Kathy Hilton says Bravo fans have it wrong if they think she’s an “airhead.” “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member told Vulture in a May 2026 interview that she considers herself to be more “eccentric” than anything else.
“You have to realize things are edited,” Hilton said of the Bravo reality show, before referencing two of her most memorable moments on the series.
“I know who ‘Hunky-Dory’ is. Okay?” she told the outlet in reference to the RHOBH Season 11 episode “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Leather Pants.” In the episode, after Sutton Stracke commented, “It’s hard for me to sit there and pretend everything is hunky-dory when it’s not,” Hilton famously asked, “Who is Hunky Dory?”
“I’ve said it a million times: It was just to get Sutton out of her rut and her bad mood, and I thought she would laugh at me,” Hilton explained in the new interview. “That didn’t happen. And all the girls’ reactions at the table were funny.”
Hilton added that she also can’t seem to get away from her infamous “homeless and toothless” comment from Season 12. At the time, Hilton said of Dorit Kemsley’s Homeless Not Toothless charity, “I have worked with the homeless, and I have worked with the toothless.”
“I was very serious when I said I have worked with homeless people and I have worked with people to help them get teeth,” Hilton told Vulture.
Kathy Hilton Said Fans Think She’s ‘Cuckoo’
Over her multiple seasons as an RHOBH “friend,” Hilton has become known for her quirky habits. The wealthy socialite brings a box fan on cast trips, and she once pretended to down martinis when she was actually drinking water. She’s also known for dropping hilarious one-liners and outlandish stories.
Hilton said she’s often misunderstood as “cuckoo” by RHOBH viewers. “I don’t consider myself stupid,” she said in the new interview. “It’s the way things are cut, and that’s fine.”
“The fans write me and say they laugh so much,” she added of her onscreen persona. “Kyle and I had so much fun when I was on the trip doing the fake martinis with the water. And I got all those girls, every one of them. It was so funny, they could not believe it.”
Kathy Hilton Joined RHOBH to Spend More Time With Her Sister
Hilton’s sister, Kyle Richards, has been a main cast member on RHOBH since its inception in 2010. In 2021, Hilton joined the cast as a “friend” after making previous uncredited cameos.
“It was a wonderful experience,” she told The Daily Dish after her first season as an official cast member. “I went on a few different times [previously], but it was always in a very serious way…I think the fans always thought I was a [expletive] or something, you know? I just thought this is an opportunity to spend some time with Kyle.”
Speaking with Vulture, Hilton noted that she still has a great time filming with her sister five years later. “It’s actually been really good, but we don’t get to spend enough time together. It’s more fun when we’re working together,” the RHOBH alum shared.
