Kyle Richards Admits It’s “A Little Strange” Doing RHOBH Season 8 Without Her Sister Kim Richards!

Kyle Richards explains why it felt "strange" for her to do The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 8 without her sister Kim Richards. "You know, it's a little strange not to do the show with my sister, but I respect that she needed to step away," she told E! News.

"She's enjoying her grandson. I think it's best for her, actually, this time. It was hard because, you know, we started this show together, and even though we would fight sometimes, we'd also have fun and laugh together, so it was very weird in the beginning. But then I see her with her grandson and I'm like, 'Oh, OK. I get it.'"

Meanwhile, Lisa Vanderpump admits that she wished that the original six cast members was still intact and part of the show.

"In an ideal world, I would've loved the original cast to have stayed together," Lisa Vanderpump revealed. "But people change and things change in people's lives and maybe that's not the ideal situation. But there is some kind of old poignancy, really, about missing them...But maybe it wasn't right for Kim to even make guest appearance this year. Maybe she just didn't feel that that's what she wanted to do, you know?"

As previously reported, Kim Richards will not make any appearances on the Bravo hit reality series.

“You know, she's got a lot of stuff going on in her personal life,” Kyle previously told Entertainment Tonight. “She, I think, didn't want to do that … maybe it's a little too intense, so she's happy doing what she's doing right now.”

Kim is focused on her continued sobriety -- and apparently her absence will be addressed this season. Still, some of the ladies think it's a "shame" that Richards did not return this season.

“I think [it’s] a shame, really,” Lisa Vanderpump told ET. “Because, always the relationship, when it's a family member, it really raises the stakes, because you're so invested in that. And I like Kim ... she stepped out at certain times, she's needed to step out, and it was a shame she didn't come back this year, because apparently, she's doing, you know, quite well.”

“It is weird,” Kyle says of filming without Kim. “You know, we started it together and even though we fought, we're sisters and I love her. There's nothing like having your sister there with you, even if you're fighting -- that's your blood, so it's like, it was kind of weird at first.”

“There were times I really wanted her to be there this season, but she opted not to,” she adds.

This will be the first time in eight years of the show that Kim won’t appear as a cast member. The former child star hasn’t been a full-time “Housewife” since season five, but appeared in a “guest” capacity during seasons six and seven. She arguably delivered season seven’s most intense moment, dramatically returning a gift Lisa Rinna bought for Kim’s grandson at the season seven reunion.

Meanwhile, original cast member Camille Grammer is returning to the show as the official "Friend of the Housewives" role this season. Grammer has been making guest appearances since leaving the show after Season 2. Adrienne Maloof will also make a few guest appearances this season.

Will you miss Kim on RHOBH? Sound off in the comments below!

Photo Credit: Bravo