Kyle Richards Weighs In on 'Shocking' Lori Loughlin Scandal, Defends Teddi Mellencamp Against Lisa Vanderpump

Kyle Richards was shocked and confused when she learned that her friend and "Full House" actress, Lori Loughlin, was involved in the massive college admissions cheating scam that took the nation by surprise Tuesday morning.

"We know a lot of people in that circle, and it was really shocking today," Kyle said on Tuesday's "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," adding that her daughter, Sophia, "knows all of those girls."

Loughlin and fellow actress Felicity Huffman were among 50 suspects who allegedly paid a collective total of $25 million to guarantee admission of their offspring into elite schools. According to TMZ, Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid $500,000 to have their two daughters designated as recruits for the crew team at University of Southern California, despite the fact that their girls did not actually participate in crew.

"They're really great people, so you kind of just go, 'I'm really so confused by all of this,'" Kyle added of the situation. "Everyone's talking about it today -- in our world, in our circle -- but until today, we had never heard this existed. Maybe I'm naive that I didn't know that existed."

The "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star also doubled down on her stance in the whole PuppyGate saga, telling Andy she believes the text messages between Teddi Mellencamp and John Blizzard that Lisa Vanderpump showed her and Dorit Kemsley on Monday's episode make Teddi look like the only guilty participant in the plot to make Dorit look bad. At the time, Kyle told Lisa, "I can see what you're saying. There's no doubt that [Teddi's] hands aren't clean in this, but I think that it's not fair to put that on her when she wasn't alone in the situation."

Kyle later told the camera that Teddi absolutely "did not initiate this" and reiterated the same thing Tuesday night.

"I saw those texts in their entirety," Kyle told Andy. "Teddi had shown them to me, and you're only seeing part of those texts, the parts that make Teddi look guilty."

Kyle added that she hopes "the rest of those text messages" will be revealed in coming episodes.

A caller then asked the reality star how she felt about Dorit's husband and Lisa's longtime friend, PK, praising LVP for being a "genius at manipulation and control."

"Lisa's extremely bright, so I think when he was saying that, he was saying, 'Yes, she's manipulative, she's very bright, she knows what she's doing, she's very clever,'" Kyle explained. "Those are attributes that I also can admire at times, but not when I'm on the receiving end."

Kyle also defended Erika Girardi's gesture of sending Lisa a handwritten note when her brother passed away, which Lisa didn't feel was a big enough effort.

"I personally think that a handwritten note takes more time and effort than a text or flowers, so I thought that was nice," Kyle told Andy, who followed up by asking Kyle how she handled extending her condolences.

Ironically, Kyle replied, "I sent her flowers and called her, but they're not as close. So for me, that makes sense."

"The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

Got a story or a tip for us? Email TooFab editors at tips@toofab.com.