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The topic of bloggers has been a significant one on season 19 of The Real Housewives of Orange County. As a result, Kiki Monique recently appeared on the show in a sit-down interview with Gretchen Rossi and Gina Kirschenheiter. Now, she’s revealing why she didn’t want to film only with Gretchen.
As viewers know, Kiki’s name came up after claims about Tamra Judge, 58, previously drugging Gretchen, 46, were shared. She met with Gretchen and Gina, 41, to confirm that Katie Ginella, 41, had told her the story, as well as to inform Gina about what she had been told regarding her “Asian designer” comments.
Kiki appeared on a recent episode of Carlos King’s Reality with The King podcast. While there, he asked her if the RHOC producers told her she would be filming with both Gretchen and Gina. She said, “I believe they wanted me to film with just Gretchen.”
“I was only supposed to film with Gretchen, and I said, ‘Look, there were three people at this dinner, Gretchen and Katie were two of them,” Kiki continued. “I don’t know how comfortable I feel only filming with Gretchen because this is someone who was also part of the story.”
She went on, “I would feel more comfortable if someone else was there. This may be the messy part, but this is the only way I thought I could clear my name. I said, ‘I have a piece of information also from that lunch that nobody else would know and would prove that this information was told to me. I would rather her [Gina] be there and I’d rather tell her there in that moment what was said.'”
“Because honestly, I feel like if I say it to her face, I’ll know also if there’s any truth to that story. And so, I was really the one that pushed for Gina to be there,” Kiki added.
Additionally, Kiki spoke to US Weekly about the ordeal. She started by discussing the first time she met Katie, which was in September 2024, when the RHOC star came on her Reality Checked show. According to her, “I was really excited [about Katie coming on] because I had really been a cheerleader for Katie that whole season, and I knew she wanted to say some things on my show to contradict some of the things that Emily [Simpson] had put out there in that season.”
She then revealed that Katie added her to a group text with Jennifer Pedranti, 48, and told her to let them know when she was in Orange County. This happened about a month later. Kiki continued, “We were literally just having a good time. I obviously asked her about, you know, ‘Oh, you’re shopping for a reunion. Can I see your reunion dress?’ I was, I was doing things that anyone that’s nosy like me would be asking and just really, you know, just like having a good time.”
Kiki said they also talked about the then-upcoming RHOC season 18 reunion. According to her, “It was her first season as a Housewife and I did want her to succeed, so we’re just talking about that and we’re literally just having a casual lunch, nothing very serious.”
She then noted when their conversation took a turn. “And then as the lunch kind of went on, that’s when she mentioned that she’d had a dinner with Gretchen,” Kiki said. “Now, I, again, this was October 2024. So, Gretchen had not been announced as a Housewife.”
Kiki stated that Katie said something in the realm of, “Did you know that at that [Naked Wasted dinner], that afterward [Gretchen] had to go to the hospital and they found drugs in her system.” Still, she admitted that Katie did not ask her to spread the rumor.
She added, “And that’s the one thing I do also want to clear up. She never came to me and said, ‘I want you to take this information and do something with it.’ And so, I don’t like that that’s being told because, you know, even though she’s called me a liar, she did not do that.”
From there, the journalist and podcast host said that she was reminded of the story when it was announced that Gretchen would be returning. According to her, “‘I [didn’t] want this to come out,’ but if there’s any truth to the story — as someone who wants to get to the bottom of things like this — I do actually want to find out if there’s any truth to this because, if she went to the hospital, if there is like a toxicology report, I would love to know.”
She then reached out to a journalist friend for help in verifying the story. It was assumed that this was Dave Quinn. “And that journalist helped me, and when he got back to me, I was very comfortable that that story about the hospital just wasn’t true,” she continued. “So, I did nothing with it ‘cause there was nothing to do with it.”
She went on, “I ended up having a separate conversation with [a second] journalist, and that conversation included a lot of things, but this story [also came] up. It was an off-the-record conversation. I never expected it to get back to anyone on the cast, but it was taken to Tamra Judge, and that’s how it ended up coming up on camera. I didn’t know that that happened.”
Kiki then said, “All I know is at the end of February. I’m on the tarmac, about to fly to New York for two weeks. I get a text from Katie saying, ‘Are you around to film?'” She stated that this was when she learned her name was mentioned on camera.
She added, “And I’m freaking out cause, like, I don’t want to be involved in this. The whole point was to not have this story be brought, you know, to camera, and now it’s kind of the opposite has happened.” A producer from the show later reached out and asked her to film.
In discussing the scene she filmed, Kiki revealed, “And Gretchen was horrified. She denied it. She said she never said it. I didn’t really know how to feel because again, at this point, I also didn’t know who to believe.” Kiki continued, “Up until that point, obviously, like, I really only had a relationship with Katie, but I have a woman in front of me who is crying and saying she didn’t say this, and I can believe [it]. Do I believe that Gretchen could have said something about the hospital, and Katie could have taken it and ran with it? I can believe that, too.”
Additionally, Kiki said that she feels that Katie was trying to “protect” herself and “the other women on the show.” She went on, “[Katie] figured I could just be collateral damage because who was going to believe me, especially if I keep getting labeled a blogger …[which] in this Bravo world, it’s a very negative thing.”
She called the situation “upsetting.” However, another source told the outlet, “There is a piece of this story with KiKi that has yet to be told.”