After Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (RHOBH) star Erika Jayne became linked to an alleged embezzlement scandal with her soon-to-be ex husband Tom Girardi, her fans were quick to turn on her. Myself included.
And how could we not, with what’s been alleged?
According to court documents, Tom Girardi allegedly embezzled money that was intended for the families of plane crash victims and funnelled it into Erika’s entertainment business.
Since then, the big question on everyone’s mind has been: ‘Did Erika know where the money was coming from?’
It seemed that everyone had all but made their minds up about the reality star, spamming her social media with hate, petitioning the Bravo heads to fire her and even calling for her to be sent to prison, until last night’s episode of RHOBH, which is now streaming on Hayu.
During the episode, the world learns of the charges laid against Tom and Erika. At this point, she says her ex, who is a powerful LA lawyer, has “washed his hands” of her, so she has fuck-all money to survive off and has been hit with millions of dollars worth of legal bills.
She insists to her friends that she had no idea what Tom was up to in his shady dealings and for the first time since the news broke, I stopped to think, ‘Is it possible that she didn’t know?’
I mean, when you think about it, there’s every chance that Tom would’ve been dropping money into her account and she would’ve just assumed that he was making the dosh through his high-paying job as a lawyer. Maybe she didn’t ask for specifics of where the money came from and had no idea what he was up to?
It kinda sounds like they didn’t really talk all that much, so maybe, just maybe, she had no idea!
As the episode was airing, the conversations me and my boyfriend were having about Erika’s storyline weren’t basically “ugh, she’s a demon.” For the first time, we actually pondering the possibility that she got played in this, too.
As this was happening, a friend of mine texted me the following message: “I’m so conflicted now…” which made me realise it wasn’t just us.
I then jumped onto Twitter and saw that this shift in mentality was reflected across the globe as a bunch of people were suddenly entertaining the possibility of her innocence.
https://twitter.com/Lulurabbitttt/status/1415783773090861062?s=20
Either Erika is a good ass actress or sis truly didn’t know a thing #RHOBH
— Globethotter 🌍 (@BrianMcLight) July 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/JulesRules425/status/1415805671946264580?s=20
https://twitter.com/Bobateablt/status/1415820337934000129?s=20
I believe that Erika did NOT know. I feel really bad for her right now… #RHOBH
— jay (@JaysRealityBlog) July 15, 2021
It’s amazing to not be on the “Erika didn’t know” island alone anymore. #RHOBH https://t.co/8G9slrNnkl pic.twitter.com/7xJypYz9tG
— Dis AIN’T Phaedra (@NowCheckThat_) July 15, 2021
With all that said, this does not mean that Erika Jayne is completely blameless in all of this.
Let’s say she didn’t know what was happening and only just found out after leaving her husband: the moment she learned that her career, glam squad, etc had been bank-rolled using money that was meant to go to Tom’s poor clients, she should have not only issued a public apology, but also done whatever she could to ensure that they receive the money they’re owed.
Instead, she has been making sassy, unhinged posts on social media, which is a huge slap in the face to the victims and shows absolutely no remorse or regret whatsoever.
This is MY motherfucking room. Show yourself out. https://t.co/cpmXkuvbWu
— Erika Jayne (@erikajayne) July 1, 2021
I watched these people talk about me on TV like we were friends. Truth is, I don’t know them. Bizarre. pic.twitter.com/x7XkjqVqMc
— Erika Jayne (@erikajayne) July 14, 2021
And Erika posted the on her Instagram this less than a month ago with the “scapegoat” caption. Notice the earrings say “orphans” and “widows” 🥴😬 yikes. Even if she’s innocent what poor taste. #TheHousewifeAndTheHustler #RHOBH #erikajayne #Erikagirardi pic.twitter.com/TSS9Hirk3K
— Suzy (@la_SUZANITA) June 14, 2021
So maybe she didn’t know, the jury is still out on that one (literally).
But that’s not to say that she’s, as she put it in a recent RHOBH reunion, “an innocent fawn in the woods” either.
Matty Galea is the Senior Entertainment Editor at Pedestrian who also dabbles in woo-woo stuff like astrology and crystals and has been penning horoscopes since the start of his career. He also Tweets about pop culture and astrology and posts spicy content on Instagram.
