The 'Real Housewives of Orange County' star opens up about her falling out with Kelly Dodd and why their friendship is 100% over.
The train is headed full steam ahead on The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Well, the rumor train is, at least… when it comes to that rumor about a train. Over the last few episodes, the ladies of RHOC have discussed Kelly Dodd’s alleged involvement in a sex act known as a train, which Kelly has denied. The women have agreed that it’s just a rumor, too, but, according to Tamra Judge, it needed to be exposed to save the group from "two years with Vicki Gunvalson saying, 'I know something that I can’t reveal!' And keep saying it every time, 'I know something! I know something!' So, we all know!"
"I feel I did the viewers a favor," Tamra tells ET of exposing the rumor. "It was something that was told to Shannon [Beador] and Vicki last year, offseason. They told me, we three knew about it. I never really thought it was gonna be brought up or an issue or anything, but then Vicki kept going, going and I'm like, 'Are you talking about the train?' Almost like, 'That stupid rumor?'"
Tamra says she takes full ownership for putting the rumor out there, but had no idea "it was gonna go that far." The train drama sparks a runaway train of drama, in general, when it comes to Kelly’s relationship with the other women. According to Kelly, it’s the first of many "lies" spread about her this season.
"So, when the season started this year, Kelly and I were talking a lot," Tamra admits. "We were drawn together because I know what it's like to be a victim of Vicki rumors, right?"
Kelly entered the season seeing red toward Vicki, who made a veiled allegation against Kelly involving drug use at the season 13 reunion. Kelly has vehemently denied that she uses drugs.
"She would talk to me all the time and I’m like, 'I get it, I get it!'" Tamra recalls. "And she's like, 'I don't know how you can forgive her!' And I'm like, 'It takes time.' I felt bad for her! And then it would just -- I would say, three quarters into the season, everything falls apart."
"Kelly does something towards the end of the [season] that is very hurtful and very damaging," she adds. "I tried not to bring too much light to it, because I really didn't want to talk about it, so I kind of kept those emotions in."
Tamra won’t reveal what exactly transpires between her and Kelly. She just says, it’s bad.
"I really thought that I was trying to help her, and I was being a good friend to her, and then all of a sudden, I go away on a vacation and come back and I find out she's trashing me to everybody," she teases. "So, I really don’t know what happened, 'cause I haven't seen it yet. I'll find out when everybody else does."
Kelly seems to be in a bad place with Tamra, Vicki and Shannon today, aka the "Tres Amigas." In an interview with ET last month, she admitted she was confused as to why Tamra and Shannon "chose" Vicki over Kelly, when both Tamra and Shannon had both cut Vicki out of their lives previously.
"Trust me, they are both as equally as mean to each other," Tamra says. "I think me and Shannon are trying to navigate between the two of them, and we always say we're on the right side. That's it. They're both being mean to each other. If you're gonna be nice, then I'll agree with that. If you're gonna be mean, I'm gonna disagree with that. That's it."
Tamra says her conflict with Kelly is different from that with Vicki, for a multitude of reasons. One being history -- Tamra and Vicki had known each other for more than a decade -- and two being how the women fight.
"It's taken me a long time, Shannon and I both a long time, and I think that Vicki is in a place in her life right now where she is happy," Tamra says of repairing that relationship. "She's with Steve [Lodge], who is an amazing guy and she's changed for us. I mean, if it happens again, I'm definitely done. So, it took me a couple of years, even the beginning of this season, I was not fully onboard with Vicki. I was being very cautious. It's been probably the last four months that we have gotten closer."
"I don't have that background with Kelly, and there is a difference between Kelly and Vicki," Tamra says. "Vicki doesn’t go after your children. Kelly just gets low, very low, nonstop. Nonstop on social media … The rest of us, we don’t go there. The show has changed since Kelly has been on. Just ask Heather Dubrow."
As far as making amends with Kelly, Tamra says no way -- though, she said the same thing about Vicki just a few years ago. And, on a recent episode of the Everything Iconic With Danny Pellegrino podcast, Kelly admitted she thinks Tamra is good for the show.
"Oh, really?" Tamra questions. "Because I thought she said that I should be fired, which one is it?"
On that same podcast, Kelly called Tamra and the "Tres Amigas" old and thirsty, and said she’d like to see Gretchen Rossi rejoin the show because "Gretchen hates Tamra to the core and could just eat her up alive."
"Well, I'm not really afraid of that woman,” Tamra replies, seemingly refusing to say Gretchen's name. "And I have text messages from Kelly saying she hates that woman too … Kelly can speak out of both sides, always."
"Right now, she has Emily [Simpson], who's been out there bashing all of us, every single one of us on social media, and we have all kept our mouths quiet," Tamra adds. "The only one that she has right now is Emily."
Emily and Kelly were the only two RHOC stars not at a recent party thrown by Shannon.
"Well, I didn't do the inviting, that's not my fault," Tamra notes, before admitting that she did post a photo of the group and hashtagged it "fabfive."
As for what’s still to come this season on RHOC, Tamra calls it "outrageous."
"To me, it gets a little dirty, a little too dirty," she says. "Interfering with people's lives and such, but I guess that's good TV."
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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