RHONY’s Erin Lichy Recalls Having an Abortion at 18

The Real Housewives of New York City star Erin Lichy revealed that she had an abortion at 18 after getting pregnant in college.

“It’s a really hard topic,” Lichy, 37, said in a Glamour interview published on Tuesday, November 26. “It makes me emotional.”

The reality star was in her dorm bathroom when she found out that she was pregnant.

“I just lost it,” Lichy recalled. “I was sitting on the floor for maybe an hour and a half hysterically crying, just like, ‘What am I gonna do? Oh my God.’ It was so terrifying to me.”

Lichy and her boyfriend at the time went to Planned Parenthood and she went through with the procedure.

“I had an abortion,” Lichy stated, noting that it was such a “traumatizing” experience and she never spoke to that ex again. (Lichy shares three kids with husband Abe Lichy. She is currently pregnant with a fourth.)

“I couldn’t,” she said. “Something broke inside me, and I just didn’t even want to have any connection to it.”

Lichy also discussed her abortion with RHONY costar Jenna Lyons during Tuesday’s episode of the Bravo show. (Lyons shared her own abortion story as well.)

“I start school, I’m two weeks. I move in and all of a sudden, I find out I’m pregnant,” Lichy recalled on RHONY. “I was terrified. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. It was heart-wrenching.”

Lichy spoke about her Glamour article during her confessional on Tuesday’s episode, noting that she was “very nervous about this interview coming out.”

“I don’t think I was when I agreed to it because it was kind of like, whatever I can do to help,” she said. “But it’s hard to be attacked by the public, ‘Baby killer! Murder!’ It was bad enough going through it — no one needs to be abused after it.”

Tuesday’s episode also featured a sweet moment between Lichy and her father, Eliahu Yitzhari, which was filmed months before his death last month.

“I did wind up discussing my story with my dad, and his response was even more beautiful and heartwarming than I could have ever imagined,” she said in her Glamour interview. “I went into this conversation with him hoping for acceptance and support, which I was lucky enough to receive, but beyond that, he gave me friendship. It shows how incredibly supportive he was and how he was such an open-minded man. I love him so much. I will never be able to put into words how much.”

The Real Housewives of New York City airs on Bravo Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET. You can stream episodes on Peacock the next day.