‘RHOBH’ Star Kim Richards’ Dating History Includes Donald Trump and Murder
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills OG Kim Richards made headlines well before getting in front of Bravo cameras. Before the RHOBH premiere in 2010, Richards had a successful acting career as a child and young adult throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She also married twice, became a mom of four kids, and had a dating history that included future president Donald Trump and a murder case.
‘RHOBH’ star Kim Richards’ first husband was a supermarket franchise heir
After starring in several Disney movies and TV shows throughout the ’70s and early ’80s, Kim Richards found happiness in her personal life in 1985 when she married supermarket franchise heir Monty Brinson. They were married for three years, and during that time welcomed their daughter, Brooke Ashley.
Richards and Brinson split amicably in 1988 and remained friends as they co-parented Brooke. He also remained part of Kim’s family, as an uncle to Paris and Nicky Hilton. Monty later became a professional poker player and occasionally popped up on the social media feeds of various members of the Richards and Hilton families.
He died in 2016 at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer. Rick Hilton, Richards’ brother-in-law and Kathy Hilton’s husband, announced the news on Instagram.
She married billionaire Gregg Davis after her divorce
In 1988 — just months after her divorce from Brinson was finalized — Kim married Gregg Davis, the son of billionaire and entertainment mogul Marvin Davis. While Richards and Davis were married, they had two children together: daughter Whitney in 1990 and son Chad in 1991.
After three years of marriage, the couple divorced in 1991. They never revealed the reason for their split and don’t appear to have remained close. Davis never appears on Richards’ social media and is never mentioned on Bravo’s RHOBH.
According to Reality Tea, Kim still receives $23,000 per month in alimony from her billionaire ex-husband, who inherited his father’s fortune when he died in 2004.
Kim Richards’ dating history includes a dinner with Donald Trump
Aside from her two marriages, Kim Richards’ dating history is filled with drama. At the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 7 reunion in 2017, host Andy Cohen asked Kim about a rumor about the former child star and the man who had just been elected president.
“I heard a rumor you once dated Donald Trump,” Cohen said.
Kim responded in mock horror, exclaiming, “What?!” as her co-stars (including her sister, Kyle Richards) giggled. Then, she admitted the truth.
“Yes,” Kim said. “I had a dinner with him. I had dinner with Donald.”
At that point in the conversation, former RHOBH star Lisa Vanderpump wanted more details. She asked, “Sex or not? Did you see him naked?” as the rest of the ladies laughed.
“I don’t want to get into it! I don’t want to talk about the president,” Richards said.
“Wow, Kim could have been our first lady!” Cohen said as Erika Jayne added, “That would have been amazing!”
The ‘RHOBH’ star also has a brutal murder in her dating history
After her separation and divorce from Davis, Richards began a relationship with a commodities salesman from Agoura Hills, California, named John J. Collett. Growing up, he had watched Kim in movies like Escape to Witch Mountain and No Deposit, No Return.
She was his movie star crush, and after several months of dating, they started talking about marriage. It wasn’t long before the couple got engaged and started to plan their dream wedding.
“She loved him, and he loved her, and it was like a fairy tale,” Collett’s sister Nina Stormo told People. “They seemed really happy.”
But everything changed on Oct. 28, 1991, when Collett was at Brent’s Deli in the San Fernando Valley and was outside talking to Richards on the phone. Collet was shot twice in the head at point-blank range by a hitman in the midst of a business scheme gone wrong.
John J. Collett was a central figure in a massive scam
In Jerry Oppenheimer’s book House of Hilton: From Conrad to Paris: A Drama of Wealth, Power, and Privilege, he detailed Collett’s involvement as a “central figure in one of the country’s largest scams.” It involved 8,000 elderly investors and almost $150 million in losses.
When he was murdered, Collett was “under investigation on suspicion of illegally selling partnerships in oil and gas leases.” He was one of six defendants in a civil suit filed by California regulators at the time.
The hitman, Marva DeCarlo Johnson, was paid $30,000 to kill Collett, and he pleaded guilty to the crime in March of 1993. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in state prison.
Even though the district attorney wrote in court documents that Collett’s killing was “a paid hit,” nothing more was said about the murder-for-hire outside the courtroom. And, no evidence was ever presented about who ordered the hit.
How did ‘RHOBH’ star Kim Richards handle the death of her fiance?
Kim Richards had to identify her fiance’s body, which was a painful experience for the future RHOBH star.
“It just tore her apart emotionally, and she was not in good shape for a long time,” Collett’s mother, Jan Collett, once told Star Magazine (via Starcasm). “She really loved John. They were a good match.”
Prosecutors in DeCarlo’s trial claimed there was no connection between the lawsuit Collett was involved in and his murder. Jan Collett believes her son was a victim of a separate criminal scheme. But no matter the truth behind Collett’s murder, Jan says that Richards has never recovered.
“Kim was always carrying around a lot of pain, subsequent to my son’s death. I really cared for Kim. I thought she was a really good person with a good heart,” Jan Collett said.
“John’s murder was a devastating tragedy, and Kim was just torn apart. Poor Kim had to identify his body. It was a horrible nightmare for her. I’ve never recovered from the loss, and I don’t think Kim has either.”
After Collett’s death, Richards had a serious relationship with aircraft parts supplier John Jackson from 1992 to 1996. They never married but welcomed a daughter named Kimberly Collett Jackson.
From 2012 to 2018, Kim was in a relationship with businessman Wynn Katz, and they appeared together on Marriage Boot Camp. However, they called it quits not long after their appearance on the reality series.
