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Tamra Judge is defending her decision to meet up with Katie Ginella on the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
After she was seen sitting down with Katie, 41, in an effort to get to the bottom of what was being said about her “naked wasted” drama with Gretchen Rossi, 46, and how Katie was involved, Tamra, 58, responded to backlash from her co-stars, many of whom didn’t understand why she felt that Katie, who failed a lie detector test earlier this season, would be a credible source.
“I wanted to know what else was said, how it was said, how it was presented, who heard it … Because I think there’s certain things you just don’t pull out of your a**hole,” Tamra explained on the October 9 episode of the RHOC: After Show.
“I think she pulls a lot out,” Gina Kirschenheiter, 41, replied.
“I think everything that comes out of her mouth, she pulled out of her a**hole,” Emily Simpson, 49, agreed.
Still, when it came to what Katie knew about Gretchen and their “naked wasted” encounter, Tamra felt convinced that “Gretchen absolutely told her” she’d been drugged and hospitalized during a dinner date last year.
“At that point, I’m like, ‘If these things are being said about me, this is stuff, even, it’s clearly a lie, but if it’s being put out there, people will believe that,’” Tamra reasoned.
But according to Emily, Katie was always going to “tell [her] whatever [she wanted] to hear.”
“Here’s what doesn’t make sense to me: What Katie did is a million times worse than what Gretchen did. The difference to me is that Gretchen’s having a conversation in a private setting with friends and she’s talking sh*t, which we have done numerous times. However, Katie is the one who took that conversation, went to someone who has a platform, and told them about it,” she explained, seemingly signaling Katie’s interactions with bloggers.
Also questioning why Tamra was taking Katie seriously was Shannon Beador, 61.
“After Katie sat down with Kiki Monique, Tamra’s gonna go and meet with Katie and take something she’s saying as the truth?” she asked. “That just shows you how determined and obsessed I think that Tamra is to get some information that’s gonna hurt Gretchen.”
“I don’t get that at all,” agreed Heather Dubrow, 56.
Even Jennifer Pedranti, 46, felt that Tamra had ulterior motives.
“Katie has nobody and Tamra is so needing anything against [Gretchen] and she knows Katie came for [Gretchen] so that is an obvious friendship that Tamra’s going to pursue. That’s how Tamra operates,” she noted. “I would just tell [Katie] to be careful.”
In her own After Show segment, Katie admitted she was “extremely happy” to meet with Tamra.
“Not only does it feel good that somebody’s reaching out, even if it’s because we have something in common now, but that somebody believes me,” she shared. “Her saying, ‘I believe you,’ that meant a lot to me because this whole time it’s been, ‘You’re a liar.’ She’s like, ‘I believe you,’ and I’m like, ‘Good, because it’s the f*cking truth.'”
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.