Trophy Blonde
A 'Real Housewives' husband purchased fame for his younger bride. Now he's 86, claiming dementia, and heading to prison
“And you may tell yourself, ‘This is not my beautiful house.’ And you may tell yourself, ‘This is not my beautiful wife’” – Talking Heads
Legendary lawyer Tom Girardi was twice divorced and 60-years-old when he put the smooth on a 28-year-old waitress at a Beverly Hills restaurant that he co-owned.
Her name was Erika and she had stars in her eyes.
“He’s well read and educated. That kind of stuff is a powerful aphrodisiac,” she wrote in her 2018 memoir “Pretty Mess.” “When someone is positive, successful, loving, inspirational — I got to tell you right now … That is more enticing to me than six-pack abs and a chiseled jawline.”
So was the $25 million Girardi pumped into the company she formed to boost her entertainment career under the moniker, Erika Jayne. So was loot Girardi spent on the private jets, jewelry, hot cars, and exclusive golf and social clubs. So was the Pasadena mansion where Erika lived out a fake-celebrity life on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
Girardi was a renowned personal injury lawyer. A champion of the little people. A force against unbridled corporate greed. He soared to fame after scoring a $333-million settlement with the Mojave Desert town of Hinkley. And that became the basis of the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts.
On Tuesday, Girardi received an 87-month prison sentence for embezzling tens of millions of dollars from needy clients.
He joins a sketchy cast of reality TV stars who’ve ended up facing criminal charges – from Todd and Julie Chrisley of USA Network’s “Chrisley Knows Best” to President Donald Trump who just pardoned the Chrisleys last week.
But Girardi only made fleeting appearances on “Real Housewives.” He was apparently too busy blowing through almost everything he made and stole from needy clients to maintain an image. He even allegedly embezzled from the families of those killed in the crash of a Boeing jet in Indonesia in 2018.
The tony downtown L.A. offices of his firm, Girardi & Keese, are gone. So is his Pasadena mansion. So is his trophy wife who filed for divorce in 2020 after nearly 21 years of marriage.
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Girardi threw so much money around town, schmoozing judges, politicians and other lawyers, that it took decades for the State Bar of California to finally disbar him in 2022.
A Los Angeles Times analysis found at least $7.5 million in political contributions that Girardi, his relatives and employees gave to candidates and committees. His trophy wife made more than $1.3 million in political donations. Most of that money went to Democrats including President Joe Biden, who turned to Girardi and his wife for fundraising in Los Angeles.
Now he’s been ordered to report to prison on July 17, despite his advanced age of 86 and the Alzheimers disease he claims to suffer.
And what’s the point? He’s already financed his luxe life with a trophy wife, and if he really does have dementia, he may never know where he is, or how he got there.
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Erika was never charged with a crime but she has been fending off lawsuits from jilted creditors for years.
“If I got arrested, God forbid, I think the first person I would call obviously would be Tom, because he would know who to come get me out,” she said in 2019 before her debut in Broadway's Chicago.
Sorry lady, but it looks like your Sugar Daddy can’t even get himself out of this one.
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