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Tamra Judge addressed her friendship fallout with Shannon Beador, why she backed out of their ‘Tres Amigas’ show with Vicki Gunvalson, the drama surrounding Jennifer Pedranti after her boyfriend Ryan Boyajian was allegedly tied to a gambling scheme, and filming with her daughter for the first time in years.
On the current season of Real Housewives of Orange County, Tamra slammed her good friend Shannon’s drinking, following her recent DUI arrest. Later on, Tamra also shaded Jennifer and Ryan as the gambling allegations surfaced. Now, it seems Tamra’s tone is shifting on both Shannon and Jennifer – she’s suggesting she called them out on camera because she was concerned as their friend.
“It’s unfortunate, everything that went down [with Shannon]. I was very good friends with Shannon for 10 years, and I know Shannon better than anybody knows Shannon,” said Tamra in an interview with Extra. “When Shannon got the DUI, I was on my way — when it was announced — I was on my way to do Traitors, so it was on my way to go to Scotland. We were on the phone. We were crying together.”
“It’s hard,” she added with tears. “She was a really good friend. We were very, very close. I worried that something like this would happen to her, and it did. I’m just glad that nobody got hurt. But I felt like it was finally my time to be able to very honest with her and tell her, ‘Listen, you need help. You’ve been on the show for 10 years. Every year, somebody has talked about your drinking. It is time to stop.’ And she did not take it that well that I said that.”
She then addressed why she walked away from Shannon, Vicki, and Tamra’s ‘Tres Amigos’ comedy show.
“It was hard for me to commit to so many tour dates, but also because [Shannon] was still drinking and I thought, ‘I’m not going to be that friend that’s going to enable you.’ … This time, nobody got hurt, but if there’s a next time, I’m not going to be one of those people who’s like, ‘Oh, you’re okay. Don’t worry. You can have a few drinks.’ I don’t want to be involved in that.”
Tamra was then asked if she and Shannon had previous conversations about her drinking.
“Yes. What basically happened is because I did that, she pretty much turned on me, started talking behind my back, saying horrible things about me. Nobody liked me. Nobody wants you on the show. And I’m like, ‘I’m trying to help you,’” claimed Tamra. “So, I’m like, you know what? I need to take a step and not be involved so closely with this.”
The star also claimed she messaged Shannon when Tamra learned that castmate Alexis Bellino was dating her ex John Janssen.
“I sent Shannon a text. I said, ‘I know we’re not in a good place. I know this has gotta hurt. I hope you can enjoy your holidays. I’m so sorry for what you’re going through,’” Tamra recalled. “It’s not that I’ve ever turned my back on her. Because I was there for her from the day she got her DUI, the day I got out of Traitors, we did a show together. That’s when I saw her drinking, the phone calls with her drunk were coming in and I’m like, ‘Where’s rock bottom?’”
“It gets really ugly with us this year. It gets really bad. There’s some good times, but it ends really bad, so I just hope that she gets the help she needs,” said Tamra.
She also addressed where she stands with Jennifer after Tamra seemingly turned on her when news of the gambling allegations broke. Last season, Tamra and her husband Eddie were at odds with Jennifer and Ryan.
“I know I was a little rough on her last year, but it was really from a place of concern, and if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have gone that route. But I do care about her and I want only the best for her, and you’ll see as the episode goes on, we are very close and we are talking again. I thought we had a really good season for the most part,” she said.
Tamra was later asked how things were going with Ryan and Eddie.
“Not well,” she said. “Eddie just doesn’t have any desire to be around somebody like that. It’s just, he’s not around toxic people. He’s like, ‘No, thank you.’ And then we all see what all comes out about him, so.”
Tamra said the highlight of the season was having her daughter Sophia on the show now that she’s 18.
“What people don’t know, and I get accused of this all the time, ‘Oh, your kids don’t talk to you.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, they do.’ I have one estranged daughter that we do not speak, and that’s been going on for 10 years, but Sophia, Spencer, Ryan… Spencer and Sophia have lived with me full-time for years,” she said. “Now Spencer’s off at college. Ryan obviously is older, he’s in his 30s, so he’s been out of the house for years.”
“But Sophia had been in the background of me filming all the time. She would have to hide, and it was really hard on her because she is a huge part of my life. She’s my baby. Now she’s able to film, and I gave her the option, ‘Is this something you want to do? You know, I want you to know it’s not that easy. There’s backlash on social media. People are mean, they’ll make fun of you no matter what,’” she added. “She’s like, ‘Mom, I don’t care about that stuff.’”
As for herself, Tamra said she’s “gotten better” at handling backlash on social media.
“In the very beginning, I think it was like MySpace, but you know, there was always negative comments. There’s always people that are behind their keyboard feeling so strong to tell somebody off… It’s a really small group, 2% of the people in the world that are back on there saying mean things. I feel sorry for them their life is so miserable that they need to do that.”
