Kim Richards is an American actress and television personality best known as an original cast member of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and as one of Disney’s most recognizable child stars of the 1970s. Her net worth is most widely estimated at $400,000, a figure that tells an interesting story about a career that spanned decades, personal hardships, and a financial trajectory that diverged sharply from the path her childhood fame once promised.
This article covers everything you need to know about Kim Richards’ net worth — where it comes from, why it is notably modest relative to her celebrity peers, and what her career arc looks like in full context.
Kim Richards Net Worth at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Estimated Net Worth | $400,000 |
| Primary Income Sources | Acting, Reality TV, Brand Endorsements |
| RHOBH Salary | $100,000 per season |
| Date of Birth | September 19, 1964 |
| Birthplace | Mineola, New York |
The $400,000 figure comes from Celebrity Net Worth, one of the most frequently cited sources for celebrity financial profiles. Some outlets have placed her worth as high as $1 million, but those estimates tend to rely on older data or less rigorous sourcing. The lower figure is more consistent with what is publicly known about her career income, life circumstances, and the financial difficulties she has faced in recent years.
From Child Star to Hollywood Fixture: How Kim Built Her Career
Starting Before She Could Walk
Kim Erica Richards was born on September 19, 1964, in Mineola, New York. Her parents, Kathleen Mary and Kenneth Edwin Richards, separated in 1972 when Kim was seven years old. She is of Irish, Welsh, and English descent.
She began appearing on screen before she could speak a full sentence — her first credit was a television commercial for Firth Carpet, filmed when she was just a few months old. By the time she was six, she had her first named acting role as Prudence Everett in the television series Nanny and the Professor, which aired from 1970 to 1971.
That early start placed her firmly inside the Hollywood machine at an age when most children are learning to read.
Disney’s Go-To Kid Actress
Through the mid-1970s, Kim Richards became one of Disney’s most frequently cast young performers. She starred in Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) and its sequel Return from Witch Mountain (1978), both of which became beloved entries in Disney’s live-action catalog. She also appeared in No Deposit, No Return (1976) and took roles in the Whiz Kid Capers TV movies — The Whiz Kid and the Mystery at Riverton (1974) and The Whiz Kid and the Carnival Caper (1976) — both aired under The Wonderful World of Disney banner.
These weren’t bit parts. Richards was a principal player in films that drew real audiences, earning her the unofficial title of “Disney’s Girl” during that era.
Outside of Disney, she made appearances across virtually every major American television show of the 1970s, including Little House on the Prairie, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, CHiPs, Magnum, P.I., The Dukes of Hazzard, and The Rockford Files. In 1976, she appeared in director John Carpenter’s early film Assault on Precinct 13. She also shared the screen with her sister, Kyle Richards, in the 1977 thriller The Car.
The Difficult Transition to Adult Roles
The path from child star to working adult actor is notoriously unforgiving in Hollywood, and Richards’ career followed that well-documented pattern. Guest appearances continued through the early 1980s, and she starred in the short-lived sitcom Hello, Larry (1979–1980). She had roles in Meatballs Part II (1984) and Tuff Turf (1985), and later appeared opposite Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan (2006).
She also produced the film Escape alongside her then-husband, Monty Brinson. Her on-screen work during adulthood was steady but rarely high-profile — the kind of career that keeps an actor working without generating significant wealth.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: A Second Chapter
In 2010, Kim Richards joined the premiere cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alongside her sister, Kyle Richards. The show gave her a platform she hadn’t had in years and introduced her to a new generation of viewers.
She was a full-time cast member for the first five seasons, reportedly earning $100,000 per season — a respectable salary by most standards, though modest compared to the eight-figure deals some housewives on other franchises have negotiated. After she departed the main cast due to personal health struggles, she returned as a guest in seasons six, seven, nine, and ten.
Her storyline on the show frequently centered on her relationship with Kyle and on her ongoing battle with alcoholism, which she addressed openly during her time on the series. That candor resonated with viewers and gave her tenure on the show a weight that pure drama-driven castmates lacked.
If she earned $100,000 per season across five full seasons, that’s approximately $500,000 in salary from the show alone — a meaningful sum, but one that doesn’t account for taxes, management fees, or the personal and legal costs she incurred during this period.
Other Sources of Income
Brand Endorsements and Social Media
Kim Richards maintains an active social media presence, particularly on Instagram under the handle @theoriginalkimrichards. Her follower base, built through decades of public recognition and her RHOBH exposure, creates commercial value. Like many reality TV personalities, she has used that platform for sponsored content and brand partnerships, though the exact dollar value of these arrangements has not been made public.
Co-Producer Credits
Earlier in her career, Richards took a behind-the-scenes role as co-producer on the film Escape, with her then-husband Monty Brinson serving as full producer. This credit suggests she was not purely a performer but also took an interest in the business side of entertainment — though this was not a revenue stream she pursued consistently throughout her career.
Why Kim Richards’ Net Worth Is Lower Than Expected
For someone with over five decades in the entertainment industry, a net worth of $400,000 is striking. Several factors help explain it.
Child actor earnings are rarely preserved. Young performers in the 1970s worked under contracts that heavily favored studios. Child labor laws around earnings protections — most notably California’s Coogan Law, which requires a portion of a child actor’s earnings to be set aside in a trust — were not as consistently enforced in practice as they were in theory. Many former child stars entered adulthood with little to show financially for their early work.
Personal struggles created financial pressure. Richards has been open about her battle with alcoholism, including multiple stints in rehabilitation. She was arrested in April 2015 at the Beverly Hills Hotel on charges including public intoxication, trespassing, resisting arrest, and battery of a police officer, requiring a $20,000 bail. Just four months later, she was arrested for shoplifting at a Target store in the San Fernando Valley and was released after posting $5,000 bail. Legal fees and rehabilitation costs are significant financial drains.
Income gaps between major roles. Unlike peers who transitioned successfully into film or television production, Richards’ adult career was built largely on guest appearances and one significant reality TV run. The gaps between substantial income periods, combined with personal expenses, explain much of the disparity between her decades of work and her current net worth.
Personal Life and Family
Kim Richards has been married twice. She was married to Monty Brinson from 1985 to 1988, and the two had one daughter together, Brooke. Brinson passed away in January 2016 after a battle with cancer. Her second marriage was to Gregg Davis, which lasted from their wedding through a 1991 divorce; they have two children, Whitney and Chad Davis.
Richards was also engaged to John J. Collett, a commodities trader who was killed in a targeted shooting outside a deli in Northridge, Los Angeles, in October 1991. She was reportedly on the phone with him when the shooting occurred. After that relationship, she entered a long-term partnership with aircraft parts supplier John Jackson, and the couple had a daughter, Kimberly Jackson, in 1995. Richards has four children in total.
Her family connections are notable beyond her immediate household. Her sister, Kyle Richards, is a principal cast member of RHOBH with a substantially higher net worth. Their half-sister Kathy Hilton is the mother of Paris and Nicky Hilton, making Kim Richards the aunt of two of the most recognizable socialites of the early 2000s.
Kim Richards vs. Her RHOBH Co-Stars: A Financial Comparison
To understand where Kim Richards stands financially, it helps to place her in context. Kyle Richards, who remained on RHOBH as a full-time cast member for over a decade, has an estimated net worth of approximately $100 million, largely built through real estate and sustained television earnings. Other original cast members, like Lisa Vanderpump, have built restaurant empires that generate income well beyond their TV salaries.
Kim Richards’ departure after season five — before the show’s earning power for cast members had fully matured — and her absence from the spinoff ventures and business opportunities that followed put her at a financial disadvantage relative to peers who stayed.
Conclusion
Kim Richards’ net worth of approximately $400,000 reflects a career that is genuinely impressive in scope — decades of work, two distinct entertainment eras, and real cultural impact — but one that was shaped by circumstances that prevented significant wealth accumulation. The combination of the economics of 1970s child acting, a difficult personal history, legal troubles, and a reality TV run that was meaningful but not long-lasting, all contributed to a financial picture that looks modest against the backdrop of her name recognition.
What her net worth doesn’t capture is the range of her work: nearly 55 years in front of the camera, one of Disney’s most familiar faces of her era, and a frank public reckoning with personal struggles that made her one of the more compelling figures in Real Housewives history. The money tells part of the story. The career tells the rest.