Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky's marriage breakdown just got messier.

The marriage separation of Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky just keeps getting more chaotic. 

The longtime reality TV power couple are fan favourites on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, which meant that when they announced they were separating in July after 27 years of marriage, the reality world basically imploded. 

But life moves on! 

For Kyle, the split will feature in the new Beverly Hills season about to debut, and for Mauricio, he's since turned his attention to another reality show, Dancing With the Stars, which he joined as a contestant. 

And this is where things get messy. 

It appears that Mauricio has become romantically linked to his DWTS dance partner, Emma Slater. 

Ah, it's a tale as old as time. Boy meets girl. Boy dances with girl on a national dancing reality show. Boy and girl end up dating. 

In photos published by Page Six, Mauricio and Emma were papped holding hands on the way out of a Beverly Hills restaurant. According to OK! Magazine, an eyewitness claimed the two were kissing as they sat next to each other on their three-hour-long date. 

And how does Kyle feel about this? Based on her recent Instagram activity... not great!

The reality TV star deleted a post she had initially dedicated to Mauricio which featured a photo of her ex-husband alongside Emma. While it's unclear what motivated the deletion, the timing of the decision paints a picture: the reality star did it a day after the photos surfaced of the two DWTS co-stars holding hands. 

It appears that Mauricio is now in damage control, as he has since posted on Instagram that he is dedicating an upcoming performance to Kyle. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mauricio (Mau) (@mumansky18)

“Tonight’s Dance on @dancingwiththestars is about life and how it’s not always perfect and when you think it’s impossible to move mountains and you’re at your lowest moment and you think all doors are closed you need to rise up and rise unafraid and move mountains,” he wrote. 

“My time was 1996 when Kyle and I got married and Alexia was born... Kyle was my rock and together we rose up and we rose up 1000 x and we moved mountains a lot of them. It’s been an incredible journey. Tonight’s dance is dedicated to Kyle and my Family.”

Kyle has not liked or responded to Mauricio's Instagram post.

The reports of Mauricio moving on with Emma follow persistent rumours linking Kyle and country singer Morgan Wade. In the weeks leading up to the separation, Kyle was frequently photographed with Morgan, prompting speculation they were romantically linked. 

Both women have denied they were ever dating. "We're friends," Wade told People in August. "The Internet’s a dumb place."

In the months since, Kyle and Mauricio have sent mixed signals over whether they're staying together or heading for divorce. 

The two are reportedly still living under the same roof with their kids Alexia, Sophia and Porsha, plus they still frequently holiday together. 

“We’re in the middle of dealing with our life and our marriage and we have not thrown in the towel,” the real estate mogul told Us Weekly in October. 

“We are still working on it. And it’s hard and it’s hard in the public eye and it’s hard while everybody’s asking because the reality is that when a couple’s going through the times that we’re going through right now, what you need is time," Mauricio continued.

"It’s just a lot of years and there’s a lot of stuff and we just need to figure out if we are going to spend the rest of our lives together or we’re not." 

Feature image: Getty/Bravo.