RHOBH Star Was ‘Astonished’ By Fan Reaction to Her Wealth

Jennifer Tilly revealed she was stunned by fan reaction after she made a comment about her wealth on  “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” 

In January 2025, the season 14 newcomer told E! News she never expected to cause such a stir when she slipped in that she received a hefty divorce settlement from ex-husband, “The Simpsons” co-creator Sam Simon. In fact, she assumed most people already knew about it.

“I’m astonished,” Tilly exclusively told the outlet of the reaction from Housewives fans. “I don’t think of myself as rich. But I guess I’m delusional because I do have several properties and a purse apparently that cost $33,000.”

In an RHOBH confessional, Tilly shared that she owns “two places in Bel Air right next door to each other.” One is her “playhouse” where she throws parties, she explained on the RHOBH episode. She also shared that she purchased a $4,000 dress for a doll that sits in her living room.

“The thing I was astonished by, people thought that that was fabulous,” Tilly admitted to E! “They were like, ‘She has a house next door to her house and she bought a $4,000 dress for her doll.’ They’re like ‘high five.’ I thought people would be like, ‘That’s horrible that she spent that much money for a dress for her doll when people are hungry.’ “

“I think the service that Housewives serves is people like to live vicariously through us,” Tilly reasoned.

Jennifer Tilly Dropped ‘The Simpsons’ Bomb in a RHOBH Confessional

On the RHOBH season 14 episode, titled “Life’s a Beach,” Tilly gave viewers her backstory. “My ex-husband was Sam Simon, who created “The Simpsons,” she shared in a confessional. “I was married to him for seven years. We were together for about 10 years, and then when we got divorced, I got a piece of ‘The Simpsons’ in the divorce settlement.  And nobody knew that ‘The Simpsons’ was going to go on for trillions of years.

“Honestly, every day, I’m like, ‘Thank you, Sam,’” she added.

According to IMDB, Simon co-developed “the series “The Simpsons” alongside creator Matt Groening and served as an executive producer on the long-running animated series. Tilly and Simon divorced in 1991. The television producer died in 2015 at age 59.

Jennifer Tilly Previously Downplayed Her Wealthy Lifestyle

According to Celebrity Net Worth, as of December 2024, Tilly’s net worth was listed as $40 million. In addition to her “Simpsons” royalties, her wealth comes from her acting career and status as a professional poker player.

But she previously told The Los Angeles Times that the house she shared with her boyfriend, fellow pro poker player Phil Laak, was not like a Housewives house. “Sutton’s born for it,” she said of her close friend and RHOBH co-star Sutton Stracke. “She’s such a glamorous girl, she’s really, really rich and she has amazing taste. Her house is so gorgeous, it’s got, like, Andy Warhols. My house isn’t ‘Housewives’ style.”

“My boyfriend and I live very simply and a very small cluttered house,” she told E! in the recent interview. “Yes, there’s a giant house next door, but we don’t go there. I guess we’re kind of delusional. I don’t have a giant mansion or a chauffeur…. I just live my life the way that I used to live.”