"They're my friends and I miss them": RHOC star Vicki Gunvalson on her friendship with Shannon Beador and Tamra Judge
A patch-up between the three feuding housewives of Orange County was long overdue. The Real Housewives of Orange County stars Vicki Gunvalson, Shannon Beador and Tamra Judge have finally made up after years of being in the outs. Viewers of the show never expected the day would come when the three will reconnect again. After Tamra and Shannon went on so far as to say that they never - and emphasis on the never - would be friends with Vicki Gunvalson again, we’d lost all hope of seeing them rollicking in the fun bus again. I guess you should never say never, as the three appeared to have rekindled their friendship just in time for the premiere of the new season of RHOC.
Vicki fell from the good graces of Tamra and Shannon, after blatantly lying about her then-boyfriend Brooks Ayers' brush with cancer. For years the two deceived their close friends about his nonexistent illness. She bullishly stuck to her story and feigned ignorance when the truth finally surfaced but refused to cop up to her role in the deception. This fractured Vicki’s friendships with her two closest allies in the show.
However, now they’re letting bygones be bygones and seemed to have repaired their fractured relationship. Vicki in an interview with ET admitted that she was ready to throw in the towel on the reality show if Shannon and Tamra hadn’t accepted her apology.
“You know, I prayed a lot about it, I just really felt, if that's what's coming up, that's what's coming up,” she told ET. “But, I didn't want it to end that way, because it wasn't kind, it wasn't nice … So, I just really did my very best to be as authentic as I could be, and just be very apologetic for where I messed up, and it worked,” she added.
Vicki’s change of heart after years of refusing to cough up an apology for her role in the cancerous mess had mostly to do with Shannon’s divorce from her husband David. Her apology at the end of the reunion last season seemed to have struck a chord with Shannon who felt it was genuinely dealt. “Because David and I weren't together anymore, that made the reconciliation a little bit easier,” Shannon says. “You know, things were said about him.
"That was I think, for me, was the turning point,” Vicki continues. “I was like, I have got to be friends with these ladies. They're my friends and I miss them. It was just... it was just that moment, I felt that all the ice just broke. I think my compassion for the damage that I did to them, and I they did to me, it all kind of dissipated,” Vicki recalled. “When I heard that Shannon was getting a divorce, I was literally shocked. I had no idea, I didn't talk to her much before that reunion, and I just couldn't believe it. So, my tears were real. I just felt so bad for them, their family.”
“With Vicki, I saw true emotion come from her when she heard that David and I had separated,” Shannon told ET. “We shed tears and so, that was touching for me.”
Last season of RHOC left a lot to be desired for drama wise, as viewers took to social media to express their disappointment on the lack of vitriolic substance throughout the season. However, photos of the aforementioned trios vacationing in Mexico have given viewers hope for good and perhaps some dramatic tidings ahead. With the exit of Peggy Sulahian, Lydia McLaughlin, and Meghan King Edmonds and the addition of two new cast mates, this season of RHOC might just be fun.