"Victims" has been one of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 11's buzzwords alongside leather pants, and Erika Jayne has been at the center of the victimhood narrative. Although the victims that Erika's ex-husband Tom Girardi stole millions from have been taken advantage, Erika has managed to claim the title of the victim the most whole-heartedly way. From her performance at the infamous Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 11 reunion to her actions on social media, here are all of the times Erika has played the victim.
Even though Erika is only recently getting flack for posing as a martyr, the "Pretty Mess" singer has jumped into the victim role in recent seasons. Erika isn't known for getting involved in too much conflict throughout her run on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but whenever she gets some heat from the other ladies, she's swift to deflect by framing herself as the recipient of aggression rather than the aggressor. After Erika's unpopular showing in the face of accusations made against her in season 11, more examples of the reality star's victimhood are evident.
Overall, Erika has been a pillar of RHOBH since season 6. Throughout her half of a decade on the show, she hasn't been well-known for her accountability. Instead, Erika is remembered for making others feel bad for calling her out, whether it's in Hong Kong, on social media, or at Kathy Hilton's home. These are all of the occasions when Erika proved she has a pattern of playing the victim when she doesn't get her way.
Erika shocked viewers with her meltdown in Hong Kong. During the cast's vacation, Erika was in the midst of a tense feud with Dorit Kemsley. Surprisingly, one of Erika's closest friends, Eileen Davidson, pushed her over the edge. Dorit apologized for a misunderstanding between the co-stars and Eileen attempted to help Erika see Dorit's perspective. During this RHOBH scene, Eileen tried to get Erika to be more reasonable, asserting, "She didn't kill your child." After Eileen pointed out that Erika made Dorit out to be more of a bully than she really was, Erika launched into a dramatic tirade.
Erika's son is a police officer, so the real housewife took offense to Eileen referencing an expression about her child's death. Although it was clear to the RHOBH stars and viewers that Eileen didn't mean anything by the phrase, Erika used it as a way to make herself look like the victim. In between sobs, Erika shouted, "Don't ever talk about my kid again!" Erika's over-the-top response garnered a slew of apologies from Eileen and prompted Lisa Rinna to comfort the grieving mother.
On The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 9, Erika experienced turbulence in her friendships with Kyle Richards and Teddi Mellencamp. During the group's trip to France, Erika put in little effort to show she was excited to be on the getaway with her co-stars. While wine tasting, Erika got annoyed with Kyle for performing a spot-on impersonation of the performer. Kyle was impersonating all of the ladies, but Erika was the only one to make the fun moment seem like she was getting bullied. The conflict escalated after RHOBH OG Kyle told Erika, "I don't think you enjoy being with us." Instead of owning up to the stand-offish attitude she maintained during the trip to France, Erika used this fight as an opportunity to come off as the victim. "I kinda feel a little bullied right now," Erika said before storming off.
The first time Erika broke down about her perplexing situation with her ex-husband was at the expense of her co-star Garcelle Beauvais. While at Kyle's La Quinta home, Erika confided in Garcelle and new Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Crystal Kung-Minkoff. Erika shared that Tom calls her every day when she thought they weren't being filmed. Erika told Crystal not to bring it up again, but neglected to inform Garcelle of her request. When Garcelle brought up the subject to the group to discuss, Erika lashed out at Garcelle. The reality star accused Garcelle of bringing up Tom's calls to sabotage her, although Crystal confirmed that Garcelle was never told to keep the information to herself. By making a scene over the obvious misunderstanding, Erika returned to her familiar role as the victim to evoke more sympathy from her friends and fans.
The climax of Erika's legal drama on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 11 came during Kathy Hilton's dinner party. The doomed event was destined for disaster as Sutton Stracke was vocal about her skepticism of Erika's story leading up to the get-together. Because they weren't on good terms, Sutton started off the night asking to talk with Erika about their differences of opinion. Erika immediately shut Sutton down and declared she had nothing to say to her former friend. Even though audiences perceived the following events (which included Erika threatening to sue Sutton) as the "XXPEN$IVE" singer being the instigator, Erika attempted to portray herself as the victim during the dinner party.
After Sutton walked off, Erika promptly shifted dispositions and began tearing up. When Garcelle tried to comfort her, Erika pulled away, expressing that she didn't feel safe with them. When Dorit brought up the victims of Tom's alleged crimes, Erika positioned herself as a martyr once again, saying: "How do you think I feel?" Erika accused the women of "torturing" her before emotionally inviting her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Dorit to "look at my f****** life." Erika used these words and phrases to compel sympathy from viewers and victimize herself.
As if her performance on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills wasn't enough, Erika continued to play into her victim narrative on social media. Chiefly, Erika has been criticized for posting provocative pictures with insensitive captions during the surfacing of her ex-husband's alleged legal wrongdoings. While Erika wasn't receptive to claims that she was callous to the real victims, she was sensitive enough to call out her friends for disrespecting her. After Kyle and Dorit joked about the unbelievable story of Erika's son getting into a car accident, the performer tweeted about how hurt she was by her co-stars. Erika framed herself as the victim, sarcastically writing: "Felt great watching this." Page Six also reported that Erika shared a picture on her Instagram story that compared the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star to Jesus Christ.
Erika had great potential to rectify fans' misunderstanding about her at the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 11 reunion. Unfortunately, she was unable to relinquish her victimhood even when Andy Cohen was telling her to. Despite the entire Beverly Hills cast calling on Erika to see why fans felt bad for the victims of her ex-husband's alleged crimes, the Georgian housewife wouldn't give up her title. When Andy noted that Erika's situation is different from other Real Housewives legal dramas given that there are actual victims in Erika's story, the reality star tone-deafly retorted, "Understood... however," demonstrating that the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is only comfortable with there being one victim: herself.
Sources: Bravo/YouTube, Bravo/YouTube, Natalia Mbenzi/YouTube, Erika Jayne/Twitter, Page Six
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