Noella Bergener may be a Real Housewives superfan — but that doesn’t mean the friendships she’s established during her time on The Real Housewives of Orange County aren’t genuine.
During a new interview, Noella addressed claims of being obsessed with the show before explaining her past friendships with Vicki Gunvalson and Braunwyn Windham-Burke, suggesting “toxic” Heather Dubrow silenced Nicole James, and firing back at Heather for accusing her of giving her child pornography.
“I watched every single episode of every single season of almost every single franchise. I love Bravo. I love the show. I’m not ashamed to admit that,” Noella admitted to Entertainment Tonight on January 18. “[But] every single woman that I met — every single conversation that I had — all the relationships that were forged, they were sincere.”
In recent months, Tamra Judge has said that Noella has been trying to get on the show for years, noting that she befriended Vicki before she was demoted and enjoyed a friendship with Braunwyn before she was fired. Noella’s estranged husband, James Bergener, has also claimed that she wanted to get on the show so badly that she actually chose it over their family.
But according to Noella, her friendships with Vicki and Braunwyn were real.
“Vicki actually did [James’] insurance,” Noella shared. “And we traveled with [Vicki and now-ex-fiancé Steve Lodge] often.”
As for her relationship with Braunwyn, Noella wouldn’t say what specifically happened between them. However, she did admit to having “trust issues” with the former cast member and confirmed their friendship came to an end when she found out that she was going to be featured on RHOC season 16.
Although Noella and Braunwyn have not yet reconnected, Noella told ET she was hoping they one day would and added that she and Nicole made amends after Nicole “crossed over to the dark side” during filming.
After suggesting that Heather and her husband, plastic surgeon Terry Dubrow, who Nicole took legal action against years prior to her RHOC casting, said something to Nicole that led her to shut down anytime she tried to address the case, Noella hinted that she and Nicole were able to reconcile their friendship after Nicole realized that her friendship with Heather was “fake” — and that Heather was “toxic.”
Noella and Heather were at odds for the majority of filming on season 16, especially after Noella accused Heather of getting physical with someone at her home during the dramatic premiere episode. And while there hasn’t been any concrete evidence shared of any such thing, Noella believes producers may be protecting Heather for the moment.
“Maybe they’re waiting for her to just be honest,” she suspected. “But the fact that she’s calling me psychotic and a liar, and apparently I need to go home and take care of my children and my mental, emotional wellbeing? Because I’m… unless I view her as perfect I can’t be friends with these women? It has to come out now.”
As the episodes of RHOC continue, fans will see Noella join the ladies in Mexico, where Heather confronts her for allegedly providing pornography to one of her children, likely her bisexual daughter Max, who Noella was extremely excited to meet earlier this season.
“Heather used her words incorrectly and she put out a very salacious and somewhat criminal allegation because she kind of needed to get up something more salacious than shoving people against walls,” Noella said in response to the allegation.
RHOC Live Viewing – This is also the live viewing thread for tonight’s new episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County season 16, which airs at 9/8c on Bravo.