‘Real Housewives’ Kyle Richards’ New Autobiographical Sitcom ‘American Woman’ Gets Premiere Date
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Kyle Richards’ long-anticipated sitcom, American Woman will make its debut in June with a twelve episode run on the Paramount Network. American Woman is loosely based on the seventies childhood of Kyle Richards and her sister Kim Richards, and the struggles their mother (known as Big Kathy, but called Bonnie in the series) had raising the two burgeoning child actors. But unlike the actual childhood of Kyle and Kim Richards, the fictional character Bonnie Nolan has two daughters, and the Richards’ mother, Big Kathy had three daughters. American Woman does not have a character based on Kathy Hilton, the half-sister of Kyle and Kim Richards.
American Woman Is Loosely Based On Real Housewives Kyle Richards’ Childhood
The character of Bonnie Nolan in American Woman is played by Alicia Silverstone, according to T&C. The show, which is set around the life of Bonnie is described as “set amid the sexual revolution and the rise of second-wave feminism.” Bonnie Nolan is described as “an unconventional mother struggling to raise her two daughters after leaving her husband.”
In reality, it was Kyle Richards and sister Kim who helped support their family by going to work on Disney projects (Kim Richards is best known for Escape to Witch Mountain) and shows like Little House On The Prairie, which featured both Kyle and Kim Richards on several episodes.
American Woman will make its debut on June 7.
Real Housewives Kyle Richards Says Women Will Relate To The Single Mom In American Woman
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ Kyle Richards is the co-executive producer of American Woman, and she has launched an Instagram page to share stills and videos from the project in advance of the American Woman premiere. Richards says that to some degree, the story of her single mother and her childhood, told through the character of Bonnie Nolan is timeless because single mothers out there are still trying to make their way in the world.
“So much has changed, but nothing really changed at all. What my mom was going through is still prevalent today.”
The first images from the series show Alicia Silverstone as Bonnie Nolan, wearing a sequined dress, and floating in a pool surrounded by past-due bills and bottles of champagne.
New Sitcom American Woman Is Based on the Childhood of Real Housewife Kyle Richards https://t.co/UQxezknHMv pic.twitter.com/th3BTWip9S
— TOWN&COUNTRY (@TandCmag) April 9, 2018
But it’s unclear whether Real Housewives of Beverly Hills‘ Kyle Richards will explore her mother, Big Kathy’s reported drinking problems in American Woman, as hinted by the champagne bottles in the pool. AATT says that an unauthorized biography by Jerry Oppenheimer called House of Hilton described the Richards’ childhood as highly dysfunctional, saying that Kim Richards was the breadwinner who had to look after an alcoholic Big Kathy.
Stories Of Big Kathy Richards’ Drinking Were Shared In The Biography House Of Hilton
“Kim Richards was routinely responsible for picking Big Kathy up at various bars — driving the family car from the age of twelve years old, in order to rescue her drunk mother. Kim was also expected to dance and perform skits on cue, for random men Big Kathy brought into their home.”
On the current season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Kyle Richards has expressed sadness at the strain that the project has put on her relationship with sisters Kim Richards and Kathy Hilton, who would seem to prefer that stories about their upbringing not be aired in public.
