Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo
Emily Simpson claims there’s more to the story regarding the Real Housewives of Orange County cast’s gang-up on Heather Dubrow.
As she shared her thoughts on whether or not Heather, 54, will return for season 18 and revealed where they stand today, Emily, 47, addressed the ongoing backlash she’s received for her use of Ozempic, shaded the Real Housewives that have kept their alleged use secret, and spoke of Vicki Gunvalson‘s comeback.
“I really like Vicki … I do find Vicki to be amusing. There aren’t a lot of housewives out there that I actually find amusing or legitimately funny but Victoria Gunvalson is one of them,” Emily admitted on the September 21 episode of Access Hollywood‘s Housewives Nightcap, adding that she’d “maybe” like to see her back on the show full-time.
“You never know what you’re gonna with her. And I do love that Vicki’s hypocrisy is just like a 10 out of 10 and she never apologizes for it and I love her for that because it’s like, she’s always like, ‘This is a family show. We shouldn’t talk about sexual things.’ And then there’s just like, how many examples?” Emily continued. “Vicki’s always Vicki.”
While Emily is in a good place with Vicki, 61, she confirmed she’s still blocked by her castmate on Instagram.
“It’s been like five years now,” she laughed. “We talked about it in Mexico and she was on her phone trying to figure out how to unblock me and we could never figure it out.”
After being asked for her high and low of the season, Emily said her high was the slip and slide party and her low was the cast’s trip to Mexico.
“If you cut out all the [Jennifer Pedranti] stuff … I love just fun moments like that where we’re just drinking, being stupid, being silly, being girls … I think that’s great housewives’ camaraderie and I think people love watching that.”
As for why Mexico was a low, Emily explained, “I don’t like to see myself like that and it makes me do some inner reflection. Mexico was hard for me. I was very sick. I was on antibiotics. I got no sleep.”
In fact, Emily quit the show in Mexico — at least temporarily.
“I quit the show one night and like, ripped my mic off. I was exhausted. I was frustrated. And I think all that boiled out. And if I could go back and change that, I wish I could ring that back in,” she admitted. “I can be reasonable but I also have a very intense side too that I’m well aware of.”
Moving on to her weight loss, Emily said she felt it was “the best route” to be honest about using Ozempic to lose weight.
“I get horrible comments from women. I don’t really understand it because I don’t understand why one woman’s journey and choices why it ignites such animosity or hatred in someone else,” she shared. “But the overall feedback has been mostly positive. The people that send me the DMs that are truly inspired… those are the people I’m talking to.”
Although Emily has been candid with her method, others have not.
“There’s a lot of people that aren’t open about it, and you know, I wish they would be because I feel like I take the brunt of the heat,” she stated. “I am honest about it and then I’m like, ‘Man, I’m like, I’m just, like, getting a hit from all sides for everybody. I’m taking this all on for all of you.’”
According to Emily, she took Ozempic in December 2022 for several weeks but hasn’t used it since.
“It’s been 10 months now and I don’t regret it,” she insisted. “I’m not going to apologize for it. I was in a very dark space at that time. It was right when we finished filming, and I was the heaviest I’ve ever been. I spent two weeks on the couch after we got done filming, just laying on the couch, not being able to get up. I texted Shane and said, ‘I think you might have to, you know, I might have to go to like a wellness retreat or something. Like, I don’t feel like myself. I’m depressed. I have, I just, I was miserable.’”
After deciding to make a lifestyle change, Emily met with a doctor who did a full blood panel and learned she had “all sorts of issues,” including no testosterone, high cholesterol, and being a pre-diabetic. As a result, Ozempic was recommended to her.
“I tried it for like five, six weeks. It was very effective as far as the bad diet I had gotten myself into where I was drinking iced coffee all the time and eating donuts for breakfast, and laying on the couch eating chips while I watched TV,” she recalled. “All that stopped. I cleaned up my diet. I eat really healthy, really well now and I attribute that to being able to take Ozempic and being able to get myself under control. And now, the past 10 months, it’s all been great diet and working out and I’ve maintained it for 10 months.”
“I feel amazing. I feel healthy. I feel happy. I wake up early every morning, excited to go to the gym, excited to see my kids, excited to do things with Shane. It’s totally changed my perspective, attitude, everything. I just feel amazing, which is the end result of that,” Emily continued. “So if that’s the end result, why so much judgment?”
While Heather threatened to quit RHOC on the latest episode, Emily suspected she’ll be back as she offered an update on where the two of them stand today.
“She’s never told me one way or the other if she is or not. I would think that she will,” Emily stated. “First of all, that was a year ago and I do think that as women, as professionals, when you get to step back and analyze it and think about things, you realize that there are certain circumstances that aren’t normal when you’re all put together and it’s a pressure cooker and it’s hot and we’re tired and there’s no break and we haven’t eaten and I think when you step away from it, you do realize that this person overreacted, I overreacted, it’s a lot.”
Since filming, Emily has “spent a lot of time with Heather.”
“We’ve had lunch. We’ve had dinner. We’ve talked on the phone. I believe that we are friends, legitimately, for real, she cares about me, I care about her, so what you see in an isolated event, it’s not indicative of a relationship as a whole,” she added.
Then, regarding the alleged gang-ups on Heather, who has admitted to feeling like a “whipping boy,” Emily said there’s more to the story.
“There’s some validity to what she’s saying because I do feel like by the time that dinner came around, it was everyone against Heather,” she began, “[but] I do feel as a viewer when you watch it, that’s the only interpretation you can take away because that’s all you see … There were a lot of things that also go on … that would add and explain as to why I was so frustrated or why [Gina Kirschenheiter] was frustrated or why we were frustrated with her in general or why she felt isolated.”
“It does look bad and it looks like everybody was against her. I just think there was more that would explain it but you can’t put everything in,” she noted.
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 17 finale airs next Wednesday, September 27, at 8/7c on Bravo.