Kelly Dodd came under fire on social media for having a bridal shower amid the COVID-19 pandemic as her wedding to Rick Leventhal draws closer.
“What an amazing bridal shower !!” the Real Housewives of Orange County star, 45, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, October 4. “Thank you @jodishamaley @samantha_gesuale @jacquelinelee1234 for throwing me the most amazing shower. [Love] u guys.”
Dodd shared eight photos from the outdoor celebration, which at least 15 other women attended. None of them wore protective face masks or socially distanced in the pictures. Dodd did, however, wear a “Drunk Wives Matter” hat, a play on the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the comments section of the post, one of the Bravo personality’s Instagram followers called the shower “another republican super spreader event,” referencing a September 26 ceremony in the White House Rose Garden where President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and at least seven others are believed to have contracted the novel coronavirus.
When another Instagram user called out Dodd and her friends for “no social distancing,” the reality star clapped back, “Thanks for stating the obvious.” In response to another follower, Dodd insisted that she has been “responsible” throughout the pandemic and called the virus “a super flu not a death sentence.”
She later posted a photo of the group wearing masks indoors, writing, “People were asking where are the masks?? Well here they are !!”
This is not the first time that the Positive Beverage cofounder has faced heat amid the pandemic. In April, she called the coronavirus — which has now killed more than 1 million people worldwide — “God’s way of thinning the herd.” She issued an apology soon after, writing on her Instagram Story, “I feel bad for all the families that have lost loved ones, and I do think we should all stay at home and protect everybody. That’s not what I meant, and I want to apologize to anyone who got offended.”
However, just one month later, she falsely claimed that “no one is dying here [in Orange County] of the virus.”
Dodd got engaged to Leventhal, 60, in November 2019 after three months of dating. She and the Fox News senior correspondent are set to tie the knot on October 10.
“We got masks made for 10-10-2020,” Dodd, who shares 14-year-old daughter Jolie with ex-husband Michael Dodd, told Bravo Insider on Friday, October 2. “So, that’s really cool. It says Rick and Kelly [and] 10-10-2020 for everybody to wear. We just have limited guests.”
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