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Gina Kirschenheiter admits she is reevaluating her friendship with Heather Dubrow as their RHOC season 18 feud airs on Bravo.
In an interview with Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea,” Gina Kirschenheiter admits that watching her season 18 feud with Heather Dubrow air has made her realize that they haven’t made much progress in their friendship since filming wrapped earlier this year.
“Honestly, it is starting to upset me in real time now because I’m like, ‘Wow, I couldn’t have had her back more,’” the 40-year-old Bravo star said of her “paparazzi-gate” drama with Heather.
During season 17 of RHOC, Heather was accused of calling the paparazzi on her and their husband, Dr. Terry Dubrow, at Disneyland amid gossip that they were experiencing martial woes in 2022 due to alleged infidelity.
The Dubrows brushed off the cheating rumors, and Heather denied that she would ever stage a photo op.
However, during season 18 of RHOC, newbie Katie Ginella claimed to have proof that Heather did work with the paparazzi to snap pictures of her and Terry at the famous theme park.
Gina insists that she urged Katie not to discuss her claims on camera, but the RHOC newbie did so anyway.
When Gina learned that Katie’s “receipt” was being worked into production and would air on season 18, she warned Heather, who didn’t express her thanks for the heads-up. Instead, Gina felt that Heather blasted her for not doing enough to prevent the alleged claims from coming out.
“I was communicating directly to Katie that I thought this was all not valid, the stuff she was bringing up against Heather,” the Orange County-based real estate agent explained.
“And you see Katie already admit that at the very beginning I told her not to do this … Honestly, I’m hurt by both of them.”
Gina notes that she is “the only one” among the RHOC cast who backed up Heather’s claim that she never called the paps.
“I did not do this to Heather. Katie did this to Heather. In fact, I tried to stop Katie from doing this,” she reiterates.
“Honestly, since last year, I’m the only one who believes her — who consistently believes her and yet I’m still the one who did something wrong.”
Currently, Gina says her and Heather’s communication is “great” but admits their friendship feels a bit one-sided.
“Part of what I think I’m realizing myself is that any time I sense that she is going to be upset about something — whether it’s something I’ve done or somebody else — I’m concerned about her feelings, I’m picking up the phone and calling her,” she said.
The 40-year-old RHOC star points out she rarely receives a call or text from Heather when “things that are upsetting” to her come up on the show or social media.
“Watching between last week and this week’s episode and seeing how it’s all played out, I am upset about it.”
Gina isn’t sure if she wants to work things out with Heather now or wait until the RHOC season 18 reunion tapes.
“It’s a tricky mess, man. Get the Clorox wipes out, I guess!” she jokes.
“It’s tough. It’s interesting too because we have [the] reunion coming up. We still have to have all these conversations, so it’s like, ‘Do I have these conversations now? Do we have them there?’”
Ultimately, Gina hopes she and Heather can resolve their issues as she “genuinely cares” about her RHOC co-star.
“I like to have these constructive conversations, so hopefully we can have that,” she said. “But Heather’s very sensitive, so I feel like I operate around that sensitivity a lot. At a certain point, it just gets to be too much.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
