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She lives her life in HD, and by that, we mean “high drama.” Heather Dubrow has found herself at the center of the drama again on The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 18 after her cast mate and new Housewife, Katie Ginella, claimed to have evidence that Dubrow called the paparazzi on herself and her husband, Terry Dubrow, to take photos of them at Disneyland in 2022.
The story first surfaced on The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 17 when Heather’s cast mates — which also include Tamra Judge, Shannon Beador, Emily Simpson, Gina Kirschenheiter, and Jennifer Pedranti — brought up the paparazzi photos as a way to accuse Heather of using the paparazzi to deflect rumors that she and Terry were divorcing at the time.
Heather denied the claims and the story died down… until Katie claimed at a girls night out in Season 18 that she had proof that Heather, in fact, called the paparazzi on herself. Heather, for her part, isn’t sold on Katie’s so-called evidence.
“Her proof is some rando text message from someone named ‘Mark,’” Heather told StyleCaster at her annual Champs Event in New York City on July 31. “I swore on the lives of my children that I’ve never called the paparazzi. I would like to be emphatic about that. Just so there’s no misunderstanding. There are no semantics involved in that statement. I didn’t tell anyone to call the paparazzi. I didn’t wink at someone. I didn’t have knowledge of someone. I had nothing to do with it.”
She continued, “If I had, I would’ve said it. People do that kind of thing all the time. I just did not. This is a character assassination that I will not stand idly by. For someone to come into our group, have this weird vendetta against me. I met this girl two or three times, and there’s this laundry list of things. It’s weird.”
Heather cited her feud with Katie as an example of why Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Sutton Stracke told Katie earlier in Season 18 that she “wouldn’t want to go against Heather Dubrow.”
“Sutton texted me that night and she was like, ‘Why do people think that’s weird I said that to her? I wouldn’t go against you, and they shouldn’t come against me either,’” Heather recalled. “I think the bigger question about the whole thing is why does [Katie] care so much?”
Despite her drama with Katie, Heather explained what hurt her even more was watching her co-star’s Tamra and Emily’s conversation about the paparazzi rumors later in the episode and Tamra’s “glee”-ful reaction to Katie’s claims on the cast’s night out.
“My first reaction was obviously not good,” Heather said of how she felt when she watched the scene. “To be honest with you, I understood at the bar why the girls reacted that way. They were at a bar, they were drinking, and they were presented with some salacious-sounding information, so I understood that. I mean, do I think it’s weird that no one asked to see the proof? Yes”
Heather went on to reveal that, while Tamra texted her to explain her reaction to Katie’s claims, she’s still not over her hurt feelings.
“The thing that hurt me the most was the scene between Emily and Tamra. That was very hard to watch. I don’t even know if I’ve really processed it yet,” she said. “Tamra texted me today. A very appropriate, very nice text, but it doesn’t mean I’m over it. That was tough to watch. It’s tough when your friend’s knee-jerk reaction to something negative about you is glee.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County is available to stream on Peacock.
