The ‘Real Housewives’ star says her piece on all things Lucy Lucy Apple Juice, sharing how she feels about Lisa Vanderpump today.
It’s time to put puppygate to rest.
Well, at least that’s Teddi Mellencamp’s hope. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star admits she and her castmates are tired of talking about Dorit Kemsley’s former dog, Lucy Lucy Apple Juice, and the plot Teddi alleges Lisa Vanderpump devised, all to make Dorit look bad, by spreading gossip about the dog via Teddi. Lisa has vehemently denied any involvement.
“Believe me, we don't want to be sitting there talking about this for this long,” she tells ET, six episodes into the season. “But all of us got -- each, individually -- got upset about the injustice of it. Why can I sit there and say, 'Yes, I made a mistake. Dorit, I'm sorry. I don't know what took over me that I would go to this length to do this. I am sorry.' And she can sit there and hug me in that moment and understand, but Lisa Vanderpump isn't capable of doing that?”
“Truthfully, nobody needed some grand apology,” she adds. “It could've been like, 'Listen, I took things too far. I was upset.' That's really all it would've taken. We're a forgiving a bunch.”
Teddi says she initially indulged in a plot against Dorit because she had hurt feelings after the season eight reunion.
“There's something that happened after the reunion, where I was in the car with Kyle, and Lisa was in the car with Dorit, and we were all supposed to go to dinner,” she recalls. “Then Lisa called and was, with Kyle, she was like, 'Oh, Dorit refused to go to dinner if Teddi is there.'”
In the months between filming the reunion and filming season nine, Teddi claims she had a series of cold encounters with Dorit, which she says she confided in Lisa about months before cameras went up again. Teddi also asserts that Lisa was still angry with Dorit over comments Dorit made about Lisa on season eight, though it’s unclear what comments those were. (Dorit and Lisa did get into it over their friendship multiple times over the course of the season.) Teddi says that’s why Lisa would want to devise a plan in the first place.
“I think that I was an easy person to help do that for her,” Teddi offers. “I think [Lisa and her Vanderpump Dogs employees] banked on the fact that my anger towards Dorit would surpass my moral compass. And in the end, it didn't.”
When ET asked Lisa why she would want to go against Dorit last week, she turned the question around and simply said, “You tell me.”
Teddi says Lisa’s Vanderpump Dogs employee, John Blizzard, started texting her more frequently, seemingly speaking on Lisa’s behalf, planting the first seeds and spreading information about Dorit’s dog. The dog, of course, wound back up at the Vanderpump Dogs center after being dropped off at a shelter.
“We all see what the fans are saying, and yes, it would've made more sense for Dorit to take the dog originally to Vanderpump Dogs,” Teddi notes. “But if that were the case, when Dorit called Lisa and said, 'Hey, I gave the dog away to this woman,' why that day didn't Lisa say, ‘Pick that dog up and bring it back to Vanderpump Dogs?’ It makes no sense.”
On top of that, Teddi claims the Vanderpump Dogs employees told her horrific stories about Lucy being locked in a cage, in a basement, while living with Dorit, which Vanderpump Dogs’ Executive Director, Dr. John Sessa, appeared to confirm by tweeting that the center never wanted those details made public.
“The truth is, that story has changed multiple times,” Teddi shares. “And by the time I'd even filmed at Vanderpump Dogs, I was given a completely new story … That's why it never became about the dog, it became about friendships.”
Dorit has since shared a series of photos and videos of Lucy looking happy and playful while she was living with the Kemsleys. Dorit seemingly couldn’t share the clips until after the story had played out on TV, which would explain why she stayed relatively mum when the dog story first leaked to the tabloids months before RHOBH began airing. Teddi says, as far as she knows, fans won’t get clear answers on how the story got out to the public.
“Regardless of who leaked it to the press, it was to get ahead of it, so that the viewers would already have their opinions about Dorit and the dog before everybody started watching the season,” she says. “That’s clear. Who leaked it? I don't really care. But it only benefits one person.”
Teddi does own that she never had any conversations with Lisa directly about the dog plot. Still, she’s convinced Lisa is the one who orchestrated it all, which, again, she’s denied.
“There was no doubt in my mind that this was Lisa and Vanderpump Dogs wanting me to do it, and I regret going down that road at all,” Teddi says. “I should have, from the very get-go said, 'You know what? This doesn't involve me. Leave me out of it.' But I didn't.”
Today, Teddi says her relationship with Lisa is non-existent. According to the accountability coach, the last time the two spoke was at co-star Denise Richards’ wedding. That episode airs Tuesday night.
“I don't really have anything to say [to her],” Teddi admits. “I've already said everything I need to say. And you know, I'm not pushing to build any relationship with her. I'm fine to be in the same room with her. I'm fine if the girls -- each of their relationships are their own, so they should do what they want. But I, I'm really good.”
It’s not long after Denise’s wedding, though, that Lisa stopped showing up to group events altogether. Teddi says the explosive fight between Lisa, Kyle Richards and Lisa’s husband, Ken Todd, first teased on the season premiere is really when things fell apart. The argument will air in full in the next couple of weeks.
“I don't think it's possible for reconciliation without truth, without being honest, without being vulnerable,” Teddi explains. “I made a mistake. I apologize for it, and I truly feel bad for that mistake. I was, you know -- I messed up! But you have to live with that, we're not perfect and that's why people can move on from things.”
The next chance for the cast to face Lisa will likely be the season nine reunion, which won’t shoot until this summer. For now, Lisa is playing coy on whether she’ll show up, but Teddi is betting she will -- and if she does, Teddi says there’s still a place for Lisa in the group.
“This is the thing. I think the women have gone through a lot worse, a lot more,” she says. “Everybody's in a place where we figure it out.”
For more from Teddi, including her response to claims she took part in any of this to get her brother, Hud Mellencamp, a spot on Vanderpump Rules -- he is now engaged to a Vanderpump Dogs employee -- and her message to the viewers sending threats her way, watch the video above.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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