The Real Reason Yolanda Foster Is Leaving RHOBH
Yolanda Foster shocked everyone in June 2016 when she announced she's totally done with being on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. What might have caused Foster— who, FYI, now goes by "Yolanda Hadid"—to make such a dramatic decision? Let's examine six potential clues.
The announcement
On June 15, 2016, Foster told her millions of Instagram followers that she was leaving The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after four seasons with the show. Her exact reasons were a little vague. However, her post seemed to suggest the decision wasn't entirely her own.
"I would have loved a more graceful exit [than] 'Season 6' but sometimes we don't get to control the ending of the chapters in our life," she wrote. "I am leaving what's over without denying its past importance in my life. I believe that every exit is a new entry and with that in mind I say goodbye to my [Bravo] family as I continue to focus on a my recovery, my children and bring back the privacy within our home."
Bravo responded to Foster's news shortly thereafter. "Yolanda was a great addition to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," the network said in a statement (via US Weekly). "Along with our viewers, we have enjoyed and appreciated Yolanda sharing her life events, especially more recently as she struggled with Lyme disease. We now respect her decision to focus on her health and family. We wish her a full recovery and hope to see her again sometime on the show."
Was she about to be demoted?
In the wake of Foster's announcement, sources for TMZ claimed the real reason Foster left the show was because the network wanted to reduce her role to a "friend of the cast" rather than a full-time cast member. "Yolanda saw the move as a demotion—since she was a full-fledged cast member in the past few seasons—and refused to take a lesser role," TMZ said.
The network apparently saw things a little differently. According to TMZ, Bravo felt the casting swap would "give her more free time to address" her ongoing battle with Lyme Disease. In fact, if TMZ is to be believed, Foster is "still welcome to appear on future episodes" of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but only as a friend of the cast.
She's been battling Lyme disease
Foster spent much of her time on Real Housewives talking about the physical and emotional pain she experienced battling Lyme disease and advocating for research to find a cure. Remove the tabloid drama from the picture, and it's possible that Foster's health simply took priority over her desire to continue with the show.
Foster opened up about her battle with the disease a March 2016 episode of The Dr. Oz Show. She said her three children—Gigi, Bella, and Anwar Hadid—are the reason she keeps pushing forward with life. "I remember just waiting for them to get out of school, you know, just to give them a hug and look at them for for hope. I mean they're the ones that kept me fighting and wanting to live," she said. "There were many days that I really didn't want to live anymore," she said. "But when you look at your children it's not a choice anymore, right? You have to. You have to get through. You have to keep fighting and searching to get well."
She endured a high-profile dIvorce
In January 2016, Foster filed for divorce from her husband of many years, music producer David Foster. Numerous claims have been cited as possible reasons for the couple's divorce, ranging from rumors that David doubted the severity of Foster's health to him not wanting to be on the show in the first place. Whatever the reason, it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to put on a strong front for the cameras while their personal life is falling apart. Sometimes, reality can simply be too real.
Her co-stars doubted her health problems
As Foster's time on the show progressed, a number of her Real Housewives co-stars began to question the validity of her disease. One of her biggest critics was Lisa Rinna, who initially did not understand why Foster would alternate between posting happy and sad photos to her Instagram account. Rinna took things a step further by loosely suggesting that Foster may have Munchausen syndrome, which is characterized by a person is faking a disease or ailment for attention or sympathy.
"If I let fear of what others say about me creep into my mind, I probably would not be where I am today," Foster wrote on her blog after the episode aired. "I will move on from the absurd Munchausen comment that is an insult to my integrity and that of my two children who battle this disease on a daily basis."
Sick or not, who wants to deal with that kind of drama in their lives?
She seemed over it all
Sadly, Rinna's mention of Munchausen syndrome permeated the rest of the season, right up until its jaw-dropping reunion special. In one of the episodes, Rinna also accused co-star Lisa Vanderpump of trying to focus the season on Foster's health and suggested Vanderpump encouraged her to bring up the syndrome in the first place. Understandably, Foster wound up just walking off the set of the reunion. In doing so, the 52-year-old former model seemed to say to TV audiences everywhere: I'm over this nonsense. If that really was the case, we can't say we blame her.