Kim Richards’ Daughter Kimberly Jackson Says She’s Her Mom’s Caretaker

Kim Richards has been fighting a very public battle with addiction, and now the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star is trying to mend her fractured relationship with her youngest daughter, Kimberly Jackson. Richards and her daughter have signed on for Lifetime’s The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition, and in a sneak peek posted by the network, Kim said her reality TV fame has made things even more difficult for her youngest child because their lives have been an open book.

In the clip, Richards talked about the aftermath of her arrests last year for public intoxication and shoplifting, which played out while she was still a member of the RHOBH cast. The 51-year-old former child star, who recently lost her beloved first husband to cancer, also admitted that she has to remember how her bad decisions affect her 21-year-old daughter.

“It’s been a roller coaster ride. Being part of the Housewives has been an experience. It really hurt me because I was struggling with certain things… I need to remember how my decisions do affect Kimberly.”

In the most heartbreaking part of the sneak peek, Richards’ daughter admitted that she felt like she had to take care of her mother, and even went so far as to say she felt like she needed to “protect” her from the nasty comments that came from the other cast members of the Bravo reality show.

“I feel like I’m her caretaker because she’s fragile physically and emotionally. And it does overwhelm me…I feel like somebody needs to protect her.”

While Kim Richards maintains that she has tried her hardest to take care of her four children, she knows that there have been many disappointments over the past few years.

“I did the best that I could, so to let my kids down in any way, it’s devastating.”

With any luck, Kim Richards and her kids aren’t watching the current season of RHOBH. If they are, they need a very thick skin. Kim has been a frequent topic of discussion on the sixth season of the show, despite the fact that she’s not part of the cast right now. On last week’s episode, sophomore Housewife Lisa Rinna slammed Richards for displaying bizarre behavior during a limo ride they took together last year. Rinna compared Richards to a dog ready to attack and called her behavior “scary.” But in an interview with E! News, head Housewife star Lisa Vanderpump came to Richards’ defense and said she hated seeing the rest of the RHOBH cast talking about Kim behind her back.

“She’s so lovely and the problems that she’s kind of had, it’s been very difficult for her, I would imagine. But you know what, really, I hate? It’s now if I see the show and I see people being negative about her, I hate that.”

Kim Richards stepped away from RHOBH to focus on her sobriety, so it’s a little surprising that she signed on to the Lifetime reality show. Radar Online revealed that Richards was paid $75,000 for her appearance on the upcoming series which is a dramatic pay cut from the $250,000 she reportedly was earning on RHOBH.

Kim Richards and her daughter Kimberly will be joined by several other notorious mother-daughter duos on The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition, including The Hills alum Heidi Pratt and her mother, Darlene Egelhoff, and Hollywood Exes star Jessica Canseco and her daughter Josie. The therapy-themed reality show premieres on Lifetime March 1.

Check out the video below to see the clip of Kim Richards and her daughter Kimberly talking about their relationship on the upcoming Lifetime reality show.

[Photo By Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]