Plot twist. Gina and Matt Kirschenheiter may be over, but fans will finally get to see the Real Housewives of Orange County star’s ex-husband on season 15 of the Bravo hit.
In the trailer for the upcoming season, released by Bravo on Wednesday, September 2, viewers got their first glimpse of Matt on the show.
“I invited Matt over and I’m going to put a smile on my face,” a tearful Gina tells Shannon Beador in the teaser before footage plays of Matt walking into her home.
In another clip Gina, 36, adds, “It’s hard to stand up to him.”
Gina and Matt, who share sons Nicholas, 9, and Luca, 4, and daughter Sienna, 6 — originally called it quits in July 2018. While the pair later reconciled, they split again after Matt was arrested and subsequently charged with domestic violence in June 2019. (Matt pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.) The twosome finalized their divorce in December 2019.
While Gina joined the cast of RHOC during season 13, Matt, 36, has never appeared on the show because his previous employer wouldn’t allow him to film. Matt later revealed in court documents that he was forced to resign from his job following his arrest.
“He just was like a different person,” Gina alleged at the season 14 reunion of Matt’s behavior on the night of his arrest. “I was really scared. I ran out of the house, and I rang my neighbor’s doorbell, and I was banging on the door. And he dragged me back in the house. … A lot of the neighbors heard. They all called the police and then the cops came, they arrested him. It was scary. It was really scary.”
In addition to Matt, fans will also meet Gina’s new boyfriend, Travis Mullen. Us Weekly previously confirmed that the twosome met through mutual friends during the summer of 2019.
Elsewhere in the trailer, Braunwyn Windham-Burke is at odds with both Gina and Shannon.
“Wake up! You’re a sloppy Chihuahua!” Gina yells at Braunwyn.
Shannon, 56, confronts Braunwyn, 42, at the same event, screaming, ”Don’t you dare accuse me of something I did!”
New Housewife Elizabeth Lyn Vargas is also introduced as the women deal with the COVID-19 crisis. Shannon, for her part, battled coronavirus during production.
The Real Housewives of Orange County, which also stars Kelly Dodd and Emily Simpson, returns to Bravo Wednesday, October 7, at 9 p.m. ET.
