Vicki Gunvalson Sets the Record Straight About This 'RHOC' Rumor
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She also shared some advice for those taking a dip into the dating pool.
The Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson made headlines a few years ago over her tumultuous relationship with then-boyfriend Brooks Ayers. And now, nearly seven years after the drama first started, she's ready to set the record straight.
Last Saturday, Parade caught up with the reality TV personality and CEO of Coto Insurance and Financial Services at BravoCon in New York City. During our chat, the 60-year-old mother of two revealed that of all the hot gossip from the show, there's one rumor that still irks her.
We asked Gunvalson if she could set the record straight about anything, what would it be, and she replied, "There's a lot of record straights I'd like to do," before she re-hashed the comments made by former Bravo co-star Meghan King Edmonds.
"Gosh, I don't even know if I want to bring it up, but that whole Brooks thing that Megan Edmonds did, that was just the most horrific thing that anyone could accuse me of," Gunvalson admitted.
The "horrific thing" she's referencing? That would be the many statements made by Edmonds that slammed her co-star and accused Gunvalson of "profiting off cancer" after her then-boyfriend, Ayers, claimed to be receiving cancer treatment.
"He did it to me; I didn't do it to anybody–I'm the one that got taken advantage of and lied to. So for anybody to think otherwise, what did I gain?" she proposed.
Gunvalson continued: "I lost over $400,000 in that relationship. I look back on that time in my life, and Bravo said, 'just keep filming,' even though I had no idea what the other girls were saying about me. It was horrible–it was really, really, really disgusting, actually. I don't know that I'll ever recover from that."
For those needing a little refresher, during Season 10 of RHOC, Ayers admitted that he had forged medical documents from a cancer hospital to prove he had been diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013 without revealing his medical records–a claim he has since maintained.
During the saga, which originally aired back in 2015, Gunvalson quickly became the target of Ayers' wrongdoing. Ayers also previously told PEOPLE that the two had broken up in July of that year, as Season 10 aired, and that Gunvalson wasn't "in on it."
"Vicki was not 'in on any cancer scam or created storyline.' There is no scam. Second, Vicki never has paid me to be quiet regarding this 'supposed' scam nor has paid me to release any statements," Ayers said as per the outlet.
Gunvalson was also under fire after she became involved with the organization Kill All Cancer, serving as its spokesperson and helping to launch the charity. As Entertainment Tonight reported, Gunvalson shut the charity down shortly after she helped kick it off due to "naysayers" and critics claiming she was profiting off the charity.
One critic, in particular, was Edmonds, who told Bravo that she thought the promotion for it seemed "forced" and that the organization was more of a "fundraiser" than a charity.
"I think people think that I was a little overzealous, and maybe I was,” Edmonds later told PEOPLE. “But it really sucked to be dealing with cancer, with my friend LeeAnn dying of cancer, and to see this guy Brooks, this sleaze-ball trying to profit off of cancer with Vicki.”
While Edmonds hasn't offered a public apology to her former co-star, Gunvalson said she has grown from the ordeal. Mainly, how to spot–and not ignore–a red flag.
She also acknowledged the irony of how she was villainized, only for incredibly popular documentaries to be released in the subsequent years that warned people of situations like hers.
"So, Dirty John, Debra [Newell] and I are actually good friends. And we meet a lot because her story is very similar to mine. And there are other shows out there now, like Tinder Swindler, it's alive and well–the scammers that are out there right now that are looking for successful women that only want to be in love," Gunvalson explained.
The RHOC star left us with a few words of advice for those who want to avoid falling for a scam artist, "When other people are seeing things that you don't see, listen to them," she pleaded.
"Also, follow your gut. I knew something was up, but I couldn't prove it. He [Ayers] would convince me that I was 'getting sucked into storylines' and that 'it's all Bravo,' and I was like, 'well, what's the truth?' And that's hard."
"A lot of women, and I'm sure also men, go through this. And it's hard–because all we want is love," Gunvalson concluded.
The reality TV star previously opened up about her struggle to understand Ayers' motive for making unsubstantiated health claims in a Nov. 2015 episode of What What Happens Live, "What is the reason? That's the biggest question I have in the whole world," she told host Andy Cohen.
Season 17 of The Real Housewives of Orange County is said to premiere sometime in 2023, with Gunvalson stepping down as a Housewife and returning to the show as just "a friend."
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