As any Bravo fan knows, it was major news earlier this year when Vicki Gunvalson, the ultimate OG of the Real Housewives franchise, was demoted to a recurring cast member after 13 seasons. This season has been up and down for her, with some episodes revolving around her, and others cutting her out completely. While she hasn’t been a consistent presence on camera during season 14, though, she’s still stirring up plenty of drama.
On last week’s episode of the show, all of the ladies came together to celebrate Vicki’s birthday. All of the ladies, that is, with the exception of Kelly Dodd. Kelly and Vicki have had issues for years, but their road has been especially bumpy this year. Kelly has repeatedly accused Vicki of spreading malicious rumors about her, including a particularly salacious one about a sex train. But earlier this season, it seemed like these two had finally made a breakthrough when they made up on a trip to Arizona. Yeah, that clearly didn’t last. When Kelly declined to attend Vicki’s birthday, she told Tamra that the only celebration of Vicki she’d attend is her funeral. Vicki obviously wasn’t thrilled when she found out about this comment, but there’s something coming up later this season that really set her off.
Last week, Vicki filed a lawsuit against Kelly Dodd, Bravo TV, and Evolution Media (RHOC’s production company), claiming that Kelly said things while filming the show that could damage her reputation and career. The suit alleges that, on a trip to Key West, Kelly Dodd made three damaging comments about Vicki’s life insurance business, and demands that the producers cut those comments from the upcoming episode.
In the trailer for the full season, we can hear Kelly call Vicki “a con woman,” and the other comments mentioned in the suit include an accusation of “prey[ing] on older people” and “engag[ing] in fraud.” Basically, it sounds like Kelly probably gets wasted in Key West, and throws out some accusations at Vicki, in her true messy queen way. I get why Vicki would have an issue with a fraud allegation, but this is really not that out of character for Kelly.
The best part about the lawsuit is that Vicki filed it anonymously, so she’s identified in the legal documents as “Jane Roe.” This is pretty hilarious, considering that, according to TMZ, the suit refers to Jane Roe as “a TV personality on ‘RHOC’ who is also a retirement planning specialist and prez of an insurance and financial services company.” Like…Vicki…that ain’t anonymous. There are literally only seven women on the show, and she’s the only one who runs an insurance company.
But earlier this week, it was reported that Vicki had dropped her lawsuit against Kelly and the producers. According to a People source, “She has spoken to the producers and has resolved the issues amicably,” which sounds like a nice way of saying that she realized this wasn’t going to end well for her if she went through with it. With her demotion this season, Vicki is already in a precarious position on the show, and suing the people who sign your paychecks probably isn’t the best way to get back in their good graces. Also, Vicki’s insurance business is not going to be crippled by one drunken accusation from Kelly Dodd, especially when Vicki has spent four seasons antagonizing Kelly.
There are still several weeks left in this season of RHOC, and I have a feeling it’s going to be an exciting finish. Obviously, we have the Key West drama with Kelly and Vicki to look forward to, but that’s not it. This week, the show set up for a major showdown between on-and-off BFFs Shannon and Tamra, and everyone in the cast has really been bringing it this season. Bless these messy women.
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