The Real Housewives of Orange County alum opens up about her mother’s death and why she feels the network went too far in 2015 when they taped her learning about it in real time.
Vicki Gunvalson has some qualms about her time on The Real Housewives of Orange County.
The former Housewife detailed what she feels was a particularly low moment while filming the Bravo series in an upcoming episode of Vice’s The Dark Side of Reality TV series spotlighting the popular Bravo franchise.
During the episode, Gunvalson said she believes the cable network went too far back in 2015 when they taped her learning about her mother’s death.
Shedding light on the production of that episode, the former Bravolebrity shared that her family members, including daughter Briana, had repeatedly called to tell her that her mother, Joanne Steinmetz, had died. Gunvalson was in the middle of shooting Season 10 of the franchise-launching reality series — playing Bunco at pal Shannon Beador’s house — during those calls.
Her family eventually called the production team to get her on the phone — who then, according to a clip obtained by PEOPLE, set up Beador’s wrapping-paper room with lights and camera operators to film her getting the emotional phone call in real time.
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“I was really upset that production knew for an hour, and they didn’t tell me. They were out of line, and I think they should have taken me aside and said, ‘Your mom has passed. Talk to your daughter off camera,'” Gunvalson said. “If I was a producer, that’s what I would’ve done.”
She continued, “Let me scream and cry on my own and be mad. It was very, very traumatic. I will never forgive Bravo for that.”
In the scene about her mom, Gunvalson was seen collapsing on the floor and screaming as she got the fateful phone call. The devastated reality star tearfully said she had just spoken to her mother that morning and that Steinmetz hadn’t been sick at the time of her death.
She previously spoke about the scene in a 2015 episode of Watch What Happens Live. At the time, she said she had not yet seen the episode, but expressed gratitude to the network and Andy Cohen that Steinmetz wasn’t in the scene and that cameras didn’t show her mother on her deathbed.
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It’s also worth noting that the businesswoman also said at the time that she wasn’t upset about the scene because it was a part of her reality. Gunvalson also noted at the time that that she “blacked out” during the call and didn’t remember much from that evening.
“I lost my mother and I signed up for all areas of my life to be exposed, the good and the bad,” Gunvalson said on WWHL. “There’s been a lot of great moments that have been aired and there’s a lot of moments that I wish wasn’t on a reality show. This is not a moment that I feel, as of right now, I regret.”
The 62-year-old reality star, who starred in 14 seasons of the franchise since it debuted in 2006, left RHOC in 2020, but still appears in more recent seasons as a “friend of” the show.
The Dark Side of Reality TV episode focusing on the Real Housewives franchise airs Tuesday on Vice.
