RHOC’s Gina Kirschenheiter on If Shannon is Still Drinking

Credit: Bravo

Gina Kirschenheiter is concerned about Shannon Beador‘s drinking habits.

Months after her 59-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County co-star was arrested for DUI after driving into a Newport Beach home while intoxicated, Gina, 39, said that Shannon’s behavior is indicative of someone “who has a problem” as she admitted to hoping her castmate would enter rehab following the controversial arrest.

“They say that that level to which you’re drinking is indicative of somebody who has a problem,” Gina said on the December 7 episode of The Sarah Fraser Show podcast after it was noted that Shannon was three times the legal limit.

According to Gina, she credits Shannon’s forgetfulness, particularly regarding the CPS diss she made about Gina’s children following Gina’s own DUI, to her alcohol use.

“I believe that she didn’t remember saying that [because she was drinking]. That, to me, is a problem,” Gina noted.

As for whether Shannon is currently drinking, Gina, after a long pause, admitted she was unsure.

“This is not information that I know directly from myself so I don’t know whether to verify it or not but I have heard…. She’s not said that she’s not drinking, right?” Gina asked. “I would ask her that question. She’s not gonna be outed, I’ll tell you that much. It’s hard for me because I don’t like speaking on things that I’ve heard through other people and I don’t know that directly but I would be very curious… I was shocked that nobody asked her that point blank at BravoCon.”

After enduring the fallout of her own DUI in 2019, Gina made the decision to stop drinking, although she has had a couple of sips here and there.

“I haven’t drank in almost two years,” she began, clarifying, “If I’m cheers-ing with Heather Dubrow, I can have a sip of champs and it’s not a big deal. Everybody’s sobriety is different that’s why I don’t push. I’m not trying to drive the sober train I just think everybody should do what is good for them and maybe not do the things that are bad for them.”

Specifically speaking of Shannon, Gina said her drinking habits don’t seem to be having a positive influence on her life.

“I think it’s only contributing bad things in her life. My take on it is, why don’t you just try [sobriety]?” she asked. “And if you’re not an alcoholic and you don’t have a problem with drinking, it should be very easy to simply just stop drinking for a bit.”

Following the news of Shannon’s DUI, rumors swirled that her ex-boyfriend, John Janssen, may not have had the best influence over her due to his alleged love of partying. However, according to Gina, Shannon is the only person responsible for her decisions.

“It’s her drinking and I’m not going to say it’s not,” Gina declared. “I’m somebody who went through that experience and I will never blame the mistake that I made on anybody else. It’s because of my choices that I decided to make. Are there contributing factors to why perhaps you’re drinking more or you’re a little out of control? Yeah, but at the end of the day, you make the choice to get in that vehicle and drive that car.”

After then saying, “I hoped,” when asked if she thought Shannon would go to rehab after her DUI, Gina looked back on her drama with Andy Cohen, 55, who shaded the cost of her home in October.

“It hurt my feelings when I saw that … I was like, ‘Wow, that was hurtful,’ because I do have a relationship with Andy. I’m not Sarah Jessica Parker. We’re not besties. But I have known Andy Cohen for six years.”

Looking back on her decision to clap back at the diss, Gina said she decided to vocalize her thoughts due to the nature of her and Andy’s friendship — and because she knew he’d respond appropriately.

“I know him enough to know that he’s gonna do the right things and respond correctly because he does give a sh*t about me. … And I can tell you right now, I think I put that out there in the evening… I woke up to a text message from Andy Cohen that said, ‘I’m very sorry for what I said. You were completely right. I was out of line and I’ve also already publicly apologized on my radio show,’” Gina revealed. “I want to highlight that because that says more about Andy Cohen to me than him misstepping … That’s who Andy Cohen is. He’s not perfect but he takes responsibility for his missteps and he apologizes where [he needs] to.”

Following their public spat, Gina ran into Andy at BravoCon.

“I was like, ‘Oh, do I feel uncomfortable, don’t I feel uncomfortable?’ He just came right up to me and gave me a kiss ‘hello’ and said I looked beautiful and we moved on,” she revealed.

While she and boyfriend Travis Mullen have been dating since 2019, and staged a pretend wedding earlier this year with their combined six kids, Gina said the two of them are in no rush to make their “marriage” official.

“In the fairytale version of our love, we’re already married. But reality dictates, we each have three kids, we both went through train wreck divorces, we’re trying to build our life up and right now, the priority is not a ring and a party,” she explained. “We want a bigger home and we want to go on vacation and take a break every once in a while. Do I want to celebrate our love in some capacity? Absolutely. But we live as a family and other than that, it’s just legal stuff and in my experience, it’s all just like expensive and not really that necessary. I get it. Part of me wants that but it’s just not on our radar right now.”

Also on the show, Gina was asked if she wants Vicki Gunvalson, 61, to return to RHOC.

“Um, okay, so, well here’s the thing,” she began. “I genuinely feel this way and I don’t understand why Vicki doesn’t feel this way: She’s obviously paved the way, She is an icon. She was celebrated at the Bravos. Why does she want to be a full-time [housewife ]? It’s not easy to be a full-time cast member. It’s a ton of work. You gotta get in it with everybody. I feel she’s earned the right to just sprinkle herself in where she wants to.”

Although Gina loves Vicki and thinks she’s “hysterical,” she also feels she’s above the show.

“Why don’t they make her a host of something?” she wondered. “You earn your stripes. It’s like a professional athlete and then they go and they’re a moderator on ESPN or whatever. I think she should graduate to the next phase. It almost feels to me like it is beneath her”

That said, Gina added, “If she is [coming back], I would be happy to have her.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County season 18 is expected to go into production in the coming weeks.