Putting the past behind them? Kelly Dodd opened up about how she feels about Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge following their Real Housewives of Orange County departures.
“Honestly, I wish the best for them, but we are not missing them at all,” Dodd, 44, told Us Weekly exclusively on March 4, while promoting Positive Beverage’s new charity initiative, October 365. “It’s actually a relief. It’s actually really fun and enjoyable and [we’re] not walking on eggshells. It’s going to be a lighter, more fun, not as toxic show.”
Dodd said she hasn’t “run into them because they don’t live in Newport Beach,” but she also doesn’t see herself being friends with Gunvalson, 57, or Judge, 52, again after the “dark cloud” from last season of the Bravo spinoff. “They’re not my friends,” she admitted to Us. “I wish them and their families the best.”
Dodd, meanwhile, has more important things on her radar besides her former beef with Gunvalson and Judge, including her engagement to Fox News reporter Rick Leventhal. The Bravo star, however, admitted that she isn’t in wedding planning mode at this time.
“I’ve been so busy with the show and the company, and my daughter [Jodie] and Rick,” she explained to Us. “I just got an assistant today, and I should have gotten one a long time ago! I’ve been in the middle of a move and it’s just been overwhelming. I have not had time to plan anything! I have not had time!”
RHOC fans saw Dodd feud with both Gunvalson and Judge throughout the show’s 14th season. In January, Gunvalson and Judge announced their exits from the popular franchise ahead of season 15 within weeks of each other.
Out of all the RHOC women, Dodd revealed that she has fostered a close friendship with Bronwyn Windham-Burke. “Bronwyn has been really supportive of my business. All of them have! But Bronwyn really pushes it for me, and her husband, Sean [Burke]. They’ve been great,” she said.
Aside from messy feuds, Dodd revealed to Us this month that one of the things on her agenda is a new charitable initiative through her company Positive Beverage, called October 365. Through this philanthropic venture, Dodd and Positive Beverage cofounder Zach Muchnick will donate $20,000 to breast cancer research. Part of the proceeds from their new Prickly Pear Lemonade drink will go toward the cause as well.
“Zach’s grandmother died of breast cancer, and two of my friends got diagnosed with breast cancer — 1 in 7 women will get breast cancer and you don’t even have to have the BRCA gene. So it’s beautiful — we’re launching this … you know when people launch a charity it’s usually for just one month or whatever,” Dodd told Us. “Well, we want to do 365 days. We’re going to give an initial $20,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and then we’re going to give an additional five cents for every can that’s sold.”
With reporting by Ingrid Meilan
