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Teddi Mellencamp defended Tamra Judge against Gretchen Rossi‘s suggestion that she cost her longtime fiancé, Slade Smiley, work on Monday’s episode of her shared podcast with Erika Jayne.
After Gretchen, 46, suggested that Tamra’s claim about Slade being a “deadbeat dad” led him to struggle to find employment, the 44-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum and her co-host fired back at the idea, noting that Slade’s past struggles with child support had nothing to do with Tamra, 58.
“So Gretchen blames Tamra for the reason why Slade hasn’t worked in 10 years,” Teddi began on the September 8 episode of Diamonds in the Rough as she and Erika, 54, looked back on the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
“She did say that he had lost work because of the bad things that Tamra had said,” Erika replied. “And if you just Google it, you could see.”
After Erika wondered what Slade did before RHOC, Teddi said he may have been in banking or real estate before mentioning that Slade had “been on the show multiple times with different women, four different women.”
She then signaled Slade’s past arrest, revealing to Erika and their listeners that he was booked for not paying child support.
“It’s out there on the World Wide Web. I don’t think it had anything to do with Tamra,” Teddi explained as Erika said being on a reality show doesn’t make you “unemployable.”
“For me, when it comes to Gretchen, I’m like, this is just too old. No one cares,” Teddi noted.
She then told Slade, “Get a new job.”
“Or get a job,” Erika added. “[And] I’m not being shady to Slade. It’s just, if this is what’s going on. And I’m not judging … but you can get a job if that’s the case. We all get to get jobs.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.