Lara Sophia 
Heather Dubrow reveals her true feelings about Shannon Beador and Tamra Judge‘s reconciliation and rollercoaster friendship.
Fancy Pants admits that she 100% believes Tamra and Shannon’s friendship isn’t real. She notes that Tamra and Shannon are only friends again for the sake of the Real Housewives of Orange County and their mutual storylines on the show.
“Let’s just go with the facts. The facts are that they were, quote, “best friends,” and then, as soon as Tamra left the show, they didn’t speak. Now that she’s back on the show, all of a sudden, we’re very close friends again. You do the math,” Heather tells Today.com.
She acknowledges that it feels terrible that she’s the one who encouraged Shannon and Tamra to mend fences, and now she is on the outs with both women after filming season 17 of RHOC.
“It sucks, it feels terrible. I mean, three women together are difficult, three kids together are difficult, someone’s always an odd man out,” Heather explains. “As much as I wanted the two of them to become friends again, because I really did, my one concern was that I was going to be on the outside, and it’s exactly what happened.”
As for Shannon saying that Tamra’s return to RHOC was better than Heather, the mom of four finds the dig “hilarious.”
“By the way, I find that hilarious. I am not competitive, she can have it. The truth is, like it’s an ensemble show, and we all want to be on something successful, right? I mean, would we be here if I hadn’t come on last year? Will we be wherever we’re going next year if Tamra hadn’t come on this year? It’s all cumulative, and it’s all fantastic. I don’t understand why it’s a competition, you know? Putting out someone’s candle does not make yours burn brighter,” she quips.
Heather then admits that she’d love to see former RHOC stars Gretchen Rossi and Alexis Bellino back on the show.
“She’d be awesome back. I think she’d be great,” Heather says of Gretchen. “It’s interesting, Alexis (Bellino) and I have seen each other a lot. Our kids were in a play together a few years ago, so we started talking. We have a lot in common and with our children and whatnot. So you know, we’ve been talking, and then Gretchen and I have mutual friends, I see her at events all the time.”
Meanwhile, during an appearance on the June 28 episode of Out & About, Heather dished on season 17 of RHOC. Heather admitted it was a “really tough” season, and that she’s not in a good place with her castmates.
“I feel like at the end of the day, so many of us have history. There’s love there. There’s long-term relationships. But there’s also some people that do things that just think they’re empirically right, and there is no accountability,” she noted. “I hope in my life, as I get older and try to be more self-actualized, that I look at these things and go, ‘Okay, let me rewatch this and see if my memory actually holds true, or am I the problem?’ And in some cases, maybe yes, but in some cases, no.”
Speaking of season 17, Heather also touched upon her falling out with Tamra.
“Tamra said recently that I did something very sh-tty to her, and the irony is, she’s the one that did a sh-tty thing, I just exposed it. I usually don’t [expose things], but sometimes you get pushed to a breaking point, and right or wrong, you break down,” Heather teased.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Wednesdays at 8 on Bravo.
