‘Real Housewives of Orange County’: Name-calling and body shaming hit at an all-time high
The recent RHOC episode opened some old wounds amongst the ladies. Name-calling and body shaming have always found a spot in this Bravo’s popular reality show. But in the previous episode, it was at an all-time high. With former housewife Vicki Gunvalson bringing up Kelly Dodd’s “pig emoji” voicemail sent to her, and Emily Simpson sharing her experience of dealing with trolls’ body-shaming her online.
Former friends- Vicki and Kelly have been feuding for a while now. It all started when Vicki started spreading rumors about Kelly’s alleged coke addiction on a reunion episode. Kelly in retaliation sent Vicki a drunken voicemail using a “pig emoji” with her voice playing in the back-calling Vicki names and abusing her. This offended Vicki because as another housewife Tamra explained on the show, “Slade Smiley called Vicki a pig on stage in front of hundreds of people [years ago]. Kelly knows that's a sore subject with Vicki.
She got very insecure, even had her nose done because she didn't wanna look like a pig! It's really a low blow." Fans reacted very strongly to Kelly’s actions. A fan wrote, “There's Enough Bullying And Body-Shaming @RHOC_KellyDodd, Its Not Nice To Call People A Pig And Hurt Peoples Feelings #RHOC”. Another fan added, “I get Vicki and Kelly are at odds, but the pig emoji is low. I’m glad she mentioned that in her confessional. And yes, so is the accusation of doing cocaine. #RHOC”.
While Kelly’s anger towards Vicki for spreading rumors is understandable, using someone’s personal insecurity to make them feel bad about themselves isn’t the right way to retaliate. Vicki later tells Tamra that Kelly calling her fat prompted her to spread the malicious rumors.
This isn’t the first time Kelly has put her problematic behavior of body-shaming and name-calling on display in the series. In the past, we saw Kelly fat-shaming fellow housewife Shannon Beador. There have also been rumors that Kelly Dodd fat-shamed her fans too. A fan pointed out, “@RHOC_KellyDodd you do a lot of body shaming. Remember when you told @ShannonBeador to “eat some more” and now @vgunvalson - your bad karma is going to come back and make your daughter fat. #rhoc you should stop doing that”.
In the same episode, Emily Simpson too came forward sharing her experience of being trolled by fans online on social media websites for her weight. She even opened up about it in season 13’s reunion episode. She also shared that she would be using her voice and influence to promote body positivity. Fans were very appreciative of Emily’s response to body-shaming trolls. A fan tweeted Emily her support with, “1. I’m shocked to hear about the body-shaming @RealOCEmily endured. 2. Love her positive and constructive response to use her platform to address this for other women. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 #RHOC @BravoTV”.
Catch all the drama and fun from the latest season 14 of 'Real Housewives of Orange Country' every Tuesday at 9/8c only on Bravo.