Who dat? Real Housewives of Orange County alum Gretchen Rossi shocked her Instagram followers on Tuesday, Sept. 8, after posting a makeup-free photo of herself, in which she looked completely unrecognizable.
In the grainy pic, the former Housewife, 37, wears a fluffy pink bathrobe in bed, and snuggles up beside her puppy. Rossi’s porcelain skin is completely stripped of any makeup, including eyeliner, fake lashes, and lip color.
Though she looks completely different than her usual dolled-up self in the photo, Rossi reveled in her relaxation. “My Happy Place at the end of the day,” she wrote on Instagram. “With my boys cuddled in bed, no makeup, ready for beauty sleep… #feelingblessed #lovemy4boys #grateful.”
Rossi also tells Us Weekly why she decided to share the bold photo.
“I don’t post those pics very often because people are so rude and condescending, especially because I am a true blonde,” she reflects to Us. “But when I get people commenting saying, ‘Thank you for being real, and for being proud of who you are with or without makeup,’ it makes dealing with any negative comments worth it. My goal is to help inspire and uplift as many women as I can to be comfortable in their own skin.”
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty, who was fired from RHOC in fall 2013 after four seasons, also opened up to Us last month about life after Housewives.
“Oh my gosh! Do I look happier and relaxed?” the designer asked Us rhetorically at an event. “I exchanged the fighting for the fashion (laughed). I’ve been so focused on the Gretchen Christine Collection and expanding that and growing that. It’s been really nice. When you’re filming full time and so caught up in the drama and the crazy, you kind of forget all the other stuff that’s really important in your life and you don’t have as much time to do all that. So it’s been really nice to have time to focus back on things that are really important to me.”
