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Credit: Danny Ventrella/Bravo, Sami Drasin/Bravo

Gretchen Rossi explained her side of the roofie rumor while appearing on Heather McDonald‘s podcast alongside fiancé Slade Smiley on Tuesday.

After Katie Ginella, 41, reportedly told Radio Andy’s Kiki Monique that Gretchen, 46, claimed to have been drugged by Tamra Judge, 57, amid the “naked wasted” episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County years ago, Gretchen admitted to being “blindsided” by the allegations as she looked back on the dinner in which the conversation first began.

“When Tamra tells me that story, I’m obviously blindsided … my brain starts going back, because you’ve gotta remember, this is months and months prior,” Gretchen explained on the August 26 episode of Juicy Scoop. “Back in September or October is when we went to dinner, me and Katie and [Jennifer Pedranti], [Ryan Boyajian], and [Matt Ginella].”

According to Gretchen, she and her castmates spent three hours together and “a lot” was shared, including her past experience with Tamra trying to get her “naked wasted.”

“I explained to [Katie] what naked wasted was: ‘She tried to get me drunk,’ and I was like, ‘I was so sick. I probably should’ve gone to the hospital the next day,’” Gretchen recalled, adding that her statements were the “gist” of what happened that night.

“So when all of the sudden I’m hearing now, months and months later, that Katie is telling some blogger that I said that I got roofied by Tamra, I’m just like, ‘Wait what?’ I couldn’t even comprehend what she was telling me in that moment,” Gretchen stated.

After being confronted by Tamra about what she told Katie, Gretchen admitted to misspeaking, explaining that she was “very tired,” “really distraught,” and triggered by what had happened between them back in 2008.

“Clearly, I [misspoke] in that moment … It’s like I was having PTSD from it,” she shared. “I misspoke in that car ride and Tamra’s misspoke about autism and she’s misspoke about the FBI allegations [against Ryan], so it’s like, we all have misspoke at some point on this show.”

“Even when I saw that episode, I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ and then it cuts to me saying, ‘No I never went to the hospital,’ so I’m sure people are gonna be like, ‘Well that doesn’t match up.’ Well, they’re right because the way it shows, it’s not matching up,” she continued. 

What was even “weirder,” according to Gretchen, was that Katie had called Jenn, 48, and Ryan, 49, in February, months after their group dinner, to ask for more information about what had occurred between Gretchen and Tamra. However, because Jenn and Ryan were friendly with Gretchen and Slade, 51, they called Slade on a three-way.

Looking back, Gretchen said Slade got spooked by the fact that Katie appeared to be talking to someone in the background as she questioned Jenn and Ryan about the “naked wasted” incident.

“He could hear somebody in the background, so he’s like, ‘Who’s she even talking to?’ And then she hangs up the phone and she’s like, ‘Never mind,’” Gretchen revealed as Slade said Katie didn’t realize that Ryan three-wayed him in on the call.

Then, after Slade declared that Katie’s recounting of their dinner conversation was “not true,” Gretchen admitted to believing Katie’s denial of her alleged chat with Kiki at first.

“Katie is swearing that she did not tell Kiki this fake story … and she’s adamant, and so I’m believing my friend Katie and, like an idiot, defending my friend Katie,” she shared.

Once RHOC began airing and Gretchen saw Katie suggest that she would no longer be “protecting” her and Slade as she accused them of spinning stories, Gretchen was caught off guard.

“I’m like, ‘Protecting me from what? Your lies?’ Because I have not gone out and told anybody this,” Gretchen insisted. “Had I told anybody this story, it would’ve already been out … and if I actually thought that I would’ve been the first person to put it out .. I would’ve been yelling that 17 years ago.”

As for why Katie would “make up” such a story, Gretchen suspected her castmate realized in New Orleans that the cast was “on to her” and felt she was leaking information to bloggers, and that she needed to come up with a “plan B.”

“People have come out even beyond Kiki, saying, ‘Oh, she told me this story too,’ other bloggers since the show’s been airing. Clearly, she’s the one that’s out doing this. I’m not the one that’s out trying to spin some story. And really, from Tamra’s point of view, she should be mad at Katie cuz Katie’s the one that’s out trying to spin the story,” Gretchen reasoned.

Moving on to Matt, Gretchen said that Katie’s husband alleged that Slade had called him amid their trip to New Orleans and told him, “‘Protect Gretchen. Hold the line.’”

Also on the podcast episode, Gretchen said that when it came to Katie and her ongoing lies, there’s a lot that fans have yet to see.

“All of us cast members are catching her in weird lies, and we’re all going, ‘Something is weird about this. Something is up with this.’ And then every time we turn around, every day we wake up to some new story that Katie’s out in the press spinning. And we’re like, ‘What’s gonna be next?’” she concluded.

The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.