line about being poor sucks and being rich. I'm surprised to see her hubby spring the RHW thing, but he is a plaintiff's attorney. Lol.

Oh and his big Erin Brockovich win? Got turned over on appeal by an attorney at my firm. Yeah, sold my soul to the devil but he pays well. ;)

Oh really. So nobody collected then?

[Found A Peanut]

I don't know what to think of Erika after watching her house tour. She didn't seem connected to any of it somehow. Like, what was it she said? Something like, "Here are two icons that really mean a lot to me, and here is a Roman mosaic that I just think is really great..." and said in this really detached way. Oh, my god, bitch, you own an actual Roman mosaic?! And are those Byzantine icons?! Gahhhh!!!!! I love house porn, but that just flipped a switch with me, and my brain momentarily shorted out. It seems so wrong to have those kinds of museum quality objects just because...what? Expensive? Rare? Smelled like money? And you don't even care. She talked about them with about the same level of (dis)interest she had in her fancy, never used by her, French stove. I really hope those objects are connected to an interest or passion of her husband's.

Other than my starving artist freak out about the 1%er trophies, I thought the property was stunning. I would love to know how actually involved Erica was in restoring it - for real, I love restorations - and I do appreciate that the chapel was preserved and nobody did some ridiculous, open floor plan gut of the place. It's just that it's a bit too fussy for me and all too much in the same way that Eileen's place is a bit much, but without Eileen's clear personal connection to her stuff. Eileen lives in her home and it is of her, for better or worse. So far, it seems to me like Erika just occupies her space like a model in a showroom.

Edited January 9, 2016 by Found A Peanut

[hatchetgirl]

Since it was a class action, the attorney got the most. The people actually had to fight to get any ay all.

At some point, the case turned over on appeal so I doubt they got anything. Unfortunately.

I'm definitely not fond of collecting just for collecting sake. Chief Beck. Lol. He and our mayor pandering to the cameras as usual.

I must admit, Tom's black suit was fab and he did look sharp. For him to still be trying cases at 76 is pretty amazing. Seems like he still carries a full case load, again, at 76, pretty amazing. Sad really because I see these guys needing to retire to be with their families. They have so much pressure and responsibility from about 26 on, that they really need retirement, but some, I think are really addicted to work.

[LIMOM]

A family friend practiced Law until he died in his 80's.

He loved the Law that much.

He once had a case against great Roy Cohn and Henri was in awe of his talents.

I think that Tom is probably at the same level.

Edited January 9, 2016 by LIMOM

[hatchetgirl]

I love the law. I love listening to attorneys turn black and whites into greys and vice versa. I've been in the industry since I was 16 and have so many attorneys for friends. It's a hard business but I dig it. I'm on the computer side now with a global firm and as I said, just love my attorneys. I feel really protective of them, especially the young ones.

So yeah, I can see him staying in the field until he dies. I doubt very much he didn't do a prenup, but it may have been very liberal, to protect her and her son. The child was what, 8 when they married?

But king of the class action. Dang, I'm sorry but class action work only works for the attorney. He's definitely no angel on that front.

[LIMOM]

prenup or not. She will get at least half, IMO.

Long term marriage, California state.

[hatchetgirl]

He's no fool. No matter they are married 15 yrs. She won't get half of what he brought into the marriage. Without a prenup, she may be entitled to half of what he's made in the last 15 yrs, but there is no way he didn't protect himself. Marrying her at 61? He's going to make sure his heirs and peeps are protected. I doubt they'll divorce though. He seems happy with her, she seems happy with him. He'll take care of her, I'm sure.

[LIMOM]

Does he have children from previous relationships?

[hatchetgirl]

That I don't know.

[Found A Peanut]

He's no fool. No matter they are married 15 yrs. She won't get half of what he brought into the marriage. Without a prenup, she may be entitled to half of what he's made in the last 15 yrs, but there is no way he didn't protect himself. Marrying her at 61? He's going to make sure his heirs and peeps are protected. I doubt they'll divorce though. He seems happy with her, she seems happy with him. He'll take care of her, I'm sure.

Don't prenups generally time out after ten or fifteen years? I've never heard of a longer one, not that I run in circles where they're called for.

I wouldn't mind half of what Girardi made in the last fifteen years, though. I'm sure that'd be comfy.

[hatchetgirl]

No they don't run out over time unless a clause for that is put in place.

Exactly... half of what he's made in 15 yrs would be no joke. ,)

[LIMOM]

Don't prenups generally time out after ten or fifteen years? I've never heard of a longer one, not that I run in circles where they're called for.

I wouldn't mind half of what Girardi made in the last fifteen years, though. I'm sure that'd be comfy.

They might have negotiated a post nup.

But if she said she gets half, I do believe her.

The previous wives (if applicable) would have collected already.

[editorgrrl]

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202735677340/Spotlights-on-Tom-Girardis-Real-Housewife

The newest addition to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” is best known on the dance club scene. But her husband, Thomas Girardi, is a big name in the legal world.

Girardi, of Girardi Keese in Los Angeles, a personal injury attorney and former president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, said joining the Bravo reality TV show’s season this fall is a good career move for his wife, singer Erika Jayne. But he doesn’t expect to make his own appearance—although some of the husbands have had guest spots.

“I told them they could photograph the back of my head twice,” Girardi said. “Hopefully, I dodge it.”

Girardi, 76, said he and Jayne, 46, have been married for 15 years.

When asked whether the couple live in Beverly Hills, Girardi, who at one time lived in Pasadena, said: “I’m not saying we do, and not saying we don’t.”

Edited January 9, 2016 by editorgrrl

[sasha206]

I agree.  But she started off being very, very beautiful imo, so that helps.  Whatever work she's had done is top notch.  She's teetering on the edge of her lips going into duck territory but I think she's smart enough to know just when to draw the line.

 

Her make-up is usually so beautiful.  But again, she's got perfect skin so there's that.

 

I don't know how I feel about her yet.  I like her more than not.

 

I'm always surprised how much better she looks in the scenes versus that horrible talking head where it looks like she's a much older woman with barrettes in her hair.  

 

She looked incredible when she was sitting on the veranda with David Foster and his ill ex-wife.

[Wings]

Yes, her TH hair is hideous.  She shines when she wears minimal make up and casual hair.  She is very pretty.  

 

Her house is hideous too!  very oppressive.  It is in desperate need of an update.  It is ridiculously huge.  I cannot fathom what it is like to live there and the big question, why?  Why do they want a house that large?   Must have something to do with a tax write off or some financial reason.  

Edited January 9, 2016 by wings707

[editorgrrl]

Does he have children from previous relationships?

There's no date or publication on this, but it's all I could find: http://rexwriter.com/Rex_Maurice_Oppenheimer/Nonfiction_files/GIRARDI%20%20and%20KEESE%20(Law%20Firm)%20.pdf

[Tom Girardi] speaks lovingly of his wife, Erika; his son Matthew, who is following in his father's legal footsteps; and his daughters, Jacqueline, a gourmet chef graduate of the Culinary Institute of New York; and Jennifer, who runs Quatrain, an exclusive Los Angeles furniture and antique store.

Edited January 9, 2016 by editorgrrl

[Primal Slayer]

I like Erika, she is the one shining moment in this rather bleak season thus far. Though I hope she isn't one of those HWs that sits on the sidelines and tries to play the middle. If she can come back at Bethenny and get into it with some of the women, I could end up really loving her. 

[LIMOM]

http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202735677340/Spotlights-on-Tom-Girardis-Real-Housewife

Spoken like a good lawyer! Lol

So he has one daughter and Erika and her son.

Well, Bravo already managed to get one scene with him at the restaurant.

advantage Bravo.

CORRECTION:

He has 2 daughters and one son who is also a lawyer.

I think this will do lots for her career. I had never heard of her before and I already visited her you tube page and downloaded one song.

I am taking back my comment that she ate that cake.

It appears that she is a Yoyo dieter as she is tiny, tiny on the recent interviews and some of her video.

Oh well, should have known better....

Edited January 9, 2016 by LIMOM

[Wings]

I like Erika, she is the one shining moment in this rather bleak season thus far. Though I hope she isn't one of those HWs that sits on the sidelines and tries to play the middle. If she can come back at Bethenny and get into it with some of the women, I could end up really loving her. 

 

I don't think she does stand up to Bethany very much if at all.  We did see her TH about her in the preview, now whether she said that to her face, I don't know.  Doubt it.  She is being replaced so we can assume she was not giving them much and saw that would not change. 

[LIMOM]

I don't think she does stand up to Bethany very much if at all.  We did see her TH about her in the preview, now whether she said that to her face, I don't know.  Doubt it.  She is being replaced so we can assume she was not giving them much and saw that would not change.

Is she already being replaced?

Too bad