She’s “happy!” Nearly six months after Vicki Gunvalson and Steve Lodge broke off their engagement, she has found love again — and can’t help but gush over her new beau.
“He’s the first man that has ever really treated me to anything. He’s like, ‘I got that. You’re not paying for that.’ I’m like, ‘Are you, like, real?’ the Real Housewives of Orange County alum, 59, gushed during a Wednesday, February 23, appearance on Access Hollywood’s “Housewives Nightcap” show. “He’s freaking incredible. He’s from Texas. I gave him an 18 [item] list of what I want in my next person because in all the books you read and all the self-help, you manifest your person right? So, I manifested him and he had everything but one, including wearing cowboy boots and loves country-western music. He doesn’t have a boat and I’m like, ‘I’ll take that one off.’”
The Coto Insurance CEO — who called off her engagement from Lodge, 63, late last year— told the outlet that her man, whom she initially met six years ago, would be joining her 60th birthday celebrations next month. (She has yet to reveal his name or publicly share a photo of the twosome.)
“I met him BS [before Steve] and we had exchanged numbers and I didn’t remember him from Adam,” the Illinois native recalled of the 61-year-old. “Kelly Dodd called me, like, a month and a half ago and said, ‘I want you to meet somebody.’ … I walked in and, have you guys ever met someone that was [instantly] the right person?”
Gunvalson — who shares daughter Briana Culberson and son Michael Wolfsmith with ex-husband Michael J. Wolfsmith — explained that her new partner asked her if she was ready to date him because he’s been “waiting for [her]” since their first meeting. (The entrepreneur’s boyfriend has one daughter from a previous relationship.)
“It’s been like Disneyland,” she gushed. “I mean, really, in my mind, I’m just so happy. I’ve never had a man treat me like this and he is just quality — just a quality man. … Just being a solid man, he just had everything.”
Us Weekly broke the news in September 2021 that the Bravo personality and Lodge called off their two-year engagement.
“Yes, the rumors are true. The time has come for Steve and I to move forward or move on and we are … moving on,” Gunvalson, who began dating the businessman in 2016, wrote via Instagram at the time. “We are just going in different directions. I wish him the best life has to offer and to be happy, and he has wished the same for me. I gave it my all, but sometimes the ‘ALL’ isn’t enough.”
Less than three months later, Lodge announced his engagement to fiancée Janis Carlson.
“He’s a fame whore and is all about staying relevant,” Gunvalson exclusively told Us in a statement in January after learning the news. “I’ve gone out with some friends, but have no desire to do what he’s doing. Marriage is a sacred thing.”
