In season 10 of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County, one of the most prominent storylines of the season was the women of the show trying to figure out if Brooks Ayers, the now ex-boyfriend of Vicki Gunvalson, actually has cancer like he claims.
After being attacked by her fellow cast members and the media, Gunvalson spoke to E! Online about her fallout with the women on the show and even revealed that she almost didn’t return to the show for its 11th season.
Gunvalson, who is the only original cast member still appearing on the show, said “there’s a lot of emotions that have happened” since her and Ayers broke up in August of 2015. She also says she hasn’t seem him since he moved out of the house.
Gunvalson also said she was “so hurt” about how her fellow cast members reacted to Ayers having cancer and how quickly they doubted him when claims started to rise that he may not have cancer.
During her interview, Gunvalson said she really didn’t want to come back to the show, but said her “story wasn’t finished” and she didn’t want to end her storyline as a victim.
As for what’s to come this season, Gunvalson said “it definitely starts off awkward. But the best part of this season is we have a new cast member. She brings a whole lot of opinions and I love her. We have a great relationship.”
The new cast member that Gunvalson is talking about is Kelly Dodd, a friend of housewife Meghan King Edmonds, who is introduced to the show in the first few episodes of the new season.
When it comes down to the relationships with some of the women on the show, Gunvalson said she wasn’t surprised how best friend Tamra Judge acted, saying it was Judge’s time for her to turn on Gunvalson, since she’d turned on all of the cast members at some other time on the show.
Ayers still maintains that he was battling cancer during the filming of the show and even spoke to Andy Cohen to talk about what happened in the 10th season of the show. When the show had its reunion special for season 10, Gunvalson said still believed Ayers had cancer, despite mounting evidence that pointed to the contrary.
Relive all the drama from the 10th season on Hulu, where seasons 1 through 10 are streaming. The Real Housewives of Orange County premieres tonight, June 20, at 9 p.m. on Bravo.