Time to whoop it up! The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Vicki Gunvalson spoke exclusively with Us Weekly about her new beau, Steve Lodge, and revealed that her daughter, Briana Wolfsmith-Culberson, has given her hard-to-earn seal of approval.
“[Briana] loves him!” the Bravolebrity, 54, raved to Us at the Real Housewives of Orange County 10-year anniversary party in L.A. on Thursday, June 16. “They do wine night together when I’m working or traveling. She calls him and says, ‘Steve, are you coming over?’ It’s so funny!”
As fans will recall, Wolfsmith-Culberson, 29, repeatedly butted heads with Gunvalson’s infamous ex-boyfriend Brooks Ayers across several seasons of RHOC. She never backed down when it came to defending Gunvalson against the Mississippi native, whom she felt mistreated her mom. During one memorable episode of the reality series, Wolfsmith-Culberson moved out of her mother’s O.C. manse (which Ayers had moved into at the time) and vowed to never set foot in the same room as him.
The drama came to a head when Ayers was accused of lying about having cancer, as documented on the hit Bravo show. Although Gunvalson stood by his side for months, Ayers later admitted that he fabricated medical documents, a revelation that prompted the TV starlet to call it quits on their relationship. They split in August 2015 after four years of dating. To this day, Ayers maintains his cancer diagnosis.
Now that she is seeing a guy who her daughter approves of, Gunvalson couldn’t be more relieved.
“I love it! I wanted that. It’s my answered prayers. I wanted a family that could all be together at the holidays and could travel,” she told Us. “We are planning a trip together over the holidays with all the families.”
Another win for Gunvalson? Lodge, a politician and former police officer, had no preconceived notions about her since he had never seen The Real Housewives of Orange County before the pair met at a charity auction earlier this year.
“We were having dinner one night and somebody wanted to take my picture, and he was like, ‘Do you know her?’ I was like, ‘No.’ He was like, ‘Why are people looking at you?’” she recounted to Us. “I was like, ‘I’ve got a little something to say!’ I told him and he was like, ‘I like you. I don’t care what you do for work.’”
The Real Housewives of Orange County returns to Bravo Monday, June 20, at 9 p.m. ET.
