The OG of The OC, Vicki Gunvalson

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Hello, gorgeous, my little uh housewive lovers.

00:00:10
Speaker 2: We're on that same boat together today.

00:00:13
Speaker 1: I'm super hyped because we have Vicky gumboleson.

00:00:16
Speaker 2: On the podcast. A drum roll. You had to warm up the tongue first.

00:00:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know. Should I try it again? We have.

00:00:29
Speaker 4: Joy to the world.

00:00:37
Speaker 2: Vicky Gunbulson, the o G of the O C. Easton. Are you like when I told you, well, actually I know this.

00:00:44
Speaker 1: When I said I said that, you said we have Vicky gung Wolson on the podcast. So my mom asked, who do you have on the podcast tomorrow?

00:00:50
Speaker 2: Vicky Gumbles. I said, I.

00:00:53
Speaker 3: Say, what now, I'm getting it together, I said, I'm learning.

00:00:57
Speaker 1: You're scrawny ass in your house right now and get to watching Real Housewives of Orange County OG episodes And did you Easton?

00:01:06
Speaker 2: Yes? And can I say I'm very happy I did iconic right.

00:01:10
Speaker 5: Yes. I love the way they were filmed back then.

00:01:12
Speaker 1: It's just wild. It's like you're a fly on the while watching home videos. For those of you who are just listening, I know the video of this episode is going to drop on Friday, but you will hear baby Sosa on the mic. She's she's ready to move man. She's sick of like being a baby.

00:01:30
Speaker 2: She wants to get those Michelin legs moving.

00:01:34
Speaker 3: Oh she just split up, yummy. Well, she didn't like me talking about Michelin.

00:01:40
Speaker 1: She also has like a two pay moment happening because she moves her head back and forth very quickly. She's not like she's talking about Yes, she's so darling. I will hand her off when we start the Vicki h the Vicki Interview. Move on out of here, because Vicky is all about her business. She has no time you just sit around and baby or baby. She's got insurance to sell. I'm excited for you guys to hear this interview because the og of the OC is alive.

00:02:09
Speaker 3: And well yep, and she's given notes.

00:02:12
Speaker 2: She's giving notes about insurance and how you pay taxes and taxes. Thank you Easton, get your pencils out.

00:02:19
Speaker 1: But also like spreading some other knowledge about other housewives, which T T T. I've been thirsty for some tea because you know, I've been out of the mix. I'm in this like mom Era, which is hell of fun.

00:02:33
Speaker 2: But it's also fun to sip some tea. I love you, I love a good Cama Mill.

00:02:38
Speaker 1: So we do have Vicky on the pod, and then next week on our bonus episode, we're going to talk about iconic moments from the Real Housewives of Orange County. I can't freakin' wait, so I won't make you guys wait any longer. You guys, Here is my interview with the og of the OC, Vicky gun wulsin Hi Gorge High.

00:03:01
Speaker 4: Honey, I used to be the Queen of Bravo, but my crown got off and got a little tilted.

00:03:06
Speaker 1: So I think you're still the Queen of Bravo. And you got that award at Bravo Con.

00:03:10
Speaker 4: That was cool. That was really very emotional for me because I was not expecting it to be so emotional. You know. I did my speech and everything like two minutes before I went up and and I was so grateful and thankful, but it was. It was emotional because I was like, is this my goodbye tour or is this starting another adventure? I didn't. I didn't really know.

00:03:29
Speaker 1: I feel like I watched something on Hulu and it was Megan King, who was on Real Housewives of OC, and she said that reality TV is kind of like a drug, and that was I mean, I've never done drugs. However, if you if you compared it to like a buzz with alcohol, totally get it.

00:03:50
Speaker 2: Is that how you feel?

00:03:51
Speaker 4: Yeah? So my manager at the time, years ago out in New York said, fame is like a drug and you want more of it even though you know it's bad for you. So that's how I correlated. I mean, you and I have gone through hell. I'm back doing reality TV, but I correlate that because I loved it. I loved doing it until I didn't until then it was become toxic, and then you go back to loving it again and it was as yo yo, I was only good as the last episode and then now, how did it going to turn out?

00:04:22
Speaker 2: I relate to that a lot.

00:04:24
Speaker 1: I feel like you said, you're only as good as your last moment on TV. Do you feel like your last moment on TV? Do you feel like you went out with a bang? Or do you wish that you could have changed things?

00:04:37
Speaker 4: I never really knew that my last time filming was going to be my last time. I think this is my first season that I haven't gotten the phone call saying come back as a friend or come back as a part timer. So I guess that's my new normal. Now I'm not friends with Tammer anymore, which is fine, and I'm friends with everybody else, so that's good.

00:04:56
Speaker 2: Do you feel like you guys can repair?

00:04:58
Speaker 1: No?

00:05:00
Speaker 4: You know what. I relate to relationships as birds of a feather flat together. So if you are a kind person and a loving person and want the best for other people, you can hang with them even though there's a fight. But when you see situations that I've seen for the last two years of how she treats people, it wasn't me, it was other people. I was only going to be next, so you know, it's a target that she goes after, and that's her quote unquote reality of how she's going to be a villain on these shows. I don't want to be around it. It's toxic, it's angry, it's swearing, it's calling people to see where. It's gross to me and I have a respectful business of thirty five years. I mean, some of my clients have come in here and said, are you friends with that camera? And now I can say no, because before I was defending her. Oh it's just TV. But people can see through that, like is that her heart? And is that who she really is? And she doesn't have to worry about it. She's getting paid a lot of money to do with that. I have a business that I have to go to every single day, regardless of my filming reality TV show. And I don't want to ever say. I mean, yeah, she's my best friend. We hang out together, and yeah she calls people to see where and yeah she's throwing nap ins and people's faces, And I don't want to I don't want to be around. My daughter was like, Mom, what you're doing. You're embarrassing yourself, you know. And I'm like, I didn't do it. I was a victim of it, or I was in on it, or it's just too it's too much angry, And I Lala, we have a big life, like you and I and your brother, anybody that's been on a show for as long as I have, you have you really you take that the good and the bad. But she's the only person that I that I don't want to film with, Like I've filmed with others and we've gotten a fight and we recover, but she just doesn't. And then all of a sudden, she's back. At the next episode, she's like, I'm.

00:06:56
Speaker 2: Not good, it's not well.

00:06:59
Speaker 4: But so that's the decision I made. She never got mad at me, we never got in a fight, but the way she treated Shannon last year after her DUI was disgusting and Shan's my friend and I just had to make a stance for.

00:07:14
Speaker 1: Who I want to hang with, right And I think Tamra, I mean, I think many people enjoy watching her because, you know, the drill. Even though someone people hate watch, that's what they do. They they love to see, they love to see chaos. It takes them out of their norm and their reality, and it gives them something to go back and forth about online. And I just wonder, like when you first signed on to this show, it was totally different. It was just I mean, and you were one of the only house well you were the first housewife ever and you actually went.

00:07:50
Speaker 2: To a job every single day.

00:07:52
Speaker 1: Ye what was it like having that and then going Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna open my life to cameras.

00:07:57
Speaker 2: Were you scared?

00:07:58
Speaker 4: Of course? And we only say four weeks and it was with a handicamp. So this is nineteen years ago when you weren't even born yet. So you gotta think like I was forty two and I'm going to be fourty three at the time, I'm sixty two. Now it sucks. Do you not want to be sixty I'm just I do not want to be sixty two, But it's happening, like hello, are you sure that driver's license number is the same with my president? It sucks because it goes lick at his flit so fast. But two decades I was on, and then season three she came on and we became buzzy wudsy until all of a sudden, I saw her like throw the wine in Ginikio's face, who was a friend of mine.

00:08:41
Speaker 2: Now what if you say that this is a cyst and deceased?

00:08:45
Speaker 4: Like she don't want to speak. So I was like, what is on here? So I took my producers sid I said, what's going on? He was just go with it, like do your normal reaction, like was she set up to do this? Or what is going on? This is not my show? And it just spiraled. I think when Teresa flipped the and all the other housewives came on and I created a show about showing our lifestyle being a mother, cooking dinner at night, raising my kids, going through a marriage that was going to be and eventually divorced and all the reality, and then me working in juggling and me in the limo, you know, typing away selling insurance online because I had to keep the lights on and work. There was no podcast in social media at the time. So I saw the evolution of this the whole franchise of all the Housewives shows. It was like they had to step it up, one more step up another, Like who's getting the most writing is the ones that are fighting, And I'm like, that's not me. I don't fight with people. If you want to fight with me, I'm probably going to exit out. I don't. I'm not shy of fighting, but I don't go into an episode going, Okay, I'm going to call her out on this. I don't give a shit who she's dating. I don't give a shit who everybody's doing. But she wants to like dig into people's personal lives and maybe they don't want that, Auntie, So I'm sure she could find shit on me all day on or you or you or anybody. I don't That's not what I wanted this show to be.

00:10:09
Speaker 1: About, right because I so I'm I do this thing where I go back and I east and knows, I go back and watch old school episodes of the franchise and right now I'm on OC And that was before Gretchen was even announced. So I just happened to do this, and now you know, everyone's very excited going back watching old episodes, and I just I loved the drama was so different. It was about like your son getting a tattoo, not your son, right, just right, you know the storylines and.

00:10:39
Speaker 2: Then you know, you guys exactly. It was so lighthearted. Well it was real life and not forced like less produced.

00:10:47
Speaker 3: Yes, in my opinion, because you've been on my TV for the past, yeah, just because that's all this one watches is just housewives, So she's you've been on the TV. But like seeing the production then and now, it seems like it was so free flowing and just happy and it was about your life and now it's the way it looks and even with you the way when I've been on there, Like, so this is.

00:11:10
Speaker 2: What we're gonna kind of steer towards.

00:11:12
Speaker 1: Talking, right, they give you a little bit of direction, you know, it's like we're talking about your sobriety and and I get that, and I love a produced show, but there was something very special about watching you go into the office and do your interviews day of on site.

00:11:31
Speaker 4: I know, I know, And I didn't have hair and makeup at the time look like it. But I didn't have Oh, Easton, You're so cute, and I didn't have, you know, a wardrobe person. It was like, you want to come and fill me. And they'd say, like, what are you doing this week? I'm like, I'm working, Like what do you mean what am I doing? I'm working and I'm taking brand to the prom or I'm picking up Michael from school. Like, no, I'm working. So that's what I thought this was going to be about. Now when Kathleen French, I don't know if you know, Kathleen French used to sit as down and say what she got going on for the next year, I'm like, I'm just gonna be living life. I'm going to be going to the river, I'm going to go to work, and then I'm gonna film a reality show. And I have no idea what my reality is. I had no idea my mom was gonna die while I was filming on set at Shannon's house and They held that back for an hour and a half when my daughter kept trying to call me. Nana died. Nana died. My mom was perfectly healthy, and you know, they shocked me with that shit. So how can I ever say to Kathleen French, Well, this season, I'm going to get a divorce and my Mom's gonna die while I'm filming.

00:12:33
Speaker 2: No, can I tell you? Vicky?

00:12:35
Speaker 1: Still, to this day, that scene of you getting that call is the most gut wrenching thing that I have ever watched in my life.

00:12:45
Speaker 4: It was and I still like my mom. We just celebrated ten years yesterday. My mom was an incredible mother. She was never sick. She got her hair downe that morning, gets her nails done, she bowled you play bridge. She's very active, She's like perfectly healthy. She never took medicine. And I talked to her. I'm like, I'm going to Shannon, We're gonna play bunko. She goes, are you still hanging around those girls? They're so nasty to you? And I'm like, everything's fine, We're gonna be protective. Mama a home, and then I got the call. She died. She lived on her bed and died. We have no idea why or how. So those things happened when you're filming a reality show. And I never knew obviously she was gonna die, but we're all gonna die, but it was those are the things that are real. And I don't I don't understand now why the show has to got It's gotten so dirty, it's so mean, and I don't know. Now they're going to sit with the girls this season is just starting and saying what is going to be filming about this year. Well, I'm gonna shann't get a dui. She had no idea, you know, So it's just got.

00:13:46
Speaker 2: Life happens.

00:13:48
Speaker 4: It got really weird.

00:13:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does get weird, and then you're living in this reality and you kind of work through things, and then it's for everyone to then go and judge and see their interpretation on and edited cut. And I can understand where there may be a part of you that's like I'm I'm okay that I'm not in the mix like that anymore, because it's not like you need the paycheck, like you got a real you got a real life career.

00:14:14
Speaker 4: I do need the paycheck, but you know the numbers that I was getting was very large. But I mean, everybody more.

00:14:21
Speaker 2: Money, the better, right, So it's of course, God.

00:14:24
Speaker 4: I didn't quit my real job because a lot of times they would say, you can't do both. I'm like, you're filming my reality. I'm the world, the one that works in saves and doesn't excel spreadsheet every time I get paid, so I pay state in federal that day and the other girls are like, oh my god, I owe so much money. I'm like, what'd you do when you were getting it? Didn't you pay that day for an income? And so I would try to teach them a little class about paying the taxes you get the day you get paid, and it's not your money half if.

00:14:53
Speaker 2: It's cool exactly, you know.

00:14:55
Speaker 1: I the first thing when I started making, you know, my little pennies and collecting them as I brought on a business manager, and that that was always so strange to me because he's like, this is the amount, but remember we're taking this much away and come away with my taxes half away.

00:15:15
Speaker 2: Why insurance? What drew you to insurance?

00:15:19
Speaker 4: While I was twenty eight at the time and I was getting divorced with my first husband, I have Michael and Brannon with my first husband, and my girlfriend sold me a life insurance policy and Mike, my first husband.

00:15:30
Speaker 2: Okay.

00:15:31
Speaker 4: I was like, how much did you make? She's like six hundred dollars. I'm like, you signed a couple of papers, and I signed a couple of papers and you made six hundred dollars. And I got to work at my dad's construction company. I was doing his accounts, payable and receivable.

00:15:42
Speaker 2: Were you where was this Illinois state? Illinois?

00:15:46
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, so you know, like bearing to Illinois. So when I asked Laura, like, what do you have to do to do this? Like I can sign papers all day long, I'll work during the day from my dad and then I'll sell insurance at night. And she's like, well, I can go get licensed. So you take a class online or you go to a school and you take a test and you pass the test, which I did. And then her company that she was working for at the time was Western Southern Life Insurance in Elmhurst, Illinois, and it was a debit business and they had all men and they sat at these desks and you would go out in the field and then come back with your applications and you'd go to the whiteboard and you'd write how many you wrote for the week. I'm like, I'm going to stand bag them. I'm not going to tell everybody how much I sold for the week. And I had the territory of Cabrini Green. And if you know Chicago, you don't want a territory of Cabrien Green. Okay, it's very dark and a white woman in a you know, a nicer car. I was always afraid I was going to come off, the wheels were going to be off, or I was going to be monger killed. So but back then, we had pagers. We didn't even have cell phones. This is how old I was young I was, and how old time and how fast time goes. So anyway, fast forward. I was really starting to get the hang at this and I was in competition with all these men who were fine making thirty thousand a year, and I had a babysitter paid for in my new condo after I divorced my husband. I didn't get child sports. I was like, oh my god, God, sell more than these guys, and how are they supporting their families? Well, their glass stealing was low. They were good at thirty thousand for the rest of their life. And I'm like, eh, that I'm going to make fifty thousand, and I'm going to go out and buy a brand new car, and I'm going to show my boss, Mark Medicare that I can do this. He's like, I pulled up in this car. He said, what are you doing? You can't afford this. I said, watch me. You dressed for success always regardless. Okay, So I dressed for success by the car I was driving, by the driveways I pulled up in. I was selling insurance. There was no online selling. It was press hard, three copies, and all of a sudden, I was like, this, this is my career because I could be for my kids. I quit my dad's construction accountspailable and receivable. I was doing their payroll and stuff. And I was twenty eight. You guys have no clue how it's a that is a baby a baby? And I had two kids, Yeah, they were five and six at the time, and I was like, no child support. My ex at the time was working for my dad and he quit, so he's never worked since. And so I went into insurance by default because it was a way for me to support my kids without I don't have a four year degree. I've got a three year degree. I went into finance and then I got my license, so once I could do that, I went into this full speed. I got all my continued educations, I went in all the tutorials, I went into YouTube that would so everything I did was learn, learn, learn, and learn, And thirty four years later, i'm it's not that I love it, it's an opportunity for me to live the life I want, which is very flexible. I have two houses in Porta Viata paid for cash, amazing my house in Porta da Kasas. So I'm responsible by the way. Both of you save more than you everythink you're going to ever have to say. And I would recommend don't pay quarterlies. Pay the day you get paid. Okay, I don't recommend quarterlies because now you're getting you know, paid, and then you got to pay this big chunk and it's been sitting in the savings making nothing. It doesn't matter. Get it off the books. So get it off the books. Now you know what, you have a net.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: For the month or I do love that.

00:19:19
Speaker 4: So don't. I don't push the irs in the state because the IRS is if you're making you know over three hundred and nine thousands, I'll get my turn out.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: Yes, educate as VICKI well, let me tell you. The schools don't teach. They should be teaching.

00:19:35
Speaker 4: This you as your tat Stomary guide. We have the new one that just came out for twenty twenty five. If you are single making more than from five over one five hundred one thousand to seven hundred and fifty one thousand, you're paying thirty five percent federal past our state ten to twelve, So forty five percent of the money goes away. It's not your money. You get ten thousand dollars, forty five percent goes away four thousand, five hundred that's your net. So it's fortunate enough to make over seven hundred and fifty one thousand. Now you're paying thirty seven so thirty seven percent of your portfolio or your money goes away. I have never paid interest or penalties to the IRS. Why because my dad told me not to. So he's been dead for twenty years. I never went to disappoint him, so I just paid up.

00:20:25
Speaker 2: I love this.

00:20:26
Speaker 4: I go on the FTV, the Federal Techs Board, and I go into the IRS, and I just suck it out of my account?

00:20:32
Speaker 1: Did we just all have mad knowledge dropped on us school that I know, like you should be teaching a course because these are the things that they need to teach in school.

00:20:41
Speaker 4: I tried to put my housewives girls, but they don't listen to me.

00:20:45
Speaker 1: You know what, though, I let that's very true. They did not listen to you. They shall have.

00:20:49
Speaker 4: But so then I use my next season's paycheck to pay these year's taxes and go, what the hell? What if you don't get back?

00:20:58
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm gonna have a heart.

00:21:01
Speaker 4: No, it's crazy shit.

00:21:02
Speaker 2: No, but they got.

00:21:04
Speaker 4: Now they're paying fifty five percent or sixty percent on the money that they made.

00:21:09
Speaker 1: I mean, did Michael ever stick with being an insurance what do you call it?

00:21:14
Speaker 2: An insurer broker?

00:21:16
Speaker 4: He's eighteen brokers? Yeah, he's my life insurance specials eighteen years. He's thirty nine. I know, I'm mold. And he graduated eighteen from high school, twenty one to twenty two from college, and then he went out to try to find a job and hime back and just like, can we talk him, like what happened to get you get a ticket?

00:21:36
Speaker 1: Like?

00:21:36
Speaker 4: What happened he goes. I don't want to do the eight to six, go home, have dinner, work out, watch TV. I don't want that life. I want the life that you showed us, which was balance, right, work out in the morning if you want, work out at night, or don't work out it all that day. And guess what. I have houses in Mexico and I can go there for five months. My clients don't even know him there because I'm on zooms and I'm right, got staff that handles things, and it's a life that I chose to live, which is not your typical eight to five, right. I mean, I was here at the office last night to eleven at night because I choose to be not because I have to be right.

00:22:13
Speaker 2: You could right.

00:22:14
Speaker 1: And I loved Michael and I forget what season, but he was talking to his friends how he was going to go into he was gonna follow in his MoMA's footsteps, and they were kind of like, why are you going to do that? And he said, if I can afford to buy a boat just by selling insurance, I'll sell insurance. I was like, that's just as simple as that.

00:22:34
Speaker 4: No, he's just so just so smart and he so I hired like ten of his college friends. He graduated University of calared Boulder, and I had a call center. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna teach you guys. This dial for dollars. You just dial for dollars. Back in the day, I had to drive around, knock on doors and do whatever, mailers and all the shit that we had to do when we first started the business. So I'm like, here's a list, dial for dollars. Whoever says yes they want to meet with you, you have him come in the office, or you meet with them, or do it over the phone. So that lasted like a year. They were doing spitballs and fart and all the shit. I'm like, okay, everybody's fired except my son. So Michael's like, Mom, I really need them all to go so I can concentrate. So I said, on your board in your office, I want you to write down what your minimum goal is to sell policies. So let's say he wanted to sell ten policies a month or twenty whatever the number is. So you don't end that month until you do all ten policies or by the premium, and then if you're short, you've fallen into the next month. Okay, so let's say you wanted to write five thousand dollars in premium. So one month he wrote for he's got to move that thousand over, son, I's got to write six thousand six months. And he said, I never fell behind because I never wanted to roll it over. I mean he's making he's over three hundred thousand, and he's in Spain right now, working remote. He travels the world. He's loving life.

00:24:03
Speaker 1: So he's not married, doesn't have kids, no joy his life.

00:24:09
Speaker 4: It's tried the relationship things, and it's gone well until a lot of the girls he's stated have their handout and they want to be taken care of, and from a mama that works. His sister works, My sister were workers. We just work. We don't look for a handout, right or wrong, We just don't.

00:24:29
Speaker 1: But how interesting, though, because I think that some men have come to you looking for a handout.

00:24:35
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, would you say that?

00:24:36
Speaker 4: Of course? Good good, good analysis. And I always thought I can do this because many times men take care of women. Why can't I take care of my man?

00:24:46
Speaker 2: I totally agree with you, nothing wrong with it at all.

00:24:49
Speaker 4: It's like whoever can do it. Let's just do it and enjoy life together. My current boyfriend, he's one hundred percent independent. I wrote down eighteen things that I needed. Independent entrepreneur, not a nine to five allah, non smoker, non drinker, you know all that shit. So it worked because I manifested him. But also I wanted to be the one that I didn't think they'd ever leave me because I was. I was a bread winner. I was taken care of them, and I don't want to be left. I have fear of being alone.

00:25:19
Speaker 2: Okay, is that abandonment issues?

00:25:22
Speaker 4: Probably? Okay, I just don't like being alone. I want a partner.

00:25:26
Speaker 2: You want companionship.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: But your boyfriend now lives in a different state, in a different state, ish, so oh.

00:25:34
Speaker 4: Go to work out for too long? So he moved to Arizona. He's the developer and last weekend he was home and he's like, I don't think it's going to work. I go what because being a part I don't like it. I'm like, okay, So I had to let him go do it because I want to control him and all that. So he's moving back.

00:25:52
Speaker 2: I love that because you got mood. Will he live with you?

00:25:56
Speaker 4: He has been Yeah, he has been for two years.

00:25:59
Speaker 2: Good.

00:25:59
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm happy for you because I feel like your heart is always in the right place from what I've what I've seen, and when you and I talk, your heart's always in the right place. So if you could talk about the from the days of dawn to let's let's count the guy you're with now out and who was the last night?

00:26:20
Speaker 4: So it was Brooks and Steve. So so Mike is now okay, my first husband. So I was married for thirty years. So I was married to Mike for nine and Don for twenty ish. Don and I would have never gotten divorced if we if I wasn't on a reality show. I know that to be true. So I love marriage. I love being together. We both went sideways for a lot of reasons. Yeah, books, I wanted to take care of He was from Mississippi. He had bad teeth, he had stupid clothes. I'm like, come on to California. I'm gonna go take you to Bloomingdale's and north Stum's and Saxoonore, gonna get you all the wardrobe and get out of the clock crack.

00:26:59
Speaker 2: He was your project.

00:27:00
Speaker 4: He was in my project that I had to get him a car and kind of do all this shit for him. So I did. I got a Marine droverer. He fit into Orange County very good, and you know how that went. So that didn't work. Five years of wasted my life. And then I met Steve, who's a narcissist. I didn't know what a narcissist was until you're with one, and then you go through the therapy and the trauma bonding and all that stuff. So that sucked. He left me for a thirty five year old.

00:27:30
Speaker 2: Oh my god, well.

00:27:31
Speaker 4: He's sleeping with me. He was banging this bimbo school teacher that she met him at a bar. She said he was rich and famous. He's neither one.

00:27:46
Speaker 1: So out of those three, Dawn Brooks and Steve, who did the biggest number on you and would say like that, that one was the hardest to recover.

00:27:56
Speaker 4: Brooks okay, you know, because he claimed he had cancer and I was supporting him and supporting him and supporting him, and I was going to work every day and Meghan King Edmunds decided to ask for his medical records. And I don't know what's true or not, but he wasn't going to produce him and then they said he led up cancer.

00:28:15
Speaker 2: So I don't know, how do you feel about Meghan?

00:28:17
Speaker 4: I want nothing to do with her?

00:28:19
Speaker 2: Okay, you want nothing to do with her?

00:28:20
Speaker 4: Okayro She wasn't smart enough to know this is just a reality show. You don't hurt people's lives. But because I'm a fiduciary, and because I'm with the National Ethics gurou, you can't go after me and say I faked cancer because I ensure people, right, So what type of ethics do I have if I'm lying to the public saying that my boyfriend has cancer and he doesn't. So it was just an icky thing and it was a horrible experience, and she wasn't smart enough to say, you know what, this this is a TV show and I'm not going to hurt VICKI.

00:28:55
Speaker 1: I understand that taking Megan out of it. Were there moments behind those doors that you had with Brooks where you had a feeling You're like, something is fishy, Like please tell me if this is real or not?

00:29:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he would say, of course it's real. I'm just not exposing my medical records.

00:29:12
Speaker 2: That's when he would make it make sense.

00:29:13
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I was like, you know what, you have that right. You're not getting paid to do this show. You don't have to show me or anybody. Don't don't do it. If you're not comfortable with it, don't do it. So it made sense to me, and I just I'm like, I love you, I believe you. Why wouldn't I believe him? Why would somebody ever lie to me about can't.

00:29:30
Speaker 1: Sold about something like that? Right, it's almost unfathomable. Do you even know where he is now?

00:29:35
Speaker 4: He's in Florida or Mississippi. Got married right away, so does Steve? Married right away? Both of them?

00:29:44
Speaker 1: Oh my god, You're like, good luck, Chuck, your luck shot them and then they go.

00:29:50
Speaker 4: It's like, oh my god, girl, what are you thinking? So yeah, there we go.

00:29:57
Speaker 2: Did you watch last season of Oh See?

00:30:00
Speaker 4: Really? I mean I watch it with my you know, like this is boring me and I and it's so scripted, typical of what Tamra was going to do the whole season. And I'm just disgusted by her because she at one time was a really good friend of mine and she.

00:30:14
Speaker 1: Nut I do miss that friendship. I missed the trace amigas. I really miss me some Vi.

00:30:21
Speaker 4: And Shannon and I are still friends. It's just too bad that she couldn't just be kind, you know, she don't stand that walk stuff. And then she wants in a oh, I'm sorry, I love you. No, you don't you hurt me like you don't. This is a this is a TV show girl. I'll just keep staying your lane. Right.

00:30:39
Speaker 1: How did you feel about Alexis Billino? Are you guys friends?

00:30:43
Speaker 4: No, she's a bimbo.

00:30:45
Speaker 1: No, no, but I so I was in Palm Springs, VICKI and my mom told me. We're eating at this restaurant downtown Palm Springs and I see Jim walk by and I say to my mom, you know Alexis. That's her ex husband, and she goes, well, you know, he has a rest here. And I was like, oh, I wonder what it's called. And I like look up at the sign and I'm like and she goes, what's his name? I said, his name's Jim. Jim What Jim Blino? We're here, Jimmy be So he comes up. He was so kind and he goes, you know, if you don't know me, I'm Alexis Billino's ex husband. And I was like, yo, trust me, I know all about it, he goes, Wow, what a shit show. She definitely made me look much better though, so even he had some thoughts.

00:31:24
Speaker 2: I hope he doesn't get mad that I'm I'm talking like that.

00:31:26
Speaker 5: But you know, Jim's good guy. Jim's I mean, I've known him loosely, but you know, he's never done anything wrong with me, and he's a good guy. But I think he still supports Alexis, crazy as that is. Really, she's got three kids, ones in college. I think two are approaching graduating.

00:31:46
Speaker 1: I don't think that Johnny Jay and Alexis. I don't think it will last because I think there was a high for them.

00:31:53
Speaker 4: They're not gonna get married.

00:31:54
Speaker 1: No, they were like bonding over this TV show. Now no one gives a shit. They had their moment last season, but I'm like, it was so embarrassing to watch that whole thing, and Shannon was just like off tear Chef's cause.

00:32:10
Speaker 4: She did great. I was really proud of her, but you know, there's the door, shut the door.

00:32:14
Speaker 2: It's like so stupid.

00:32:16
Speaker 4: Script that and then she then production said yeah they did, she did stay it in the car. How many times am I going to say that before it sounds right, like Bimbo. She didn't last, right, she was a friend. She didn't last. She's done.

00:32:29
Speaker 2: What's happening with Gretchen?

00:32:31
Speaker 4: So I like Gretchen. I'm happy for It's bizarre. She hasn't been on for like, I don't know, nine, ten, eleven years. She hasn't been out the long time.

00:32:39
Speaker 2: Does she have an does she have an orange or is she just a friend of.

00:32:45
Speaker 4: The friend of She has a daughter, Skyler, beautiful Skyler. She's been with Slade now like fifteen years.

00:32:53
Speaker 2: That's wild.

00:32:54
Speaker 4: I know because he dated Lauri and Joe when we first started Slaying and I started a long long time ago. Slay went through the ringer and Tamra did it to him and it was humiliating, embarrassing. And I think Gretchen has some paybacks to her, Like, you know, she's going to have an opinion on how really Tamra treated Slave. I think it'll be good.

00:33:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, they're still together, going strong. They're like the Bravo version of Headie and Spencer Pratt. No one thought it would work. It seemed one way, but it ended up being fabulous.

00:33:33
Speaker 4: It did.

00:33:34
Speaker 2: My last question for you before I let you go enjoy your day.

00:33:38
Speaker 4: I'm going to l A. Are you guys in La.

00:33:40
Speaker 2: We're in La. We're happy to have you here.

00:33:46
Speaker 4: Well, and you want Doug Beuten's cooking kibbets a couple hours.

00:33:53
Speaker 2: That's going to be so fun. Yeah, a heyday.

00:33:56
Speaker 1: I have actually two questions for you three. Would you ever go back to Real Housewives of Orange County?

00:34:03
Speaker 4: Of course with an Orange?

00:34:06
Speaker 2: With an Orange? No, friend of business.

00:34:10
Speaker 4: You don't know what's going on. You don't know what's I've got up here at a dinner scene and Tampas calling Shannon a con. I'm like, what what just happened? What? It was very difficult for me.

00:34:22
Speaker 1: No. I watched it in your face and you cried. You were like, this is not what we do to each other. You could tell that you were somewhat in a different headspace than when we last saw you.

00:34:32
Speaker 4: Yep.

00:34:33
Speaker 1: The other question is what was the best thing to come out of doing Real Housewives of OC meeting you?

00:34:41
Speaker 4: So I just feel the relationships that came from it. And also I was always very insecure. I didn't like the public speak. I do speeches now all the time for my work, retirement planning seminars, I can go on a TV show, I'm not nervous. I think the confidence that it brings to you think.

00:35:00
Speaker 2: I mean, I agree with you.

00:35:02
Speaker 1: It brought a completely different type of confidence because you almost have to fake it until you make it.

00:35:06
Speaker 2: Like you said, you dress for success.

00:35:09
Speaker 1: That's kind of what I did when I would be on camera because I was very intimidated by just life and not everyone would say, you're so confident. I'm like, I am the least confident person on the planet. But if I show that, this world will break me down, right, So, yeah, I agree with you. It does bring confidence. Is there one thing that you look at and you're like, this was the worst thing to come out of signing up for that show?

00:35:33
Speaker 4: My divorce. Probably my divorce. I divorced a good guy and that was that I regret. And I even tell my daughter last night. I was talking to Brianna and she's really close with Dan. I said, you know what if I could do a redo and this was twelve years ago, and she goes, you still think about it? I said, yeah, because I broke up the family's dynamic, you know. And he wasn't third father because I was married first to Mike. The debut Dad and then came in three years later. But I still feel the show definitely changed me. It changed us because I was traveling. We never spoke on the phone. He was traveling with work. We were just going two different directions. We were an intimate at all. I was like, what in the hell am I doing here? I'm in my early fifties and I'm miserable. So I think that that is my biggest regret.

00:36:26
Speaker 1: That breaks my heart because I am watching the episodes where you're with Dawn and he. I really loved you guys together.

00:36:35
Speaker 4: We weren't good married, we're good people, like we would do good and then we'd go home and then he'd yell at me about something that I did. I'm like, I didn't say that. He's like and yell. I don't like yelling.

00:36:46
Speaker 2: You shut down.

00:36:48
Speaker 4: I just get like, I walk out the room. I'm like, I can't be yelled at. This is disgusting. I'm you know of age, you don't yell at me. Right, So then it was starting to get like so much tension all the time.

00:37:00
Speaker 2: Are you guys still friends?

00:37:02
Speaker 4: Ish?

00:37:03
Speaker 2: Ish?

00:37:04
Speaker 4: No, I would say, he's mad after you.

00:37:07
Speaker 2: Wrote the check and divorced him. You were like, I'm good, he's good.

00:37:12
Speaker 4: I know that was not it was not a good day, but I I care for him. I don't say we're I wouldn't say we're friends.

00:37:19
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I'm happy that Brianna still talks to it. Yeah, that's great. Before I release you, I want to make sure that your your kids are good. It sounds like your son is living the dream. But you have four grand babies. I do.

00:37:35
Speaker 4: I don't get to see very much. That's a sad part. They're in Oklahoma still. They moved out and they're super happy. They got a beautiful farm. They got like three sheep cow eighteen. They're just living their best life. And she works full time and she's she's a perfect mom. She's doing great.

00:37:53
Speaker 2: Does she have four boys?

00:37:54
Speaker 4: Three boys in my little Cora girl. She's going to be three in a couple of weeks.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: So, and I love the name.

00:38:00
Speaker 1: I'm really happy for you, VICKI. I'm happy that your guys moving back. I'm happy that the family as well. You know, whether you're on our TVs in real time, you will always be the most iconic housewive. You're a household name. And I so enjoy going back and watching you and I'm thrilled you are on the podcast today and.

00:38:19
Speaker 4: We're going to put you on our podcast. My friend, myself, my podcast. So the reason why we named that was, I don't know if you remember the one episode I was yelling at camera and I said, you're supposed to be my friend, my soulmate, my friend, and we named the podcast after me yelling at her because she.

00:38:33
Speaker 1: Was me to Mel's Definitely, I was not planning on having my two children in studio and I want to give you my full attention when I do your podcast, so once I i'm solo, I will be there.

00:38:45
Speaker 4: Okay, we love you, I love you.

00:38:47
Speaker 2: I have the best day. Say travel lay bye. Bye you guys.

00:38:51
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Give Them Lalla Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did. Go out there, watch some housewives.

00:39:00
Speaker 2: And I will catch you guys next week. Bye,