You know that feeling you get when someone says something remarkably sweet to you or tells you how much you've meant to them, and all of a sudden you're torn between tears and a big old smile? Kim Richards is all too familiar with it these days, and she's happy to have that emotion take her over.

In a candid interview with PEOPLE about her ongoing recovery from alcohol addiction, Kim says that since going sober (which she's been for more than a year now), strangers and fans have reached out to her to say that she's been an inspiration for their own sobriety. "You have no idea how many people out there have said, 'You have saved me. Because of you, I have 30 days [of sobriety], ... I cry. It makes me smile. It makes me cry-smile. I smile-cry. It's so rewarding," she tells PEOPLE.

Kim, whose struggles were on full display during her time on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills in past seasons, says that she hasn't had a drink since December 2011, but notes that "it hasn't been easy, but my whole life today is amazing, and I owe it all to my sobriety."

As for her relationship with little sister Kyle Richards, Kim says it's a work in progress, but on the current season of RHOBH, viewers will get to see it all unfold. "It's so up and down the whole season for Kyle and I. And then Kyle and I really were able to put it together this Christmas."

Watch the first 10 minutes of tonight's RHOBH below and be sure to tune in at 9p/8c!