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RHOC’s Emily Simspons calls out Alexis Bellino for being “obnoxious,” while Tamra Judge claims Emily “dropped” Alexis. Plus, Alexis claims filming with Shannon Beador was “hard.”
Members of the Real Housewives of Orange County cast sat down with Bravo TV to discuss the ongoing drama between the season 18 cast.
Emily Simpson reflected on the season 18 drama between Alexis Bellino and Shannon Beador while explaining why her friendship with Alexis went awry. She also addressed Heather Dubrow‘s feud with Katie Ginella and more.
At the same time, Tamra Judge accuses Emily Simpson of “dropping” Alexis as a friend of Alexis Bellino shared how hard it was to film season 18 of RHOC with Shannon Beador amid her new relationship with John Janssen.
“People will say to me, ‘Are you Team Shannon or are you Team Alexis.’ And it’s never about teams. I don’t like that mentality. It’s very divisive. And so in the beginning, it was just very difficult to navigate between the two of them,” Emily said during an with Bravo TV. “They couldn’t be in the same room. You’re in the room with them and you’re like, do I go over here and talk to Alexis but then Shannon’s gonna get upset. Do I console Shannon? It was just, I think we all were just trying to figure out how to navigate it.”
While Emily admits she was initially torn between Shannon and Alexia, Tamra claimed that many cast members, including Emily, seemed to have “amnesia” as the RHOC cast moved deeper into filming for season 18.
“All the sudden they all have amnesia. When [Alexis] came on the show, she was friends with Emily, she was friends with me, she’s friends with Heather. She quickly became friends with Katie and [Jennifer Pedranti]. And then all the sudden, Emily dropped her,” Tamra recalled. “She didn’t want anything to do with her.”
Emily agrees, noting that she quickly became turned off by Alexis’ behavior on RHOC.
“Alexis was really difficult for me to deal with towards the end. I just felt like she became just so unreasonable at times and so obnoxious that I didn’t really care and I was like, fine to be with Shannon and talk to her and not feel I had to navigate the two,” she explained.
RHOC newbie Katie Ginella also admitted that she felt caught in the middle of Shannon and Alexis’ drama.
“It was extremely hard developing separate relationships because they both have something so horrible against each other and Shannon has voiced to me that she’s not happy that I spend time with Alexis and Alexis has told me that you know, ‘Keep that separate. We don’t need to discuss it. I know you’re close with her and that’s okay.’ So navigating and being in the middle is very very difficult. But they’ve both been really really good to me,” she shared.
As season 18 of RHOC airs, Alexis and John have received backlash for their relationship and their treatment of Shannon. However, their supporters within the RHOC cast have also faced hate from fans.
“Alexis text me and Heather the other day and said ‘Girls I feel so bad. You guys are going down and people are saying bad things about you because of your friendship with me and that really hurts my heart.’ And I said, ‘I will still support you. I can take it,’” Tamra explained. “It is hurtful and I worry bout her because the hate that is being spewed about her is disgusting. She’s such a kind person and has a big heart.”
Alexis admits that she braced herself for all the hate she has received from fans.
“I knew it was going to be very difficult for Shannon and I to be in a room together, just as hard on me as it is on her. No one wants to film with their fiancé’s ex,” she confessed. “I also knew it would be hard on her. It played on me and my heart a lot. I never tried to befriend Shannon. I never wanted to be her friend. I wanted to be amicable. I wanted it to be civil. I wanted to be a lady. It just wasn’t possible so it wore on me a lot of nights.”
Meanwhile, Emily also shared her thoughts on Katie and Heather’s paparazzi drama.
“Heather is a very strong, yet loyal friend. But in order to get to that point with her, you have to build a foundation and I feel like I’ve done that for the past three years and [Gina Kirschenheiter]’s done that and I think the problem with the Heather-Katie situation is Katie came in right from the get-go without having any kind of foundation with Heather at all,” the 48-year-old lawyer explained. “To make an accusation, which let’s be honest, it’s not like it was some life-altering, horrible accusation…”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
