The Vicki Gunvalson denial tour rages on! In a revealing interview Vicki doesn’t hold back in discussing her complicated relationships with her cast mates, rebounding from Brooks Ayers, and why she’s begging everyone to move on. Oh, she also wants a spinoff with friend/enemy Tamra Judge. Huh?
This season of Real Housewives Of Orange County has Vicki avoiding drama – or trying to – and focusing on rebuilding. “I’m filling my tank back up!” This means a lot of whooping it up while re-evaluating her friendships.
“If I see conflict I really, kinda, wanna run now, but I’m strong enough to know I’ve gotta defend myself,” Vicki shares. “You’re not gonna see me screaming or going berserk. Hopefully I’m a little bit more tame this year.”
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Of course Vicki pretends she wasn’t sure about coming back for season 11. “They tried to push me out!” she notes sardonically, meaning the other women. “I was actually scared this season, because I felt like I was the odd man out.” Then she reconsidered, realizing, “I think if they’re not talking about you, you’ve got something to worry about. They’re all talking about me!”
“Once I get done with a season, it’s in my past,” Vicki explains. Although she admits it’s difficult to watch the show, “I’m judgmental and critical of myself.”
Of course, Vicki seems to be the only person ready to move on from Brooks.
“We’ve all been in bad relationships,” announces Vicki, who hopes to be a source of encouragement for those who have endured (or are in) toxic relationships. “There’s life after it,” she assures. Vicki is still grieving for the love she lost, and wants everyone to stop making all of Brooks bad deeds about them – after all, she suffered the most!
Vicki finds it “weird” that the women blame her for Brooks‘ lies. “How did I burn the bridges? I was obviously betrayed! They made it about them, and it wasn’t about them – it was about the betrayal I had received,” she complains.
“I wasn’t embarrassed about what I went through,” continues Vicki. “I was actually just sad.” Ultimately, Vicki acknowledges the women had valid reasons for not trusting Brooks, because there were lies. “They’re right – about everything,” she accepts.
“I made a mistake by exposing and showing some vulnerability on my partner’s side of how he was sick,” declares Vicki. “Hindsight: I should have kept it private. He had asked me to keep it private and I didn’t. So that’s where I messed up.”
“If their spouse or boyfriend were sick, I sure as heck would never ask for medical records,” snaps Vicki. “That’s where it all became really skewed and a problem and therefore the relationship ended.”
Vicki concedes, “It was bound to happen. It wasn’t gonna go anywhere because my daughter didn’t like him and my daughter’s opinion is very important to me.”
Of course the situation with Brooks has done irrevocable damage to Vicki’s relationships with the ladies.”I did apologize, because, the truth of the matter is, I could stay stuck and say, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong!’ but then we wouldn’t have been able to move forward. Some of them accept my apology; some of them don’t. Maybe they want to catch me in another [distortion]… Whatever. I’m human – things come out of my mouth. Sometimes it’s 100 percent accurate, sometimes it’s 99.9. It is what it is.”
“I really want to be friends with all the girls, but they’re kind of stuck in some issues. They can talk about me all day long, but the minute I say something about them they get all pissed off,” Vicki tells The Huffington Post.
“Shannon [Beador] and I are not on good terms, and I don’t know if we ever will be,” confesses Vicki. “Shannon definitely is stuck in the past. She has a temper that I don’t understand, and I don’t think she likes me. I’m sad about that, but… I’ve come to terms with it. She said to me at the last filming I wanted to be your friend, but I’m not going to.”
Vicki believes Shannon is going through “a little bit of sadness”, and may be getting the crazy edit this season. “I don’t feel like it’s the Shannon that I met two years ago. I really respect her, and love her family, but I just feel like she’s sad.” Vicki accuses Shannon of projecting onto her to avoid her own issues.
“I think she’s messed up, but she will never admit it. She’s like stuck in this place… ” Vicki observes. Vicki’s advice to Shannon: “Just whoop it up and have fun!” Isn’t that how Vicki found Brooks? At the bottom of a bottle of ‘Whoop it up’. And then the worm in the tequila came back to life…
Vicki also implies that Shannon is the ‘obstacle’ preventing her from fixing things with the other ladies. “When you’re not happy, it shows,” says Vicki, “so you continue the chaos.”
Vicki is also at-odds with Tamra and describes their status as “an in and out friendship.”
“She’s my friend one minute and she’s not my friend the next. She’s always mad at me – I’m used to it,” concedes Vicki. “I’m mad at her now!”
“I just never know what Tamra is thinking about me. If she accepts me or not – I’m good,” Vicki adds. “She’s gonna have to get over it and move on, otherwise she’s gonna be stuck in the past. I’ve had to get over a lot of things that she’s done to me. A LOT.”
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The reason Vicki wants Tamra to move on – their on-screen chemistry. “Tamra and I do good TV together. I don’t wanna lose that, so she’s gonna have to really realize that she’s not perfect at all in this friendship. She wants to keep blaming me and saying, ‘Oh I’m the victim. Oh, I’m deflecting.’ I’m not deflecting – I’ll own what I’ve messed up on. Will she? Some days she does, some days she doesn’t. I want the best for Tamra. I love Tamra. I want to continue to film with Tamra. I want our own spinoff. I think we’d be fun together! Tamra and I have actually talked about it. We don’t need all the other girls.”
One positive, has been the addition of Kelly Dodd, who Vicki calls “my strength.” Vicki reveals that Kelly and Michael have issues this season, but she encouraged Kelly to “plow through the bumps.” Vicki maintains Kelly didn’t come into the season with “preconceived ideas,” and swears her storyline is being “a mom and a wife.”
Actually Vicki calls out her castmates for creating storylines, or deciding to focus only on certain things. She denounces it as faking reality.
“When I go into filming, every single time, I never think about my storyline, or what I’m gonna film,” insists Vicki. “I have no idea one year to the next. Next year might see me getting married! [ She’s joking here] I don’t know what ‘my reality’ is. I can’t pre-script it.”
According to Vicki, the other ladies are “absolutely” strategic about what aspects of their lives they film, and what they’re willing to show. “They’re looking at ‘What’s my platform…'”
This season Vicki is focusing on her children, grandchildren, rebuilding Coto Insurance, and creating a cancer charity ‘Kill All Cancer’ (which is currently awaiting approval for a 501(c)3 status before accepting donations. “I’m trying to take a bad thing into a good thing,” she promises.
So other than Vicki’s groveling, what else is happening in season 11? Two cast trips, Glamis and Ireland.
Plus, RHOC’s own ‘Dinner party from hell’ (another one?) where Tamra uses the word “c-u-next-Tuesday” and Kelly mouths off. “Kelly definitely tells one of the castmembers what she thought of them. It’s… kinda coming to her!”
Vicki refers to the Dune Buggy accident in Glamis as “a great bonding experience” with the ladies, which she thought proved they had all “moved on.”
Ireland, predictably, was fraught with drama. “I might have been over-served a couple times. I might have gotten Tamra drunk a couple times,” Vicki laughs. “We had a great time. A few lil bumps in the road there… Some of them want to whoop it up, and some of them don’t.”
Vicki and Shannon “kinda reconciled” in Ireland, “and then another situation happened afterwards.”
Vicki is also dating again, but it doesn’t seem like her new man Steve Lodge will appear this season. Vicki is in a healthy, happy place after working through Brooks, and the aftermath, so this reflects in her new relationship.
“A man chose me. Which is different – usually I’m choosing. I got a healthy relationship starting,” gushes Vicki. “I don’t know where its gonna go, but right now it’s drama-free. We just enjoy each other.”
“He’s pretty incredible. I’m taking it slow and he’s taking it slow. He’s pretty private … insofar I’m happy, and that’s all I want for me, as well as the other ladies, is to be happy. I go through bumps. I go through bruises. I go through sadness. I go through happy times. I love hard. I’m a hopeless romantic – I’mma do it again!” says Vicki tearing up.
Vicki believes season 11 is a good one. “You’re gonna see a lot of great moments,” she assures, promising to show her “good and bad,” but she’s “able to resurrect from it.” She hopes the viewers will also forgive her.
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[Photo Credit: Bravo]