Sutton Stracke is weighing in on those eyebrow-raising photos of Mauricio Umansky and his “Dancing With the Stars” partner, Emma Slater.
“I haven’t seen those pictures. Y’all know me. I don’t read all these tabloids and stuff, so I haven’t seen it,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, 52, told Pvnew’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast Wednesday via Zoom.
“Somebody told me about it this morning and I was like, ‘That could mean anything,’” she continued, adding, “Like, I hold hands with people all the time.”
Umansky, 53, is currently competing on “DWTS” with Slater, 34, as he navigates his separation from estranged wife Kyle Richards — Stracke’s pal and Bravo castmate.
Umansky and Slater shocked fans when they were spotted leaving a three-house Sushi date hand-in-hand in Los Angeles this Sunday.
During their exit, the dancer-choreographer was seen wrapping her arm around the luxury real estate broker’s waist.
An eyewitness even claimed to Pvnew that the pair exchanged kisses during their outing.
Richards, 54, admitted on Wednesday’s broadcast of “Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen” that she was “taken aback” by Umansky and Slater’s PDA.
“That’s very hard to see … that hurt my feelings,” Richards said. “I just don’t think you hold hands like that [if you’re friends]. I don’t know if anything has happened yet, but obviously, there is something there.”
Stracke, for her part, wants to give Umansky and Slater the benefit of the doubt.
“I hold married men’s hands that I’m close to. They’re my friends, so you don’t know what the meaning of that is,” she said on “Virtual Reali-Tea.” “So that’s the question: What’s the meaning of this?”
Umansky and Slater offered an explanation on Thursday via social media, insisting in a video that their dynamic is platonic and professional.
“We do want to address this story, this whole thing, going out and about whether or not Emma and I are dating — whether we went out on a date. For full clarity, we are not dating,” Umansky said.
He explained that they have just become “really good friends” since he became her “DWTS” partner and have been “dancing together now for six weeks for four hours a day, every single day.”
Slater agreed with Umansky, calling the reality competition show an “intense” process. She also clarified that she often forms a “special bond” with her famous partners — especially with Umansky because of their “similar personalities.”
Umansky then addressed the holding-hand pics directly, saying the tender moment came after a “very emotional” week of dancing.
“When we came out of dinner, we were recapping and I reached out to grab Emma’s hand, and she grabbed my hand, and we, you know, walked to the cars just recapping and summarizing and then the paparazzi caught that moment. It’s become a blown-out moment,” he continued.
Slater then chimed in with a chuckle, “All of the sudden, we’re dating!”
In July, news broke that Umansky and Richards separated after 27 years of marriage. Together, they share daughters Alexia, 27, Sophia, 23, and Portia, 15.
Since then, Richards has consistently denied speculation that she is romantically involved with country singer Morgan Wade.
The “Halloween” actress told host Cohen, 55, that Wade, 28, is simply “one of [her] best, best friends in the world.”
Meanwhile, Stracke — who questioned Richards about the state of her marriage during production for “RHOBH” Season 13 — suggested that she and the “Life Is Not a Reality Show” author aren’t as close these days.
“I think she’s going through a lot,” Stracke says of her decreased communication with Richards. “And I think that she’s really being quiet. I think she’s got a lot of stuff to deal with.”
“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
