When a Real Housewife gets divorced, it can mean only one thing: enough drama to feed
fans for weeks to come.
But although many were shocked by David Foster and Yolanda Hadid's breakup, there were signs
that the iconic music producer and former model's marriage had already hit some sour
notes.
Here's what went down.
Not feeling that reality life
"Fake friends believe in rumors.
Real friends believe in you."
Like most Real Housewives stars, Yolanda was famous for something other than reality TV
in her younger years.
In her case, she had a modeling career that took her all over the world.
According to People magazine, her hunger to reclaim the spotlight was more ravenous than
her husband's aspirations, though the 16-time Grammy-winning music producer did appear on
the series, perhaps against his better judgment.
Tabloids whispered that the Real Househusband wasn't exactly feeling the Bravo series, but
in September 2019, he finally told the L.A. Times,
"The Beverly Hills Housewives was just kind of a nightmare for me and something that I
really wish I hadn't been part of."
Foster's main gripe was that his decades-long music career was overshadowed by his wife's
reality fame.
"I mean, I'm thirsty for more Grammys, I'm hungry for more Grammys, I want more Grammys,
and I like hovering around the Grammys."
Of one particular interview, he told the outlet,
"I wanted to say, 'I've got 16 Grammys, b----!'
But I didn't.
[The reporter] really had no clue about my musical history at all…A lot of people loved
that show.
I can't imagine why, but they did."
"You wanna just, you know, get along.
Fighting and arguing, I just want peace of mind."
Lyme disease was the catalyst
In her memoir Believe Me: My Battle With the Invisible Disability of LymeDisease, Hadid
revealed her symptoms surfaced just a year into her marriage.
"You know, it's been a journey."
According to Bravo's Personal Space, the former Real Housewife claimed the disease was actually
what caused her divorce.
When Foster finally called it quits, he reportedly told her that her quote "sick card" was up.
Yolanda told Dr. Oz,
"The patient suffers, but the caretakers, you know, suffer too.
Because life doesn't only change for us, it changes for the person next to you."
A source alleged to Page Six that David's view was that quote, "everything revolves
around [Yolanda] and her illness."
Even her fellow Housewives reportedly slammed her for daring to go makeup-free at a dinner
party.
"Yolanda doesn't look well.
She admits to not being well, and what the hell is it?
What the hell is going on in her life?"
David didn't believe her?
While he doesn't doubt that Yolanda suffers from Lyme disease, Foster may have doubted
just how ill she was feeling.
According to Us Weekly, a friend of the songwriter claimed,
"David and his family think Yolanda just loves the attention of being sick.
They believe she's exaggerating her condition.
And they point out that she's never gotten a legit diagnosis or a second or third opinion."
"I just want to have my life back."
David later issued a statement to the outlet calling the gossip, quote, "baseless," and
adding,
"I have always had and continue to have the utmost respect and love for Yolanda…I have
been by Yolanda's side over the past four years to the best of my ability as she battled
with the complexities of her Lyme diagnosis."
Other issues at play
Though Yolanda claims Lyme caused her divorce, Foster told Entertainment Tonight there were
quote, "some other issues."
But as far as those mysterious challenges went, the tabloids were left to speculate.
A source told Page Six,
"David thinks Yolanda always plays the victim…and he got sick of it.
Yolanda is always trying to be so self-righteous…He just felt that everything was about her."
Even if David's issues with his fourth wife weren't as biting as the tabloids framed it,
there's no doubt that Lyme disease was just one of the many hurdles that might have strained
their marriage.
"I was just buckled down, IVs three times a day and just sweating it out on the bathroom
floor."
In her memoir, Yolanda said her Lyme diagnosis triggered a wave of other diagnoses including
metal poisoning, bacterial infections, parasites in her intestines, and loose silicone in her
lymph nodes from a ruptured breast implant.
Conflicting lifestyles
There came a point when Yolanda and David began living wildly different lifestyles.
According to Page Six, David spent his time traveling while Yolanda was stuck in bed battling
her chronic illness.
"I'm not moving from here until I get well."
But things weren't always this way.
Hadid told Dr. Oz,
"My focus, my energy goes to trying to get well, trying to make a difference, trying
to find a cure for my children…And David's life is really traveling, going to concerts,
loud music.
And I mean, I couldn't, I can barely listen to the radio."
"Unfortunately, you know, these are the cards that life dealt me.
It wasn't by choice.
But I'm not the woman I used to be, and I probably will never be again."
A family breakup
It may not have been easy for Yolanda and David to blend their two families after tying
the knot, and the pair had a whopping eight children between them!
Yolanda has two daughters and a son, models Bella, Gigi, and Anwar Hadid, from her marriage
to real estate developer Mohamed Hadid.
And David entered his fourth marriage with five kids from his previous three wives.
A source told E! News,
"David has daughters of his own and there were issues with the families blending.
Bringing two sets of children together wasn't always easy.
At one point, Yolanda was close to David's daughters, but things have changed."
Keep in mind that both Bella and Gigi were in high school when their mama joined The
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
It's not fair to say this real life Brady Bunch never got along, but some studies suggest
that children decrease marital satisfaction.
"That's not that cute."
Pulling the plug
In her memoir, Yolanda admitted that she felt quote "trapped" in her relationship with Foster.
She reportedly came to that conclusion in 2014, a year before the couple announced its
divorce, when David didn't travel with her to Bali.
Yolanda might have had her Eat, Pray, Love moment, but David was the one who allegedly
told her that the marriage was over.
She wrote,
"How do I all of a sudden feel trapped by the most quality human being in my life?
I feel empty and lost all drive to try to fix all the issues that have broken our bond."
Hadid also felt trapped by her illness.
"But when it turns into three years, four years, five years, six years, you know, you
lose hope."
According to her memoir, she even admitted that she contemplated taking her own life
in 2014 during a Florida vacation with Foster.
She wrote,
"God please just take me away in a wave.
I can't live like this one more day.
Please carry my body away.
I just want to disappear.
My next thought is a clear image of my three children.
It shifts my consciousness immediately and that's the only thing that keeps me from letting
myself drift and drown."
"Trust me, if it wasn't for my kids I would have jumped over the balcony already, you
know."
Today, the supermodel mama seems to be coping better with the disease.
In 2017, she told Entertainment Tonight that she felt quote, "90 percent there."
"The only thing that matters in the morning when you wake up is that you're healthy, and
that you can get out of bed and live life."
Separate money moves
Though Yolanda's divorce took about two years to finalize, determining how to handle the
finances might have been one of the easier elements, since the pair kept their money
separate.
In her memoir, Yolanda admitted that Foster wanted to keep things divided because of arguments
about money in his three previous marriages, and she agreed to it.
She wrote,
"I married David for love and not to be taken care of.
I understand he's sensitive around finances.
Of course, he doesn't want to provide for my children.
That's Mohamed's job and my job and exactly the reason why I am very driven to keep working."
According to her written account, Yolanda's independent financial situation is also partly
what prompted her to sign a four-year contract with Bravo.
It helped her bring in six figures per season.
The RHOBH cast was shocked
According to Page Six, Yolanda and David somehow managed to hide their marital problems from
nearly everyone.
And it seems like the pair absolutely shocked Yolanda's Real Housewives co-stars when they
released a joint statement to the press.
Housewife Eileen Davidson told Us Weekly,
"I'm still really shocked about it.
I have seen her and David together in the last season a few times, and it seemed fine…Nobody
knows what's going on with them."
The tabloid also spoke to some more of Hadid's fellow housewives, and their support was particularly
surprising, considering how they had previously seemed rather unsympathetic about her disease.
Costar Camille Grammer, who went through a traumatic divorce of her own, said Hadid's
breakup was quote "terrible" but had faith in her friend's strength.
"Have you spoken to Yolanda?"
"I've texted her quite a few times."
Both Lisa Rinna and Lisa Vanderpump said they reached out to the star, with Vanderpump telling
Us Weekly,
"I thought they were really a lovely couple.
It's very upsetting.
It really affected Ken and I."
Back to Hadid
After their divorce was finalized in 2017, Yolanda didn't keep David's last name, but
she didn't go back to her maiden name, either.
Instead, she reverted back to the surname of her first husband, Mohamed Hadid.
It's an unconventional choice, but Yolanda said she wanted to share a name with her three
children.
In an episode of Watch What Happens Live, the reality star said her decision was largely
based on the preferences of her kids.
"I asked the kids, you know, 'Should I go back to 'van den Herik'? and they said, 'No,
you're our mommy and we have the same last name.'
So."
It makes sense, especially considering "Hadid" has become a brand, not only for her millionaire
ex-husband's real estate business, but also for her kids' modeling careers.
Foster moves on fast
It didn't take long for Foster to start dating after breaking up with Yolanda.
He announced their split in December 2015, and by March 2016, the producer was spotted
on a rumored date with actress Selma Blair, per Us Weekly.
A Vanity Fair profile reported that David also dated model Christie Brinkley that year,
but there were conflicting reports.
Despite who David may or may not have dated in the year following his separation, the
producer told Vanity Fair that he was trying to approach love differently in the future,
saying,
"I tend to go from marriage to marriage, leaving one wife for another.
This is the first time in my adult life that I've been single.
It's a very powerful feeling, but I'm not used to it.
Someone said to me recently that you need to be very careful about the person you pick
to spend the rest of your life with.
It's kind of weird that I'm hearing that now and thinking, 'Oh, right.'"
But he wasn't single for long.
"It's my first Met and probably my last.
I dunno.
But it's fun to do it once."
According to People magazine, rumor had it that Foster began dating Katherine McPhee
in May 2017, just months before his divorce to Yolanda was finalized, and married her
in June 2019.
McPhee and Foster reportedly met on the set of American Idol in 2006.
Yolanda finds love again
It took Yolanda a bit longer than David to find love again, but in January 2018, she
revealed on The Wendy Williams Show that she was off the market.
"I needed to take that time for me to heal, and to step into my own power as a single
woman."
She added,
"It was great, but I just met an amazing man, and I'm very much in love."
Her new beau was businessman Matt Minnis, though she didn't initially reveal his name
because he kept a private profile.
According to Us Weekly, the couple split that summer, but by May 2019, she had found someone
new, according to her castmate Erika Girardi, who let the secret slip during an episode
of Watch What Happens Live.
"She's doing ok.
She's in a new relationship."
"Oh really."
Though Hadid posted ominous Instagram stories and grid posts, she didn't confirm anything
until three months later.
In an August 2019 tweet, the former model admitted that she'd been dating businessman
Joseph Jingoli for eight months.
You can't deny that the girl has a type.
"It just magically fell into place, what can I say?"
More kids in the mix?
It's very possible that Foster wants to expand his brood, which, according to People magazine,
already includes five children and seven grandkids.
But rumors that the Grammy winner has been planning to have a family with his new bride,
Katharine, have simmered since their engagement.
In August 2019, McPhee finally opened up about the issue with her stepdaughters Erin and
Sara Foster, via Us Weekly.
Both women support their stepmom, who is their junior, and confirmed that they quote "fully
expect her to have a child" with their pops.
"You gotta roll with the punches on this one.
I mean, he's been married four times.
You gotta just be ready for anything."
On the other hand, having more children isn't exactly a priority for Yolanda, who is in
her mid-fifties.
Not only is she battling a chronic illness, she's fighting off menopause symptoms with
bioidentical hormone therapy.
Even though she could always adopt, the star already has three of the most famous, successful
children in Hollywood.
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