The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals (62 page)

The reality show focused on the trials and tribulations of Taylor Armstrong, Adrienne Maloof, Camille Grammer, Kim Richards, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump. The six women all experienced their fair share of drama throughout the series, with numerous arguments, altercations and tragedies in their private lives.

The entire cast had many dramatic, real-life scenes, with one of the most memorable stories involving Taylor Armstrong, who was seen in a physically abusive marriage with her husband Russell before he shockingly committed suicide (thankfully off screen) during the making of series two. Former child star Kim Richards was seen fighting a battle with alcohol and becoming involved with a man deemed unsuitable by her friends and family, while Adrienne Maloof went into series three by going through a divorce from her plastic surgeon husband, Paul. Lisa Vanderpump moved out of her home, only to see it burn in an almighty blaze several months later, while Kyle Richards was often seen in tears, worried about the behaviour of her older sister Kim.

But while the series was full of dramas from beginning to end, perhaps the most talked about was the on-screen breakdown of Camille Grammer’s marriage.

Camille was probably the most well-known of all the women when the programme began – not in her own right perhaps, but as the wife of television heavyweight Kelsey Grammer. Kelsey had been the star of
Cheers
and
Frasier
for two decades, and the two had married amid much fanfare in 1997. They went on to have two children and were frequently seen together at premieres and parties. They even worked together when Camille appeared in an episode of
Frasier
, dressed as Lady Godiva. During the show, the two are seen at a fancy dress party where Frasier tries desperately to flirt with her, while all the time trying to avoid the mix-ups and double entendres happening all around him.

Unfortunately, away from the fun of filming
Frasier
, the marriage also had its bleak spots, including a disastrous holiday to Hawaii, where Grammer suffered a heart attack while paddle-boating with Camille. Thankfully the episode was a mild one, though Camille is said to have supported him through this anxious time. To all intents and purposes, they seemed happily committed to each other.

Sadly, it would seem that while the couple seemed content enough, it was all an illusion, and this soon became apparent while making
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
. While he was still in the marriage, it may be true to say that emotionally Kelsey had already left, and he later claimed that he had encouraged his wife to be part of the reality show as his “parting gift” to her. He also later sarcastically told chat show host Oprah Winfrey that he had presented the “gift” because Camille had “given up so much to endure this life with me”.

For the first few episodes of
The Real Housewives
, Camille happily talked about Kelsey while planning a trip with the other women to see him in the Broadway show,
La Cage aux Folles
. However, by the time they all hit New York, it had become very apparent that something was not right within the marriage, and after seeing the show, there then followed an awkward scene where Camille visited her husband backstage.

Looking as though he does not want her to be there, Kelsey could be seen greeting his wife as though she were merely a fan, the tension apparent for all to see. Kissing her briskly on the cheek, he says, “Thanks for coming”, before she giggles nervously and is brushed out of the changing room on the pretext that he wants to freshen up after the show.

Camille later admitted that shortly before the trip, Kelsey had shocked her by telephoning to say he was finished with the marriage. She was upset but then surprised when Kelsey seemed to backtrack by requesting her presence in New York in order to attend the Tony Awards with him. Camille later said that her husband had suggested it could possibly be something of a romantic trip, though given his recent disclosure of being “finished” with the marriage, this could be seen as a rather odd statement.

For her part, Camille said that she did not want the marriage to end and asked that they both attend marriage counselling together, though this ultimately fell on deaf ears. Kelsey did not want to work on the marriage at all – he merely wanted out – but for the sake of their children Camille was not going to make it easy for him to go.

Believing that he was suffering a midlife crisis, she had gone along with the plan to fly to New York with the other ladies from
The Real Housewives
series, and continued the charade of pretending to be happily married. However, when the cameras rolled, it was obvious that Kelsey was most uncomfortable in his wife’s presence in his new domain. First, there was that backstage awkwardness at the show, and then there was a particularly revealing scene in Camille’s hotel room, where she made it clear that she would not be prepared to just fade into the background. Wearing a stunning red gown, Camille was seen kissing her husband and wishing him good luck for the awards. “I love you,” she said, to which he replied, “Thank you.”

Of course, television programmes can be cleverly edited and can obscure the full truth. However, in one particularly uncomfortable scene the programme shows the couple surrounded by people, raising a glass to Kelsey’s success. Camille makes a toast to “love” and to their thirteen years of marriage, before her husband responds in kind but with an obvious hesitation in his voice. She gives him a knowing smile and raises her eyebrows, and then declares “Cheers” before walking away, leaving Kelsey to follow her with a look that says everything about how he was feeling at that precise moment in time.

Once they arrived at the Tony Awards ceremony that evening, the couple were photographed incessantly by waiting paparazzi, and while at first glance they looked perfectly happy together, their body language said something quite different. It was at this point that Camille later said she knew in her heart that the marriage was clearly over, and it was not long afterwards that she made the discovery that her husband of thirteen years was involved with another woman.

According to Kelsey, he first met British flight attendant Kayte Walsh – who is twenty-five years his junior – while on a flight to London in 2009, and the two met up in the city for a two-hour date shortly afterwards. In September 2012, Kelsey told talk-show host Conan O’Brien that the relationship had begun very innocently and the two shared a kiss but nothing else for several months.

During the interview, Conan stated how difficult that must have been, not to take things further, to which the
Frasier
star claimed that after a decade of not having sex, it was not a hard thing to have to wait. Since he had been married to Camille for thirteen years, this was obviously a thinly disguised dig at his ex-wife, though the comment was quickly denied by his ex, who tweeted “this is simply not true!” to her many followers.

At the end of the day, the sex life of Kelsey and Camille is most certainly no one’s business but their own. What is important to note, however, is that while he claimed to resist sleeping with Kayte Walsh for some months after their first meeting, the actor had most certainly begun a relationship – and quite openly admitted kissing her – while he was still married to Camille.

After he and Kayte had gone on several dates together, they began conducting their affair in secret, while Kelsey was living alone in New York and appearing in his show on Broadway. If they met in late 2009, as Kelsey says, then the romance was most certainly already going on during the Tony Awards ceremony that Kelsey and Camille attended together, and throughout the first part of
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
.

Finally, however, despite trying to keep the whole thing secret, Camille apparently received word from a friend that Kelsey was behaving in a manner she found distasteful. This news came as a severe blow for Camille, who deep down still wondered if the marriage could be saved by counselling and communication. However, after an admission from her estranged husband shortly afterwards, she was forced to reassess the break-up, and in the end had no option but to agree that the marriage was well and truly over.

Shortly after the discovery of infidelity, the news broke publicly that the Grammers had split, and Camille announced on 1 July 2010 that she had filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences as the reason.

While the separation had come as a surprise to fans, this was nothing compared to the disclosure of Kelsey’s relationship with Kayte Walsh and the announcement on 12 August 2010 that she was pregnant with his child. Congratulations began to pour in, though sadly in October the news came that Kayte had actually miscarried shortly after the news had first broken in August.

The breakdown of the marriage had a huge effect on Camille Grammer and this was clear for everyone to see during the latter part of the first series of
The Real Housewives
. Many arguments erupted, particularly between her and co-star former child-actress Kyle Richards, which did not present Camille in the best light, and at times her behaviour could be construed as rather bitchy, hard and sarcastic. This was something which was later seen to be untrue of her real self in the second series, where she was shown as a fairly calm and well-mannered individual, but the bad press was good news for Kelsey Grammer’s camp as it placed him in a very good light indeed.

After watching each episode of the first series, many people took to Twitter and Facebook where they openly discussed the relationship and perhaps unfairly surmised that it was little wonder he had left such a mean-tempered woman as the one being portrayed. Since the first news of the split, some people had already begun bombarding Kelsey’s Twitter page with negative comments about his estranged wife. In a surprising mark of respect, the actor issued several tweets of his own, asking fans to remember that while they might be separated, Camille was still the mother of his children and did not deserve to be spoken about in that way. Meanwhile, it seemed that Kelsey could do no wrong, and he was frequently seen out with Kayte during the autumn of 2010. Then on 25 February 2011, they were married during a ceremony in New York, where friends of the couple – including
Frasier
co-star David Hyde Pierce – came together to wish them both the best.

Since the messy divorce, both Kelsey and Camille have gone on various talk shows, discussing the marriage and what led to the break-up. Kelsey has spoken to the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Conan O’Brien, and his interviews involve a great deal of praise for his new wife, but he now seems to offer nothing but angst towards his former partner. In fact, such is his distaste that it is claimed the two only ever speak through lawyers and third parties.

A great deal of fighting has also taken place between the two regarding custody of their two children – son Jude and daughter Mason – with rumours abounding that while he was anxious to have his son come live with him in New York, Kelsey would allow his daughter to remain in Los Angeles. However, the intricate details of the custody issues have not been revealed (and are unlikely to be) so it is impossible to say what is true and what is merely unsubstantiated fodder for the tabloids.

On 13 July 2012, Kayte Walsh Grammer gave birth to a baby daughter, Faith, though the arrival was tinged with sadness when it was announced that Faith’s twin brother had died prior to the birth. While the couple are obviously still mourning the loss of one baby, it is clear to see that the two are happily devoted parents to their daughter, with the
Frasier
star apparently even changing his fair share of nappies along the way. His career has also continued in a positive way: he won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Tom Kane, the Mayor of Chicago, in political TV drama
Boss
. The show was cancelled in November 2012, which came as a blow to the actor, but a film is now being discussed, which will see him reprise the role of Kane and finish off the storylines portrayed in the show.

Kelsey Grammer seems to be finding peace in his personal life, though his relationship with his ex-wife clearly still bothers him. During the interview with Oprah he would not refer to Camille by name, and then in September 2012 he caused a storm by refusing to be interviewed by Piers Morgan. Both interviewer and star met backstage and all appeared to be friendly, though it did not last when, in the moments before the interview was due to begin, Grammer saw a photograph of his ex-wife which he thought was about to be broadcast. The picture seemed to unnerve him and apparently without stopping for an explanation, the actor stormed from the building, leaving a shocked Piers Morgan without a guest.

The interviewer later called the episode “strange” and “unprofessional”, adding that he had no intention of actually asking him about his ex-wife. However, Grammer’s representatives did not believe the statement and released one of their own to website TMZ, declaring that Piers Morgan needed to take responsibility for his actions. “It’s called accountability,” they said.

More controversy came during Halloween 2012 when Grammer and Kayte were spotted at a party at the Playboy mansion. The actor was dressed as Dracula in a black cloak and T-shirt, while his wife was outfitted slightly more provocatively in a black lace dress, long blonde wig and a plaster on her nose. Was this a direct dig at Camille and the rumours that she had undergone plastic surgery? Some newspapers and public seemed to think it was, and so it seemed did several of Camille’s
Beverly Hills
co-stars.

When one comment was made on Twitter about the possibility of Kayte dressing up as the former Mrs Grammer, Camille retweeted it, showing exactly what she thought about the situation. The whole episode got so out of hand, in fact, that the actor himself released a statement, denying any wrongdoing and claiming that Kayte had actually gone to the party dressed as a witch, but it had been so hot that she had needed to take her hat off. There weren’t many people who believed this story, though Camille herself seemed determined to remain publicly tight-lipped.