Gina Kirschenheiter claimed Heather Dubrow was “chasing” a friendship with returning castmate Tamra Judge on the current season of Real Housewives of Orange Country, and she said she felt “validated” watching Tamra’s shady conversation about Heather’s IMDb page. Plus, she also reveals her “breaking point” with Heather.
Gina also teased the return of Vicki Gunvalson as a guest, and she hinted that the OG makes a big reveal on the Mexico cast trip.
Speaking on HollywoodLife’s Pay Attention, Puh-Lease podcast, Gina shared her belief that the actress was “chasing” a Tamra friendship while the season was filmed.
“They do have a long history together and I think Heather would’ve expected to have been one of her primary friends. It’s not like I’m faulting Heather for wanting something that’s reasonable. If it’s not happening, you gotta let it go,” explained the New Yorker. “I’m not so catty and petty that I’m gonna go and cry about that [Heather’s friendship with Tamra], but it just was a bad look for Heather, honestly.”
She went on to say Heather “got under my skin a lot this season,” and she was upset Heather believed Tamra over her in an early episode when Gina tried to warn Heather about Tamra’s shady behavior.
“I felt that Heather was choosing to keep her eyes closed on that,” shared Gina. “She was basically like, ‘I asked [Tamra] if she was mean to me about my career. She said no. I have to take that at face value because she’s my friend.’ I understand that. What she didn’t have to do was go and tell Tamra the things that I was saying to try and help her as a friend after telling me I wasn’t being a good friend to her. At that point, I was out.”
The star claimed she felt “validated” while watching the footage of Tamra making fun of Heather’s IMDb – which is what Gina asserted from the beginning. “I was waiting for it,” she said. “I was very confident.”
Gina also shared that she felt “surprised” by Heather’s issues with her in the early episodes. “I had a lunch with Emily when we started filming and she mentioned something to me about Heather feeling like I wasn’t being responsive. My spidey sense went up, because I was like, ‘That seems a little odd,’” explained Gina. “The first time I knew she had an issue was when I was at her house. I felt like I was overcompensating and being more sensitive to her feelings.”
According to Gina, her “breaking point” occurred as Heather was partying with Shannon Beador and Tamra after suggesting that Gina shouldn’t talk to her boyfriend about being triggered by Jennifer Pedranti’s affair. “That didn’t feel right,” she stated.
Concerning her future with Heather, she said, “I’m always in the spirit of moving forward and staying positive … But you can’t control other people. I feel like Heather struggled this season. I feel like she was chasing something that she shouldn’t have been chasing, and despite her efforts to try and redirect that, she’s a grown woman and she’s gonna do what she wants to do and she did. I don’t think it was in her best interest but maybe it’s a learning lesson.”
Gina also teased Vicki’s anticipated return to the show. “Oh my god, you guys should be so excited. I’m not even joking,” she said, via HollywoodLife. “Vicki is so great. I never thought I would say that either.”
She expressed surprise at Vicki’s treatment of her on the Mexico cast trip. “She loved me. I was like, ‘Who is this person?’ ” said the star. “She seems really happy to me … Like genuinely happy which is really amazing and awesome for her. And she’s freaking hysterical. She’s just so naturally herself. She comes in, she says hysterical s**t, she makes trouble just being herself. And it’s all incredible.”
According to the star, Vicki makes a big reveal on the trip, and this was Gina’s “favorite moment of the entire season.”
“[It’s] something that Vicki shared about her life and something that she does. It blew my mind. I was like, ‘What?’ I couldn’t stop asking her questions about it,” she explained. “I was like why isn’t everyone else asking questions about this? It was just so great.”
Gina added, “I do respect her. She is the OG. It’s cool. I hope that she continues to be sprinkled in.”
RHOC Live Viewing – This is also the live viewing thread for tonight’s new episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County season 17, which airs at 8/7c on Bravo.