Andy Cohen Breaks Silence on Lisa Vanderpump's 'RHOBH' Exit and Reunion No-Show

Andy Cohen is finally breaking his silence on Lisa Vanderpump's refusal to show up to the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" Season 9 reunion as well as her farewell to the series.

On Monday's episode of Radio Andy, the father of Bravo and host of "Watch What Happens Live" said to his listeners, "I will refer you to what LVP said about Adrienne [Maloof] not showing up [to] the Season 3 reunion. LVP was spot on, and that's kind of all I can say about that. I wish she had been there. What can I tell you? I really wish she had been there, and I think she would've done great. And I hope and I think she actually could've left with some resolution."

Adrienne famously opted out of the Season 3 reunion and quit the franchise after then-co-star Brandi Glanville revealed her and then-husband Paul Nassif's secret that they had their twin sons via surrogacy.

"Wow," a shocked LVP said at the 2013 reunion taping when Andy announced that Adrienne's "final act as a Housewife" was not showing up for filming that night.

"I think she changed the boundaries, though," Lisa said. "I think if you sign up to do a reality show, you have to be prepared to open up your life. You made your life the viewers' business when you entered into their living room, and that's what I don't understand. How can you go into a reality show with so many secrets and then kind of get litigious every time somebody brings something up? What Brandi did wasn't to expose what many of us knew, it was to expose the fact that she consistently lied. That was the point."

At the time, Lisa and Brandi were very close.

"I think it's a mistake as well because I think she's leaked stories to the press saying that she wanted to quit, and I don't believe that," Lisa added. "I believe she wanted to stay, and I think she should've come, cleared up the mess and moved on."

Lisa recently announced she would not be returning for Season 10 of the Bravo series and that she had no "inclination" to attend the Season 9 reunion, which was filmed last week. She spent a good chunk of this season fighting her co-stars on claims she leaked an incendiary story about co-star Dorit Kemsley to the press, but it was when Kyle Richards approached her with her own suspicions that Lisa severed ties with her once-best friend and separated herself from the cast. She even took (and passed) a lie-detector test to prove her innocence, but the damage had already been done.

"No one will ever replace her," Andy said Monday. "I gotta tell you, no one can replace her. I mean, it has been well-documented that when we were developing 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,' I was not totally sold on doing the show. I was like, 'Wait, we have Orange County. Why would we do Beverly Hills?' When I saw Lisa Vanderpump on that casting tape, man, she was the one that really sold me on doing the show. I just wanted to see more of Lisa, and so did all of you. I mean, she is iconic, and I am so glad that we will continue to see more of Lisa in all of her glory on 'Vanderpump Rules.' I mean, I guess that's what mitigates the loss of her from Beverly Hills -- the 'Oh my God, thank God I still get to see her on Vanderpump Rules.' She will always be the queen of diamonds in the Bravo universe."

"And as for 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,' listen, the show will go on," he added. "We have a bunch of all-star, all-star Housewives in Beverly Hills. Like, real all stars. Look at that lineup! And the wonderful thing about this series is that when one person leaves, another joins, and you don't know where the story will go. NeNe [Leakes] left Atlanta for a spell, Bethenny [Frankel] left New York. People come and go, but the show remains, and that's what's so cool about the show. You don't know where it's gonna go."

"That's kind of all I have to say about that," he concluded. "It's an ensemble, and what a group of rock stars we have in Beverly Hills. Look at that -- riveting. And you know what, the door will always be open to Lisa, as it is when people leave the show."

When Lisa announced her departure, Bravo told TooFab, "There is so much great drama and fun still to come this season, including the ladies' trip to France, so before we focus on next season, let's see where this one takes us."

Andy also took a minute during Monday's episode to explain the story behind the rumor that Kathy Hilton would be joining the show to "replace" Lisa Vanderpump -- a rumor that began to swirl after Andy's friend, Bruce Bozzi, shared a photo of the socialite with the "WWHL" host on Instagram. He captioned the shot, "Sign on the dotted line ... a true diamond in Beverly Hills, @kathyhilton! #RHOBH @bravoandy."

"So basically, Friday night after this long week in L.A., we go out for an early dinner at Mr. Chow," Andy explained Monday. "So who is at the table next to us but Kathy Hilton. Only in Beverly Hills does this happen. And so Kathy was like, 'Oh, we gotta take a pic! It's hilarious that we're running into each other!' So Bruce takes a picture of us. Before we are out the door, I get in the car, I look on Instagram, there's Bruce's post that says, 'Sign on the dotted line. You're a true diamond.' I go, 'Bruce, do you realize what you are going to do right now in Housewives Nation?'"

"I will say, I was amazed by how positive -- overwhelmingly positive -- the response to this was," he continued. "People were really into it. Anyway, there have been absolutely no conversations about this possibility even! It was a funny, suggestive caption. We weren't even having dinner [together]! All the reports were like that I was taking her out to woo her to come on the show to replace Lisa. I will go back to my earlier statement: There is no replacing Lisa. Let's be clear. I don't like the term replacing. We don't do that. Whoever comes on the show, it's not replacing. I don't want that to be the narrative for whoever joins the show because it's just not -- you can't put that on someone. It's nine years of building the show. It's like, my God! And you're not just filling the shoes of Lisa; you're filling the shoes of Giggy and Harrison and the whole coterie of -- Pinky and Max and Pandy and the whole universe."

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

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