Vicki Gunvalson, 58, believes she’s saying goodbye to The Real Housewives of Orange County for good. It has been over two months since the “OG of the OC” announced she’s leaving the Bravo show on Jan. 29, following rumors that the network was letting her go after her 14-season run. In the time that has passed since then, Vicki hasn’t become more optimistic about a comeback and explained why during HollywoodLife’s EXCLUSIVE Instagram Live session with Vicki on April 2!
“At the end of the day, Bravo moved on and it wasn’t me it was them and I wasn’t ready to go walk away,” Vicki told us. “When you create something it’s like you finish the house and then they said, ‘OK, you have to move out.'” At the point of her departure, Vicki had been the only RHOC star to appear on every season. Given her established tenure on the show, Vicki admitted, “I felt like I built a really great, strong franchise and it hurt my feelings and I think they’re done with me.”
During our Instagram Live session, HollywoodLife asked Vicki why she thinks the Real Housewives franchise is officially “done” with her. For Vicki, it boils down to a gut feeling, especially after she was demoted to “friend” status for the first time ever since making her Bravo debut in 2006. “I don’t know. I just feel like they wouldn’t have done part-time Season 14 and then end it and they dangled that carrot in front of me, [like], ‘We’ll bring you back part-time and next time we’ll bring you back full-time like some of the other ones,’ and then it was just like, ‘We’re done with you and Tamra [Judge].'”
Tamra was another cast member whom fans didn’t expect to leave, which she also confirmed in January. Vicki was frank — she didn’t understand the changes. “I just didn’t get it,” she confessed. But Vicki said she’s “not crying anymore about it,” adding, “I was crying every day, morning, noon and night, on my way to work, on my way home from work. I was like, ‘What happened? I’m the same person,’ but they had different plans I think.”
Vicki’s not exactly a fan of the cast shake-up on RHOC, either. “Truthfully, I don’t really like the new girls. There’s no authenticity,” Vicki revealed! The newest additions to the cast have been Gina Kirschenheiter, Emily Simpson and Braunwyn Windham-Burke, who all joined the show in either Seasons 13 or 14. “I know I’m not really supposed to say that, but, when you’re on as long as me and you created it, you can see through it and I got really upset about it,” Vicki explained. “I think it was wrong and I thought we were filming a reality show and for me my reality is pretty damn exciting.” For now, Vicki said, “we’ll see — we’ll see.” After all, this is what she tells Tamra: “No, we didn’t get fired. We walked away.”
Another change that Vicki didn’t see coming was the launch of her new podcast, Whoop It Up With Vicki! “I said I would never do a podcast because I didn’t really understand who would listen to a podcast…I work all day and the last thing I’m going to do is listen to a podcast,” she told us. “When I’m on my way home from work I listen to my music and my Toby Keith and my country boys and that’s it. This podcast is a whole new world for me.” Likewise, it’ll be a whole new world of RHOC wihtout Vicki when Season 15 premieres — but we’re excited for Vicki’s new ventures!