Tamra Judge on What Led Her to Quit RHOC, Refusing to Film With Co-Star and Compares Katie to Jen Aydin Over Blogger Drama

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Tamra Judge looked back on her brief exit from The Real Housewives of Orange County and admitted to refusing to film with one of her co-stars while appearing on a podcast last week.

As she also compared Katie Ginella, 41, to Jennifer Aydin, 48, after her castmate was exposed for secretly communicating with a blogger, offered a health update on Teddi Mellencamp, 44, and explained how the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills convinced her to return to RHOC, Tamra, 57, teased the series’ “dark, explosive” finale, reflected on her horrible marriage to Simon Barney, and addressed her estrangement from daughter Sidney Barney.

“It was kind of everything I was dealing with, and then there was a situation that I brought up that I questioned somebody,” Tamra recalled of the moments leading up to her departure during a July 18 appearance on Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea Podcast. “You’ll see it unfold, but then afterwards, the way they came back into the group acting like it never happened, I thought, ‘Oh my god, you’re guilty. You did this. You did this.’ And I was just like, ‘I’m not doing this. I can’t be around this person anymore.’”

While Tamra didn’t confirm which co-star she was referencing, she admitted that a groundbreaking moment took place that involved Katie in some way. 

“There’s something with Katie that goes on,” she revealed. “We end the season in a very dark, explosive, everybody’s in shock, some people are crying, some people are in disbelief, about somebody. Somebody got left behind.”

After confirming that she “would never have anything to do with this person after what they’ve done,” Tamra noted that she didn’t say the culprit was Katie.

“It could be somebody else,” she suggested.

Looking back at the blogger drama surrounding Katie, Tamra recalled telling her castmate, “It’s just not smart.”

“She says, ‘Well, I’m new.’ And I’m like, ‘I get it, but in the future, you should not do that,’” she continued. “Google Jennifer Aydin. See how that worked out for her. Truly … She learned the hard way. Let’s just put it that way. … It wasn’t good for her, that’s for sure.”

In addition to having issues with Katie during season 19, Tamra also butted heads with Gretchen Rossi, 46.

“I have been dealing with 12 years of Gretchen attacking me on social media, on her own Stories, on podcasts. Like, this girl gets a microphone, she’s like, ‘Let me tell you about Tamra.’ It’s gross,” she stated. “It’s weird. I think she really thinks way back in the day when we filmed together, I ruined her life … I’m like, ‘Girl, that was 15 years ago. I have moved on. I’m thriving. I’m thinking about the future, and you’re back there in 2010 … You and your hair need to come up to date.”

According to Tamra, Gretchen’s return to RHOC was similar to that of Alexis Bellino, 48, who lasted just one season due to her antics and strained relationships with the majority of the cast.

“I feel like she can’t move forward. She wants to talk about the past. She thinks the show still operates like it did 15 years ago, and it doesn’t,” Tamra reasoned. “Social media’s different. The show’s different. The way it’s filmed is different. Everything’s different now, and she’s just the same person. I was thinking we’d get a more mature… She’s a mom now. No … I try and I try and I try. I’m exhausted.”

Moving on to Teddi, Tamra said her podcast co-host is “doing the best she can do.”

“She’s got good days; she’s got bad days. Right now, and I’m only speaking this because she said it publicly. She’s pretty much indefinitely on Immunotherapy. Some of the tumors have shrunk, so that’s good, and we’re just really hoping for the best right now,” she shared. “She does crumble, and this is the thing: When it comes to social media, she does try to put on a really brave face, and the positivity just reeks from her. She’s just so positive, and I think that’s her way, it’s like a mechanism to cope with what she’s going through.”

Teddi is so strong that when it came to Tamra leaving production on RHOC amid season 19, it was ultimately she who convinced her to go back.

“She’s the reason I went back. She said, ‘Listen, if I have to go through this and put a brave face on, you gotta get up and do your job.’ She’s an inspiration for sure,” Tamra noted.

That said, when it came to the months in which the series was filmed, Tamra shared that they came around the time of Teddi’s brain surgery, which resulted in memory issues.

“When the season was over and I said, ‘Well, we’re done filming. I can spend more time with you.’ She goes, ‘Didn’t you just start?’ … The only time we really talked was when I quit the show,” she explained.

Then speaking of her emotional moment with her therapist, which fans saw on the premiere episode earlier this month, Tamra admitted it was a difficult scene to film, especially when it came to familial topics.

“That’s the thing about therapy: They’re gonna dig up all your past. You’re gonna go through all the traumas that you‘ve had. I’ve gotta revisit my divorce from Simon and what I went through in that marriage. It was horrible. And getting out of that marriage was horrible. And what happened with my daughter was horrible. Is horrible. So I had to dig all those things up,” she revealed. “I don’t usually process things. So, especially with emotions, I have a ton of sensory issues that I’ve always had. I just thought it was me being weird. [But] I learned through therapy that all the stuff that I had buried down here as a kid comes out now when I get upset about things,” she added.

The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.