When Erika Girardi made her 2015 debut on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, viewers
instantly fell in love with the blonde bombshell.
By day, she's the devoted wife to high-powered attorney, Tom Girardi, and by night, she's
her alter ego: pop star, Erika Jayne.
Initially, she was guarded when it came to disclosing personal details about her life
on the show, but she slowly revealed a past that's been riddled with heartbreak, that
is, before things took a total turn.
Here's the untold truth of Erika Girardi.
"I'm an enigma, wrapped in a riddle… and cash."
Daddy issues
When Girardi was just 9 months old, her dad walked out on her and her mother.
She told People,
"It was definitely hard at times.
There wasn't a lot of time to be coddled.
So I had to grow up quickly."
"For a long time, I thought, well, am I being, you know, am I overreacting?
But no, my mother was hard on me."
She eventually met her biological father when she was 25, remembering,
"It was like meeting a stranger.
[...] It wasn't like this long-lost s--t in the movies where you run towards one another.
'Oh my God, dad, where have you been?'"
She also made it clear that her relationship with her husband, who's 32 years her senior,
has nothing to do with any daddy issues, saying,
"Listen, I didn't marry my dad.
My dad is much younger than my husband.
So f--k you!"
Almost a subway baby
Prior to landing in the lap of luxury, Girardi was pregnant, married to her first husband,
and broke in New York.
In her memoir, Pretty Mess, she described going into labor and urging her husband to
hail a cab, but he refused.
She wrote,
"We walked to the 6 train station at Wall Street and took that for what seemed like
an eternity to the hospital.
No one got up and gave me their seat even then.
I was in labor on f-----g public transportation."
She made it to the hospital that day, and her son, Tommy, went on to graduate from the
L.A.P.D. academy in 2014.
Her "wealthy coma"
After divorcing her baby daddy shortly after giving birth, Girardi left her son in New
York City with her ex, so she could pursue her dream of becoming a star in L.A. She told
People,
"I think my move from New York to Los Angeles was the biggest risk I ever took.
Because it involved, it wasn't just myself I was affecting."
When she wasn't auditioning, she was working as a cocktail waitress.
And that's where she met her husband, mega-successful attorney, Tom Girardi of Girardi & Keese,
whose claim to fame was his work on the real-life Erin Brockovich case.
"He was my customer and I used to wait on Mister Girardi like every day."
The couple married in 1999 and she immediately became immersed in his affluent lifestyle.
She said,
"There are only so many material things you can have before it becomes boring.
There are only so many dinners, so many things you can buy.
[...] I was in a wealthy coma and I wasn't looking inward."
She could've lived out the rest of her life as a pampered wife, but, instead, Girardi
began crafting her Erika Jayne persona.
Hot mess
Thanks to the tons of cash at her disposal, Girardi kick-started her music career by founding
her own record label.
Pretty Mess Records launched in November 2010, according to Billboard.
And Girardi immediately released her first single through the label, "One Hot Pleasure,"
which spent 14 weeks on the chart and hit Number 1 in January 2011.
She followed that up with "Party People (Ignite the World)," which also landed at the top
of Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.
She said,
"Being able to put out the music you want to put out, on your own, is great freedom."
Go-go Girardi
Some people think Girardi has had everything in life handed to her, but that couldn't be
further from the truth.
She told People,
"I've worked very hard for everything I've ever had."
Before going solo as Erika Jayne, she was a member of several girl groups.
In an interview with 303 Magazine, she described herself as a "starving artist", working any
job just so she could "stay alive."
She even did a stint as a go-go dancer, which might explain her music video moves.
"People are usually offended by my videos and I think I just won an award for that."
Not exactly a fan
Having debuted in 2010, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills has become one of the most popular
incarnations of the Housewives franchise.
But even though Girardi also lives in the same ritzy city where the show is filmed,
the singer told Interview magazine that she had never watched the show before she joined
the cast in 2015.
Girardi told Nylon she was good friends with former cast member Yolanda Hadid prior to
joining the show, remembering,
"Yolanda gave me a really good piece of advice, she said, 'Listen Erika, you have to get in
there and figure it out for yourself.'"
Although it took some time for the cast to warm up to her icy demeanor, Girardi instantly
became a fan favorite the moment she hit the small screen.
"Yes bitch, I knew you had it in you.
See, I knew you wanted to."
Expensive tastes
Girardi admitted to spending $40,000 a month on hair, makeup, wardrobe, and a team of stylists
during an episode of The Wendy Williams Show.
"It has been said that you spend $40,000 a month to keep this all together."
"That is true."
But she's also quite generous when it comes to showering her loved ones with extravagant
gifts, as well.
The star revealed to People that she bought her husband a $5,000 toilet for Christmas,
saying,
"I bought him the top of the line toto toilet [...] yeah, I bought him a toilet."
Secret tomboy
In an interview with SheKnows, Girardi was asked what she does to entertain herself,
and she shocked everyone by saying,
"You know, I'm kind of a tomboy.
I love to fish.
[...] I love to stay outdoors."
Along with gambling in Las Vegas, she also said she loves sports and goes to any events
that she can.
So when Girardi refers to herself as an "enigma," she's not lying.
The real Girardi might just be the complete opposite of the blonde bombshell she so skillfully
portrays.
"Get on my level, boo."
"You wish you could look like this."
"You're not getting it at all."
"Eat it."
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