If you've going to be pushed past your breaking point on national television, you might as well have a dear friend around to bear the brunt of your frustrations. At least they'll be forgiving later on, right?
That's exactly how Erika Girardi feels about her legendary Hong Kong explosion at the end of last week's episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when, after a vicious second round of sparring with new frenemy Dorit Kemsley, she unloaded on an unsuspecting Eileen Davidson after the soap star made an epically poor choice of words.
"It's great that it's Eileen that I exploded on, quite honestly, because the others would've held it over my head and used it. Seriously," Erika explained to E! News' Sibley Scoles during a visit to one of her Dancing With the Stars rehearsals. "Fortunately for me, we have that kind of friendship where she said, 'Listen, I understand it was not directed towards me. You were frustrated.' And I took it out on her."
That said, and true to character, Erika isn't seeking to absolve herself of any wrongdoing. In the eternal words of her co-star Lisa Rinna, she's owning it. "It was terrible," she said of watching the whole thing unfold again on TV. "When it happened, I was very disappointed, not only in myself because I snapped at Eileen, who's been nothing but a good friend, and it was very hard for me to watch all of that back. It's kind of opening up old wounds. I'm human, what can I say? And I was pushed to a point where, unfortunately, I exploded."
"I would never hurt Eileen Davidson," she continued. "I did the wrong thing and I've taken accountability for it and I've apologized a million times."
While she and Eileen have clearly been able to kiss and make up—Eileen was in the audience cheering her on as she made her DWTS debut, after all—we're not so sure Erika and Tom will be hosting Dorit or her husband Paul "PK" Kemsley for dinner any time soon.
"I mean, he has a lot of opinions of me, as does Dorit," Erika said of the moment from the midseason teaser still to come when PK accuses Erika of being "inherently cold." "They've made it very clear this year that I was their favorite thing to talk about. You have to take people's opinions of you and consider the source. They don't know me."
For more from Erika, including her thoughts on Rinna's stunning cocaine accusation as well as a tease for the upcoming cast reunion, be sure to check out the video above.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)