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The The Real Housewives of Orange County cast is pushing back after Vicki Gunvalson criticized Carmella Garcia’s parenting following Thursday’s episode of the Bravo series.
Shannon Beador, 62, described Vicki’s remarks as “beyond cruel,” while Emily Simpson, 50, called criticism of someone’s parenting the “worst” form of judgment. Vicki, 64, defended her comments about Carmella, 44, as Carmella spoke about how much motherhood means to her and addressed Vicki’s personal attacks.
“Vicki, sometimes your words can be really harsh. Do you know that?” Shannon said during the September 24 episode of the RHOC: After Show. “To make a statement that a mother is not being a mother, it’s an incredible insult … It’s just beyond cruel. Cruel.”
Vicki had suggested that Carmella was failing as a parent and relying on her former boyfriend, Danny Hampel, to raise her children. Shannon countered that Vicki “doesn’t even know Carmella” and “can barely pronounce her name.”
Shannon also insisted that children should be considered off-limits during cast conflicts.
“And especially when you’re not taking the time to get to know someone intimately, how can you make a judgment like that?” Shannon asked.
Meanwhile, Gina Kirschenheiter, 42, criticized Vicki for showing so little compassion toward Carmella as she navigated her complicated history with Danny.
“Carmella has been sharing all f*cking year about how she’s having such a hard time even looking at this man, forgiving this man, being around this man, and then Vicki says he’s raising her kids for her and she’s not a mom,” Gina said. “First of all, her children are older. It’s a normal thing for you to sometimes have to be away from your children.”
Emily said she had expected Vicki to stop questioning Carmella’s parenting after the women previously confronted her about similar comments.
“You would’ve thought Victoria would have learned her lesson after the comment she made in Vegas. She got a spanking for that, and we sat down at the pool with her and told her how she needed to genuinely apologize and you can’t take shots at someone’s mothering and that she doesn’t even know Carmella well enough,” Emily recalled. “And you would’ve thought she would’ve taken something away from that. [But] no.”
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Emily also noted that Vicki had spent significant time away from her own children while building her business.
“For Vicki to have built the business she’s built, she’s invested a lot of time into working. I’m sure other people were helping her with her children,” Emily said. “Just because a woman has someone else help when you’re away doing something doesn’t mean that you’re not taking care of your kids. That’s the worst thing. I hate it when people say stuff like that.”
In her own segment, Vicki accused her castmates of refusing to move past the controversy.
“This is a dog on a bone. They keep talking about that, don’t they?” Vicki said. “[And] I don’t recall saying ‘raising.’”
Despite that clarification, Vicki appeared to stand by the substance of her criticism, arguing that Carmella was not consistently present.
“She’s got a 14-year-old. There’s no way I’m leaving my 14-year-old. But Danny is there, so she feels comfortable with that, and I’m glad for that,” Vicki said.
Carmella later shared her perspective on the ongoing feud with Vicki.
“It insinuates that I’m a sh*tty mom. I live for being a mom. Like I live for that,” Carmella said. “You can call me trash. I’ve heard it all over the years … she just went for the jugular … because he watched them one time when I went to Vegas.”
Also on the After Show, Jennifer Pedranti, 49, pointed out that she left her kids at home amid their group trip to Vegas, as well.
“Ryan was home raising my children. Thank you, Ryan,” she sarcastically added.
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 20 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.