Chance Yeh/WireImage; ZumaPressLisa Vanderpump regrets "even acknowledging" the subject of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Yolanda Foster's children's chronic Lyme Disease.
Foster, who is battling the ailment herself, had revealed in October her and ex-husband Mohamed Hadid's youngest children, model Bella Hadid, 19, and younger brother Anwar Hadid, were diagnosed with the illness several years ago.
"What's going on with Anwar and Bella's Lyme disease?" cast member Kyle Richards asked on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in an episode that aired Tuesday.
"I even heard that," Vanderpump said. "I dunno."
"What does Mohamed say?" Richards asked.
"He just said no, that she's the only one that has it," Vanderpump replied. "I'm just saying I didn't know. He said he didn't think they had it."
She later said on her BravoTV blog Wednesday, "My truth being over the years of interacting with all of the children there had never been any mention of illness. I knew them to thrive, flourish, but I state I had no reason to question their wellbeing. Mohamed had always said they were fine, but that is their prerogative as parents, whatever medical issues or information they choose to divulge."
"I obviously interpreted that as they were not infected by this insidious disease, and as it is not contagious, I understood them to be healthy," she said. "I love and adore all three of them, for sure. I regret even acknowledging the subject, but we live and we learn."
Both Foster and Mohamed, who also share model daughter Gigi Hadid, 20, had earlier taken to Instagram to defend their family. Foster posted a photo showing her and Bella in bed, with her daughter sporting a tube in her arm, and her ex-husband said he "completely and unequivocally" supports his children and their mother.
Foster also wrote on her BravoTV.com blog Bella and Anwar were diagnosed at the end of 2013 and that she and her children "lived on a horse ranch in Santa Barbara for 10 years and spent the majority of our time outside in nature."
Bella, she said. "had to give up her lifelong dream of having a professional riding career and a shot at the Olympics due to her severe symptoms and inability to ride" and "struggles with symptoms of chronic Lyme every day." Anwar, Foster said, "still does regular Ozone/UVI treatments and has had great success with LDI." She added both have "made good progress this past year."
"With Mohamed's support, I have managed my children's healthcare on a daily basis since the day they were born," she wrote. "It is up to no one but us to make claims toward their health status. Shame on those who think it's OK to spread rumors and provoke doubt about something so heart wrenching."
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