Crystal Kung Minkoff finally came into the Throne Room, in person, in New York. Last time we talked it was virtual and Cynthia Bailey was with us, and y’all loved that chemistry so much that I said, you have to come to the studio. She flew coach to get here, seat 37A with an Amazon neck pillow, and we’ll get to that. In this sit-down, Crystal corrected me on how she left The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, told me what happened when she walked into a party full of the women she says tried to ruin her, and gave me her read on Cynthia’s chances on The Traitors. Let’s get into it.

Did You Decide, or Did They Fire You?

I walked right into this one. I asked how her mom felt after she decided not to return, and Crystal stopped me: “Wait, that’s an assumption.” Then she said it plain. They fired her. Most Housewives dance around that word, so I’ll give her credit. She says Robyn Dixon is the other one who always says “fired,” and that there’s no shame in it because people lose jobs every day; hers just happened in public. Her take is that Housewives isn’t really a career. It can build you one after, and she’s grateful it opened a lane she never saw coming, but it always has a shelf life, and hers was three seasons. What stuck with me was how she described filming. Her first season was 2020, during the pandemic and the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Her mom locked herself in the house for weeks and asked her to stop filming because she’d be one of the only Asian faces on the show. Crystal kept going for representation, but she says she felt paralyzed, isolated and shell-shocked the whole time. After she was let go, she laid in bed for two days, got up and asked what’s next. That turned out to be Humble Brag, which she had been planning for two years.

“No, they fired me.”

I Wish I Was Like, Don’t Talk to Me

Now the part y’all are going to talk about. Crystal has said on Humble Brag that a group of mom friends turned on her when she joined RHOBH. She told me that just last week she walked into a party in LA, and a majority of them were in the room. Her husband Rob asked if she was okay. She said she was, and they all came over with the big “hi.” She gave them a couple of minutes, went to find her real friends, and then sat in the car torn. Her words: she was so nice to them, and they don’t deserve that, because she didn’t do anything to them. She said she wished she had told them not to talk to her, but Rob reminded her that’s not who she is and it would only bring her more pain. What she really wants is for them to admit they knew she didn’t do anything wrong. Is resentment the right word? She said yes, but it’s mixed. It’s been six years, and she’s starting to puff her chest out a little about it, as protection. She even borrowed from Salt Lake City: jealousy is a disease. Honestly? I don’t blame her for wanting the acknowledgement.

Rinna Called and Said There’s No Way You Said This

What got me is how far Crystal says these women went. When we revisited that old Humble Brag episode, she confirmed they went to the cast, including Lisa Rinna and maybe Sutton Stracke, to dog her out. According to Crystal, they knew everybody’s trigger points and would claim she was saying things about someone’s kid or husband. One rumor had her telling people a woman in the group had a drinking problem, and the friends who backed her shut it down because they knew she wasn’t close enough to that woman to even know. Rinna, who “has her stuff,” as Crystal put it, called her and said she’d been filming with her for four months and there was no way she said those things. Crystal says the cast never took it to camera because it would have been way too fourth wall. Since we were already in Beverly Hills, I asked about Garcelle and Sutton. Crystal believes that friendship was real and the fallout was genuine. Her theory is that Garcelle wanted Sutton to be ride-or-die no matter what, while Sutton was trying to get closer to Kyle and the other women. She compared it to a marriage ending where nobody’s the bad guy. That’s a generous read, and I’m not sure all of y’all will buy it.

“If you think being cheap is relatable, great. I’m just being me.”

Cynthia Can’t Lie — So Can She Win The Traitors?

So would Crystal ever go back? She’s not dying to. Ultimate Girls Trip felt like rereading a chapter, and she says nobody has asked her to return full time, even though producers always say they miss her. If she did come back, she just wants a friend in the cast, because the first time she had no one. Then we got to The Traitors. Cynthia is filming right now, and Crystal says she has no idea who has come home, because everybody has to come back at the same time. Crystal would want to be a traitor because she runs under the radar. Cynthia? She can’t lie and wears her heart on her sleeve, so she’ll be a faithful, but Crystal calls her a sleeper who might really win the whole thing because people like being around her. Humble Brag is about to hit its 100th episode and she’s waiting on Cynthia to get home to celebrate. And for the record, the woman returns her own first-class tickets so the whole family can fly together. Would you want to see Crystal back in Beverly Hills, and do you believe the mom group knew she didn’t say any of it? Let me know.

Disclaimer: This post is based on publicly available information and credited sources. All allegations are unproven