The Real Housewives of New York City star Erin Lichy hinted at marital problems with husband Abe Lichy during the early episodes of season 15 — but Bitcoin wasn’t the sole reason for their tension.
“It was representative of a larger, deeper issue,” Abe shared during a recent episode of Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast. “It’s not that nefarious, but it’s real.”
Abe gave a brief backstory, explaining that he left his law firm job to start a handbag business with Erin, 37. “We lost all our cash. It was a very expensive MBA,” he joked of the failure. Abe noted that it was, in part, a “pride” thing because he wanted to provide for their family despite being in debt from their business venture. (Erin and Abe share three kids: Levi, 9, Layla, 7, and Elijah, 4.)
“I didn’t want to take it from our joint checking account, so I took the Bitcoin. I sold it. I paid for the debt,” Abe explained. “We ended up talking about it because she found out about the Bitcoin, obviously.”
“I was in the doghouse for a long time,” he said. “When we were filming, I was probably two or three months after she had found — when it all happened. So, it was still pretty fresh. It was tough.”
Things with the couple have since gotten to a good place.
“We’re able to have just an open and honest relationship from that,” he added.
Fans caught on to the tension between Erin and Abe during the RHONY season 15 premiere in October when the couple fought during a family outing with their kids. He made a joke about taking mushrooms, which caused a rift between the couple.
“I don’t think Erin’s irritated about my mushroom joke. There’s other stuff underlying,” Abe said in his confessional. Erin, however, was not ready to divulge their issues to the camera just yet.
“Not going there,” she said in her confessional. “I don’t know that I’m ready to, like, talk about all this stuff between Abe and I.”
The truth was revealed in the season’s second episode.
“There were some decisions that Abe made without discussing it with me,” Erin said in her confessional. “But the problem was that the truth came out right in the middle of me dealing with my [sick] mom and everything that we’re going through, so I wasn’t able to lean on him because he betrayed me, and I was furious with him, and it just added so much more stress.”
Erin wanted to pay off “a large chunk” of their mortgage with the Bitcoin, but it had already been sold without her knowledge.
“The worst part was that you had sold it years ago and that’s what was so upsetting,” Erin told Abe during their on-camera dinner. “You f—ed up and then that spiraled into learning all the other s— that you’ve been hiding from me.”
He apologized, explaining that it was not a malicious move.
“I didn’t feel like my wife didn’t deserve to know something, I just didn’t want to add to the stress that she’s dealing with in her life,” he said during his confessional. “If you’re together with somebody, there’s that inclination to protect them, but, in the long run it’s not the right thing to do.”
The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
