The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kathy Hilton, 63, has publicly apologized for applying her lipstick during actress Mariska Hargitay’s People’s Choice Awards acceptance speech on Dec. 6. “I adore and I respect Mariska very much, I already reached out to her, DMed her, I want to get her address, I feel terrible,” she told Extra TV on Dec. 9. Then Kathy explained why she did that in the first place.
“I actually thought I was going to sneeze and you don’t want to hear me sneeze, it’s the loudest sneeze,” the TV personality added. “I was looking for a tissue, I didn’t have a tissue or a hanky, so I got nervous and just put some lipstick on and it was during her speech so I thought the camera isn’t going to be focused on me.” Kathy then reassured viewers that she didn’t intentionally do it to be malicious. “I would never do anything to be rude intentionally,” she continued. “And I’m really sorry. I apologize, Mariska, I’m really sorry and I look forward to talking to you.”
Despite Friday’s apology, when the moment took place on Tues. evening, PCA viewers and Kathy’s fans alike took to social media to share their reactions. “While Mariska was accepting her award, KATHY STARTED TO APPLY LIP GLOSS OMG,” one fan captioned a repost of the now-viral clip. Many people replied to the tweet and came in to defend Kathy. “I LOVE KATHY HILTON!! I suspect she thought the camera was zoomed in in Marissa Hargatay [sic] while accepting her award….so …Kathy grabbed her gloss!”, one admirer wrote.
While Mariska was accepting her award, KATHY STARTED TO APPLY LIP GLOSS OMG 💀😭 #RHOBH pic.twitter.com/DaUSIgLfPP
— Queens of Bravo (@queensofbravo) December 7, 2022
There were even some people who clapped back at those calling the mom-of-four rude. “I feel like this is her defense mechanism for when Kathy is uncomfortable and doesn’t know what to do,” the admirer began. “She’s fidgety and goes straight for her lip gloss. I don’t think she’s trying to be rude it just came across as such.” And a separate user even quoted RHOBH alum Kim Richards‘ iconic bread line to Lisa Rinna. “It’s the peoples choice awards…have a piece of bread,” the fan penned.
Kathy joined the hit Bravo reality TV series during its 11th Season as a “friend” of the show, but later returned for the iconic Season 12 in 2022. She is famously married to businessman Richard Hilton, 67, and together they have four kids. Aside from daughters Paris, 41, and Nicky, 39, they are also parents to sons Conrad, 28, and Barron, 33.