Sutton Stracke recently opened up about her choice to part ways with her former assistant, Avi Gabay. She revealed that she didn’t anticipate this professional separation would affect their personal friendship. This revelation came following the season 15 debut of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on Thursday.

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During the discussion, 54-year-old Sutton confirmed that she and Avi are no longer in contact and shared her thoughts on Avi’s recent public appearance with Garcelle Beauvais, 59. Her fellow cast members, including Kyle Richards, 56, expressed their surprise, with Kyle hinting at underlying motives behind the situation.

“We had a good run, but every chapter has its end. It was purely a business decision for me,” Sutton explained on the December 4 episode of the RHOBH: After Show. “I was at a stage where my kids were no longer living at home, and I didn’t have a store to manage. It was simply the right time to move on, and we had reached our limit.”

She continued, “I just didn’t need someone around my home all the time. I’m not sure why this has become such a big deal when people let go of staff routinely.”

“I just didn’t need anybody in my house all the time,” she added. “I don’t know why this has become such an issue because people let staff members go all the time.”

That said, Sutton and Avi didn’t just stop working together — they stopped talking completely.

“I don’t talk to Avi … I think I was surprised that in letting him go, that it was going to terminate the friendship as well. That was a surprise for me,” she admitted.

Kyle was also surprised that they cut ties.

“I knew that they were very close and they had this sort of funny dynamic together. I could see that she could be a little challenging at times. But he seemed to know how to respond to her in a sort of funny way and brush it off, so I was surprised,” she reasoned.

Bozoma Saint John, 48, agreed, saying, “Avi seemed like such an integral part of her day-to-day life, and so I couldn’t even imagine that she would be able to operate without him. Not saying that she’s incapable of it, but I was just shocked that something crazy detrimental had to have happened.”

According to Jennifer Tilly, 67, she believes that Sutton’s firing of Avi became such an issue for fans because he was around so much.

“You two were so funny together and I think that the fans liked to see the two of you laughing and dancing, so maybe they perhaps thought of Avi more as a member of the family as opposed to a staff member,” she explained.

Also on the RHOBH: After Show, the cast reacted to Garcelle’s recent appearance with Avi at the premiere of her new Lifetime series, Taken at a Truck Stop: A Black Girl Missing Movie.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding. Oh sh*t,” Dorit Kemsley, 49, replied. 

Kyle, meanwhile, shaded the duo for having an “agenda.”

“It seemed like there was an absolute agenda. They both, Garcelle and Avi, knew that taking that photo together, it would go everywhere and it would spark questions and commentary,” she noted.

As for Sutton, she said she “had no idea that Garcelle liked Avi so much.”

“But apparently they have a good long-term friendship,” she stated.

Jennifer was also “taken aback.”

“Obviously, Garcelle can invite whoever she wants to her premiere, but it did seem a little bit deliberate,” she noted.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 15 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.