Sutton Stracke tried her hardest to keep one topic off the table during the cast trip to Sedona — but newbie Amanda Frances wouldn’t let it go.
On season 15, episode 5 of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” Amanda relayed a very messy rumor to Kyle Richards that quickly turned into a full-blown group conversation: Sutton’s former longtime assistant, Avi Gabay, allegedly wants to “spill all the real dirt” on Sutton after their falling out.
According to Amanda, a friend randomly met Avi while out and about, and he supposedly claimed he was eager to talk. The friend also alleged that Avi wanted Amanda to hire him as her assistant — not because he needed a job, but because he wanted to “really piss Sutton off.”
Kyle, being Kyle, suggested Amanda take the info straight to Sutton. And when she did, Sutton initially acted totally unbothered.
“That wouldn’t piss me off at all,” Sutton insisted, even urging Amanda to hire him. She also claimed, “It doesn’t bother me … and I don’t care.”
Sutton Stracke Shuts Down the Avi Gabay Conversation at Dinner
Fast-forward to dinner the next night, and the mood shifted. Once Sutton’s castmates started pushing for details about Avi and what happened behind the scenes, she quickly drew a hard line.
“I don’t know the facts, and I am not interested in learning the facts,” Sutton stated.
And then she made it very clear she was done talking.
“Y’all, I’m not talking about it. That’s it. And I’m not talking about it again,” she said. “You may talk about it amongst yourselves. Do not include me in conversations about him. Is that clear?”
Erika Jayne pointed out that Sutton’s refusal to address it might make things feel “like it’s bigger than it really is,” and Sutton finally admitted why the subject hits so hard.
“We had a falling out, and it’s painful for me,” Sutton tearfully explained. “It’s a person that was in my life for a very long time.”
RHOBH Star Says Amanda Frances’ Story ‘Doesn’t Sound Like Him’
Earlier in the episode, Bozoma Saint John questioned why Avi would want to throw Sutton under the bus in the first place. Sutton insisted she didn’t believe he would.
“I don’t think he would,” Sutton said.
When Boz pressed whether Sutton believed Avi said those things at all, Sutton admitted she was deeply uncomfortable.
“I gotta tell y’all, I don’t like talking about this,” she told the group. “I think that Avi and I, we had a friendship. But at the end of the day, it was a professional relationship.”
At their airport dinner, she added, “It just doesn’t sound like him.”
Sutton Stracke Doubts Avi Ever Said It — and Doesn’t Care Enough to Investigate
On “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills After Show,” Sutton doubled down on how “weird” she found the whole rumor.
“I don’t even know if Avi said that,” she remarked. “It doesn’t sound like Avi. I know everything about Avi; Avi knows everything about me. … It doesn’t make sense. It was weird.”
When asked if Amanda could’ve made it up, Sutton didn’t exactly rush to defend her.
“Or the friend made it up. I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t care enough to actually put a lot of thought into it.”
Sutton has also previously claimed Avi’s firing was simply a “business decision.”
“It was just time,” she explained on the After Show. “And you know, we had run our course… I just didn’t need anybody in my house all the time.”
Either way, Sutton confirmed their relationship did not survive the split.
“I don’t talk to Avi,” she revealed. “I was, um, surprised that, in letting him go, that it was going to terminate the friendship as well. That was a surprise for me.”
New episodes of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” air Thursday nights on Bravo.
