RHOBH’s Erika Jayne admits she started taking antidepressants during the pandemic

Erika Jayne has revealed that she started taking antidepressants after the pandemic took a toll on her mental health.

In a clip from the upcoming season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the 49-year-old confides in her castmates that she began to ‘dread waking up’ and couldn’t sleep when she found herself spending her time at home.  

Erika, who split from her lawyer husband Thomas Girardi in November, is currently being investigated and her finances put under the microscope amid her estranged husband’s embezzlement case.

It appears the scene was filmed before Erika filed for divorce from her husband of 21 years.

A month prior to the divorce announcement, in October, the couple were named in a lawsuit for allegedly embezzling funds meant for families of the victims of the fatal 2018 Lion Air plane crash.

Once a well-respected and high-powered attorney, Thomas, 81, is accused of owing more than $26 million to dozens and possibly hundreds of clients in settlements. 

Dressed in a pink tulle strapless dress, Erika described to her Bravo costars how she felt lonely and revealed she would roam around the halls of her empty mansion when she found herself out of work and with an empty schedule.

‘It was really silent. And then when I didn’t have anything to do, I was walking down the halls of the house.

‘I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t shake it, and I couldn’t shake it. I was feeling this incredible dread. Every day I woke up and I dreaded waking up,’ she recalled, surrounded by her Bravo costars. 

As she spoke, footage from the Pasadena property she shares with her lawyer spouse flashed up on screen, with various sports cars, including a Lamborghini, seen parked in the garage. Rooms decorated in an opulent manner, with chandeliers and a large painting of Erika above one fireplace, were also shown.

‘I called a psychiatrist and I went on Lexipro.’ Erika continued.

‘That’s an antidepressant,’ she added, when one of the women asked her what it was. ‘And it’s the greatest thing’.

‘My problems are still there but my attitude towards them is different,’ she revealed on a positive note.

When Lisa Rinna noted she was ‘running’ from her feelings and ‘whatever’ during lockdown, Erika chimed in: ‘I was running too’. 

In a confessional, Erika explained, ‘There’s so much that these women don’t know, about my life and about my personal life. 

‘Because you know what, everyone has problems, everyone. And the bigger your life is the bigger your problems are.’ 

It has now been revealed that legal professionals are going to be scrutinizing the new season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, after Erika’s finances became a focal point in the embezzlement case against her estranged spouse. 

The 81-year-old attorney, who is in a court-ordered conservatorship and under the legal guardianship of his brother, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and says he has no money.

And now, two of the trustees in the lawsuit have hired Beverly Hills attorney Ronald Richards to investigate Erika’s finances, amid accusations that Thomas has been hiding some of his assets from creditors by transferring them to his TV star wife. 

‘We will be transcribing every word. The show does not provide immunity to its talent.’ Richards tweeted about the upcoming Bravo series which premieres Wednesday.

Investigators have been dispatched to go through Erika’s belongings and accounts to see what money and property she has, LA Times reported this week. 

Trustees have already begun liquidating some assets, including ownership interest in a pair of private planes.

The mansion in Pasadena belonging to the former couple was listed this month for $13 million. 

In a previous preview for the upcoming season, Erika claims she doesn’t know about her husband’s legal problems.

‘No one knows the answer but him,’ she tells her castmates when asked about missing settlement funds owed to his clients.

After separating from Thomas in November after 21 years of marriage, Erika said in a statement: ‘After much consideration, I have decided to end my marriage to Tom Girardi.

‘This is not a step taken lightly or easily. I have great love and respect for Tom and for our years and the lives we built together. It is my absolute wish to proceed through this process with respect and with the privacy that both Tom and I deserve. I request others give us that privacy as well.’