‘RHOC’: Kelly Dodd Has Two Words For Vicki Gunvalson: “Bye Bitch”

We’re just two episodes into this season of The Real Housewives of Orange County and already a friendship is severely on the rocks. When Kelly Dodd stopped by the Decider offices this week, she did not hold back when it came to the moment where Vicki Gunvalson “was breaking girl code, 100%.” Kelly detailed the moment she found out her ex-husband Michael was dating a new woman, and why it made her “go berserk” that Vicki was involved and didn’t bother to tell her. 

The single mom also revealed that she’s enjoying the dating life — but not “strange dick” — and why this season is better than her first on the show, when she had to block 250,000 people on Instagram. Oh, and Kelly also confirmed that yes, “there is drama with Shannon,” this season. 

I feel like there is a #NewKelly this season and I’m into it. Does it feel different for you?

I think it shows a different aspect of me, you’ll like it. I’m more fun, I’m happier, it’s just a whole new me. 

But there’s still drama though. 

There is drama, but you know what? It’s good drama. It’s not fighting all the time and mean, it’s like laughter and happiness and jokes. It’s a lot like the premiere; you’re laughing, you’re getting into the season. But there is fighting, when there is somebody who tells me they want to kill me three times. Three times. At the same time, like, “I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill you.” I can’t say who…

How was your response? Do you feel like you handled it well?

I didn’t handle it well, I never do. There is no “New Kelly” when someone pushes my buttons or pushes me there. When I get there, I get there. There is no turning back. The old Kelly is still there but you’ve got to poke her to come out. You want to play with the bull, you’re going to get the horns. 

Have you noticed more positivity in the social media response, even just from the first episode? 

Oh, for sure! I blocked 250,000 people in my first year. Literally. And I haven’t unblocked them because they were mean to me. Everything is so positive on my Instagram. Before it was so negative, everybody hated me, they came after me, there was a petition, it was gnarly. They were mean to me, I had to defend myself. 

Moving into this season, did you have faith in the Vicky/Shannon/Tamra hug? How positive were you feeling about that?

Well, that’s why I did the ropes course. When I was working in advertising, we used to do these little exercises all the time to get us to trust and build a cohesive group and I thought, why not do a ropes course and do the same thing that we used to do when I was working. Just bring us together, have some laughter, have some fun, trust. It’s building, building relationships.

It seems one of those relationships might not go so well, as Tamra and Shannon hinted at maybe a divide between them this season. 

Yeah, you’ll see there is a little rough bump and we all kind of get into it with Shannon. 

I was going to ask if you had to take a side.

Yes. We all get together and… there is drama with Shannon. 

I mean, it’s a season of Orange County so…

Well yes, there is a lot of drama. But I think this is probably the best season because there is so much fun and there is so much drama. It’s a balance which makes it entertaining to watch and you can’t wait to watch what’s going to happen next.

How about the new ladies? What’s your official stance on them at this point?

I like Gina, she’s from New York, she is cool. I like her style, she is down home, just a nice person. Emily, she is a lawyer, a little bit more straight arrow I would say. Nice. I can’t say anything bad about her, she is a nice girl.

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Me and my mini me @balboabayclub

A post shared by Kelly Dodd (@kellyddodd) on Apr 14, 2018 at 6:30pm PDT

I liked seeing Jolie on the show. Does she like doing it and how much does she want to be on? 

Jolie was in third grade when she started this show, [and now] she is going into the seventh grade. This is her life, I don’t think she thinks anything of it. She doesn’t see herself as wanting to be on it or not on it, this is part of her reality.

Does she just roll with it?

She loves it! She forgets that the cameras are there, she is so used to them being there. And she throws me under the bus a lot because our production people are like family to her, she knows them, and it’s the same people. She feels comfortable, she acts herself. But she is a character, I have to say.

Are you still enjoying the single life?

I am! I love it. Not that I love strange dick, because I don’t, but when you’re single, it happens. I mean, not all the time.

Is there anything you are looking for right now in the romance department?

Big dick? [laughs] No, I’m just kidding. Hot, rich. No actually I’m all about “thrills not the bills” right now, just to let you know.

And we are going to see that you and Shannon obviously handle the single life a little bit differently…

Oh, you’re going to see us having fun. We go out on the town, we party, we have a good time, we are drinking, singing songs, getting down with the get down.

Did either of your experiences influence the other?

I think our divorces and having some commonality is what really brought us together. We have children in common, we lived close to each other, the divorce, we had some common ground there so that’s what brought us close together.

How has Michael been? Do you guys speak?

Oh, we are like best friends. Michael and I go to dinners every Sunday as a family with Jolie. He comes and helps me clean out my garage, if I need something hung he hangs it. He is just a really helpful, great dad, great friend. He does everything for me still, I just really appreciate him. We are getting along very, very well.

Let’s talk about the Vicki situation.

I’ll be quite honest, I was excited for her to come over to the house. And then I get a text message. My friend works at the Daily Mail, and he texted me, “Did you know that Vicki is hooking Michael up with one of her friends?” And I’m like “No, with whom?” And he’s like, “Well, I can’t really tell you, I don’t know who it is.” [So I think it’s] some like hot 25-year-old girl she is hooking him up with, one of her daughter’s friends, I don’t know! I know everybody she knows. Well, it actually happens to be a girlfriend that I knew, I was friends with but I had a falling out.

Not Shannon?

[Laughs] No can you imagine? Oh my god! Well Shannon is dating this boy, my good girlfriend’s ex-husband, she is with him now.

Small world!

That’s why I don’t date in Orange County. So I get this text message and I’m like, are you kidding me? She is coming over right now. I didn’t know what to say to her because I thought for sure that when I sat down with her she would clear it up, we would move on. But when she became defensive and started yelling at me, that’s what took me over the edge. It wasn’t that she hooked him up with a friend. I hope he dates, I hope he finds a wife, and I’ve said that all along. It was that I was blindsided by the fact that I hear it from the press, and I don’t hear it straight out of the horse’s mouth. Literally and figuratively.

Did you think that she was doing the right thing by honoring him and not telling you?

No, she was breaking girl code, 100%. She didn’t tell me the truth. All she had to do was come out and say, “You know what, they met at a BBQ,” and they went on a couple of dates with a friend that I knew. If she would have just told me it was the girl that I used to be friends with, the chick is old as mold, dude. I would have been like, “Have at it!” I wouldn’t have gotten so upset. But the mere fact that I didn’t know was the reason I acted that way, and she was yelling at me and she didn’t clear it up. I wasn’t there to fight with her, I just wanted to know the content. Her reaction was what drove me to go berserk. And she didn’t tell me! I had to hear it from the press! That’s the worst. She’s my friend. Michael is my friend now, but at the time when this was filmed, he wasn’t my friend then. She is my friend. He is not. So as a friend, as a girl, having girl code, whether they like it or not, say the truth!

Did she understand where you were coming from?

No! And she still doesn’t. But that’s Vicki! That’s classic Vicki. Classic Vicki. Everyone knows who she is.

She is not going to change her mind. 

No, and she will do it again, she said. So you know, you have to take it for what it is. She is not a good friend, she is a surface friend, I can’t trust to tell her anything anymore. She just doesn’t have my back. I have a lot of friends, I have friends from kindergarten, I have a ton. Like, you know what, “bye bitch.”

But you know it hurts me because I’ve spent so much time with her. Like, off-camera. Off-camera we have done a lot of things, we have had heart to hearts, we have slept in the same bed and had multiple conversations over a lot of things that we don’t tell people. I thought that she was a true good friend but she will choose dick over a girlfriend any day. It was a crappy way to learn it.

And speaking of “bye bitch,” was there a moment at all this season when you wished any of the ladies from last year were still around?

No. I can’t even elaborate on that, no.

So you have not kept in touch with any of them?

Well Lydia just invited me to a party. I don’t keep in touch with her but she’s a nice girl. I like Lydia. Peggy I can’t stand, for obvious reasons. What was the other one? Meghan? Ugh, can’t stand her for other obvious reasons. Bye. Go back to the hole you came from.

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays at 9pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

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