The Shady Side Of Erika Girardi

You may know her as Erika Girardi or her stage name Erika Jayne, and there's no doubting this reality star isn't afraid to be outspoken. Erika really made a name for herself (or two, in this case) when she joined the cast of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" for Season 6, which debuted on Bravo back in 2015, and it's safe to say this glam star has brought plenty of drama to our screens since then.

In the years that have followed, it seems like Erika has been the name on pretty much everyone's lips — but not always for all the right reasons. The series has shown the fallout that stemmed from Erika slamming her fellow "RHOBH" co-stars (more to come on that later), to her various lawsuits (more to come on that later, too), and her less than stellar business ventures (guess what? There's more to come on that, as well!) with this reality star holding nothing back in front of the camera.

But this Bravolebrity (yep, that's a word here at Nicki Swift) is hardly squeaky clean, as she's had her fair share of seemingly shady moments both in front of and away from the camera. So grab some popcorn and your glam squad, as we dive into Erika Girardi's controversial past.

To borrow a line from Kanye "Ye" West, we "ain't saying she a gold digger" ... but plenty of other people have. Ever since Erika Girardi shot to fame on "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," she's been plagued by the phrase, mainly because her ex-husband, Tom Girardi, is 33 years older than her, and they met while she was a cocktail waitress at a restaurant in the late '90s.

As for why the allegations swirled so vehemently? Well, according to Celebrity Net Worth, Tom claimed that his fortune was roughly a whopping $264 million in 2015, and we're guessing Erika's was quite a bit less than that while waitressing. However, Erika has always shot down the gold digger claims, admitting to People in 2018 that, at the beginning of their romance, "Everyone thought I was marrying him to have a baby and lock down the money, as ugly as that sounds." Though she claimed, decades into their marriage, she got that impression "less and less."

She also defended her relationship three years earlier, pointing out during a December 2015 episode of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" that she worked hard for the money, too — but that doesn't mean she doesn't appreciate the high life. "Going from nothing to everything is pretty amazing," Erika shared in the episode (via Radar), admitting she "was broke" when she met Tom. "Being broke sucks and being rich is a lot better!" the star joked.

Another day, another legal drama. Erika Girardi found herself on the wrong side of the law again in January 2022 when her company, EJ Global, was suspended from trading. The company had the plug pulled by the California Franchise Tax Board, with Radar reporting that the action can be taken against businesses for offences like "failing to file a tax return or failing to pay taxes, penalties, fees, or interest." Even worse news for Erika? She legally wasn't allowed to shut the business down or sell it until she righted its alleged wrongs.

Erika's lawyer hit back at the shutdown in a statement, in which he claimed that he and the reality star "did not receive any notice of the new suspension, and we're trying to determine the basis." He speculated that an outstanding tax issue could have been to blame for the drastic measures, explaining that if it was an unpaid tax bill, then "it will be rectified and this will be much ado about nothing."

The company — which lists its mailing address on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles — was founded in 2008, according to Open Corporates, with Tom Girardi initially being named CEO. Erika then seemingly became the CEO in 2020, while the company has experienced more than one instance of going from "active" to "inactive" over the years.

Is Erika Girardi in with the paps? Well, it's been rumored! Erika has been accused on more than one occasion of calling the paparazzi to get snaps of her while out and about in places you may not expect to find her.

One of the most notable cases came in September 2021, when Erika was suspected of setting up candid shots while shopping at TJ Maxx. Ronald Richards — the lawyer going up against Erika and her legal team amidst the Girardis' embezzlement case — was one of those calling BS on the photos, writing on Twitter, "Instead of creating staged press outings at TJ Maxx, just return some of the $. No one drives to Pasadena when the closest TJ Maxx is 2.5 mi from the luxury rental. Locals would know!" He also included shots of the star making her purchases, including an indoor pet ramp. The idea that Erika could potentially have set up the snaps was doubled down on by Radar, who noted the paparazzo appeared to be inside the store with her and she "didn't seem fazed" they were snapping away as she browsed.

That wasn't the first time Erika has been accused of having candid pictures that, well, might not actually be so candid. In January 2021, when the host of "The Reality Reading Rainbow" podcast suggested that the supposedly natural snaps of Erika visiting KFC "looked so staged," Richards claimed it was "a theatrical performance to try to pretend that she is cutting back on her expenses."

As anyone who's even somewhat aware of Erika Girardi will likely already know, she's no wallflower. In fact, she's pretty much the opposite. The star has made plenty of noise since becoming a Housewife in 2016, which, naturally, includes a few feuds and arguably shady remarks.

While there are too many seemingly shady comments to even list in full here, we can tell you that amongst those who have felt Erika's wrath over the years include Lisa Vanderpump, Dana Wilkey, Danielle Staub, and Denise Richards – not to mention plenty of others. In fact, all of her "RHOBH" co-stars have had some shade thrown at them once or twice, including ahead of the Season 11 reunion episode, when Erika suggested to Bravo that she was the star of the show as "basically nobody else did anything."

Another example of Erika's allegedly shady behavior? When she appeared to use Instagram to call out co-star Sutton Stracke's intellect by likening her to the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz." This all went down in a September 2021 episode of "RHOBH," in which the two fell out and the other Housewives began questioning what really happened regarding that infamous embezzlement case. Taking to her Instagram Stories as the episode aired (via Screen Rant), Erika shared a meme from the movie classic, in which Dorothy asks, "How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?" to which the Scarecrow hits back, "I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?" Yikes!

Erika Girardi has a pretty confusing childhood timeline, one that's been exposed by the blogosphere before. The star hasn't made too much of a secret of where she grew up and her life before the spotlight, though she's been accused of potentially being a little bit forgetful when it comes to exactly when things happened in her past.

One of the biggest sources of contention stemmed from her admission during a March 2017 episode of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," in which she claimed she spent a lot of her childhood in her grandparents' home in Georgia, per All About The Tea. The cameras followed her as she revisited the location and explained, "There's a lot of memories that we shared there. There were so many good times here. So many Christmases and birthdays — so it's great, but it's emotional at the same time."

However, things didn't quite add up. Erika had claimed her grandparents bought the home when she was a 17-year-old, which makes it a little bit late to have childhood memories there. Plus, she was 18 years old when she made the move to New York City, getting married and having a baby shortly after, making it even more unlikely she would have been heading back to Georgia on a regular basis. By the time Erika was in her mid-20s, she moved to California, and the rest, as they say, is history — we're just not sure how much time was actually spent at her grandparents' place in Georgia...