Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo, Instagram
Andy Cohen addressed the backlash toward Vicki Gunvalson amid the current seasons of Real Housewives Ultimate Girls Trip and Real Housewives of Orange County. Andy hinted at why he thinks Vicki was acting different at the Atlanta party on RHUGT, and he reacted to Luann de Lesseps‘ claim that the RHOC cast gives Vicki “crap.”
On the new season of RHOC, Emily Simpson labelled Vicki a “Debbie Downer,” claiming she has a negative attitude. The comment offended Vick, who brought it up repeatedly afterward.
On a recent episode of RHUGT, Vicki said she felt uncomfortable at a party in Atlanta because no one was paying attention to her. Some fans online, however, have speculated that she was actually uncomfortable for racist reasons.
On SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, Andy addressed the recent backlash toward Vicki over her behavior at the RHUGT party in Atlanta – and her attitude on RHOC.
“First of all, she shot Girls Trip first. She hadn’t been on television in, you know, a few years, so she was kinda coming into it,” said Andy. “In terms of Vicki on Orange County, what I like about it is that we have been watching this woman for 20 years, and you are seeing her … at a different life stage. And yes, she’s at a different life stage than many of the other women, but you know, you see her reflecting on her life a lot on that show. She regrets divorcing Don. She is dealing with some ailments.”
“So maybe for the viewers, it’s not vibing because she’s at such a different place than Gina or Emily or whatever,” Andy added. “She is an elder. She’s 20 years older than them, but I find that interesting.”
But Andy said Vicki got “her groove back” on the latest episode of RHUGT, and for the rest of the season, fans will see the “Vicki that you love.”
“And I think the women are understanding her better, and I think she’s understanding all of the women a little better, with the exception of Luann,” he said. “I think that there are several Housewives who have been singled out as being … one of the main faces of the Housewives who … it’s maybe harder for them to share the spotlight as an ensemble show.”
“I’m not saying this about Vicki, but I’m saying in general. This is something that has come up, and it’s natural,” he said. “You respond to other people getting attention in different ways, and you look back at how are people looking at you.”
Andy pointed out Luann’s claim that Vicki didn’t get attention from her RHOC costars.
“[The RHUGT cast has] been to Orange County, they’ve been to Beverly Hills, they’ve been to Atlanta and they saw how NeNe was revered. They saw how Kyle was revered, and now Luann is like, ‘Wow, you got crap from those East OC women.’
“I also wanna point out, we really cut down and almost eliminated the drama between Tamra Judge and Shannon Beador at the OC stop, and they were really in a thing, and it really kind of dominated and maybe overshadowed everything else that was happening,” said Andy, referring to Tamra’s fight with Shannon. “So that did wind up being the kind of downer stop, which could have gotten in Vicki’s head.”