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Tamra Judge donated to a GoFundMe honoring her former enemy’s late stepson. Recently, Gretchen Rossi’s fiancé Slade Smiley lost his 22-year-old son Grayson to brain cancer, according to reports.
Many fans claim Tamra’s donation is a diss toward Gretchen, considering the GoFundMe was established by Slade’s ex Michelle Arroyo, Grayson’s mother — who recently claimed Slade owed money in child support. During Gretchen’s stint on Real Housewives of Orange County, she and Slade battled continually with Tamra, who seemingly enjoyed it.
Tamra donated to the memorial fund for Slade’s late son.
She gave half a grand for the GoFundMe, which was established to cover Grayson’s medical senses and memorial. As of now, the fund is getting closer to $70,000, a halfway mark.
Teddi Mellencamp, Tamra’s podcast co-host, also donated the same amount, which suggests the Bravolebs discussed it beforehand.
Tamra Judge and Teddi Mellencamp Donated to Grayson Smiley’s GoFundMe Memorial Fund
Michelle claimed Gretchen only pretended she had a relationship with Slade’s son to garner sympathy. Other insiders, however, told the outlet that Michelle’s allegations are absurd.
On their Two T’s in a Pod podcast, Teddi and Tamra encouraged fans to give money to Michelle’s fund, and Tamra claimed Gretchen received a decent paycheck for Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip, which she recently filmed.
In an interview with OK!, Tamra gave a peek into her reintroduction to RHOC.
“I was a little nervous to go back because some of the girls had a lot of things to say about me. I think somebody said they would dance on my grave and someone said there was no place for me on the show anymore. I went back in thinking, ‘Who is my friend and who is not my friend?’ Shannon Beador and I were not in a good place, so there’s a lot going on with me on the show this season. I’m bracing myself for what’s to come,” said the 55-year-old.
She also addressed her previous firing from the show. “I was not expecting to get fired or demoted,” said Tamra. “As a business owner, I understand it. Maybe they thought they could get someone younger or cheaper. I was still totally shocked.”
She went on to say, “Toward the end, I felt like there was a distance between me and some of the producers. I was a little bit depressed in the first year because I’ve been doing this for 12 years and my kids are all grown up. My kids then said, ‘Please go back on the show. You know you need to go back.’ I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”
Tamra said she returned to the franchise “guns blazing.”
“I did not hold back. I think I had a little bit of Atlanta Housewife in me this season,” she continued. “I’m a little bit more outspoken because I had two years of aggression to take out!”
Surprisingly, castmate Emily Simpson became one of her allies. “It was an evolution of talking and working things out,” Tamra explained. “I love her, and I think she’s great on the show. The cast is really good and there’s people that have become friends that weren’t friends before.”
Tamra shared that she and Shannon are now in a good place, though “it didn’t start out like that … The hardest thing for me is I really loved and we were such good friends [before my firing]. When I felt left out, she was distant from me and I assumed she didn’t care about me like I thought she did, but we worked through those things.”