Tuesday’s “Real Housewives of Orange County” kicked off with Tamra Judge denying she talked smack about Shannon Beador behind her back, as Kelly Dodd alleged last episode.
During the sit-down, Tamra said, “For her to go and try to make you mad at me because she’s hurt is bullshit. I just don’t understand why this group of girls can’t… As soon as somebody’s not there, all they do is just bash ’em. It’s sickening to me.”
Tamra went on to say examples of such statements, but the person who secretly recorded her and uploaded the conversation to Instagram didn’t get the aforementioned context of her next statement: “She threw her mother down the stairs, she got in a fight…”
“Who said the threw the mother down the stairs?” Shannon asked in the episode.
“Vicki did!” Tamra replied.
At the time this video was leaked, Kelly denied the accusation and slammed Tamra in the press. Tamra was in the midst of a legal battle with ex-“RHOC” star Alexis Bellino’s husband, Jim Bellino, for allegedly making defamatory comments about him and his business during a 2018 radio interview. He sued Shannon as well, though she was eventually dropped from the suit.
At lunch, Tamra talked to Vicki Gunvalson and Emily Simpson about the leaked footage of Tamra telling Shannon that Kelly had pushed her mom down the stairs. Tamra was adamant that the statement was in context and that she was simply repeating what she had heard, but that alibi has gotten her into some major trouble this season. Tamra was furious because she felt Kelly’s comments both to the media and on social media made her look bad during a particularly sensitive time.
Elsewhere, Kelly was waiting to have lunch with Shannon when she FaceTimed her brother, Eric. He was with their mom. Kelly began to cry as she told her mom she missed her. She apologized for the past two years and asked if they could move forward. Kelly’s mom was instantly open to making amends and the two agreed that Tamra’s “stairs” allegation was incendiary and untrue. Tamra’s mom even said she’d better watch it or they could sue her for defamation.
Kelly later said in her confessional, “When my mother and I got in a big fight, my mother kind of took Eric’s side. My mom never said, ‘She pushed me down the stairs.’ Eric said that. And it is believed that my brother was selling stories about me.”
When Shannon arrived, Shannon said Tamra told her that everything Kelly had said to her was a lie. Kelly wondered why Shannon consistently had to stick up for Tamra and eventually stormed out of the lunch. She told Shannon she had no choice but to “distance” herself from the Tres Amigas. Kelly later said the one good thing that came from the fallout was that she was able to make amends with her mom.
Later, Braunwyn Windham-Burke met up with Tamra to approach her about what Kelly told her she had said about her — that she hates her, thinks she’s a drunk and didn’t like her outfit at the tea party. Tamra said Kelly was the one lying. Braunwyn felt super conflicted and didn’t know who to believe. Tamra said Kelly’s temper scared her and that she didn’t want to go to Braunwyn’s weaning party, but Braunwyn convinced her to give it a shot.
While Tamra and Vicki were getting ready for Braunwyn’s party, Shannon FaceTimed and cried about how she didn’t’ think she’d be getting any money from David’s business in their divorce settlement, even though she claims the bulk of it grew during their marriage.
Vicki also told Tamra Braunwyn never actually invited her, and Tamra said that was probably because Braunwyn had loyalty to Kelly. Vicki then double downed on the cocaine accusations, saying she wanted to drug test Kelly and take her up on her hair follicle offer from last year’s reunion.
At her party, which Kelly ended up not attending, Braunwyn invited the girls to Miami and Key West for a trip. Shannon panicked about the Key West part because that’s where David allegedly started his affair.
“The Real Housewives of Orange County” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.
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