Heather Dubrow is setting the record straight on Vicki Gunvalson’s claims she called herself the “leader of the pack.”
“I texted her right before we started filming, and I said, ‘Hey, welcome back! Can’t wait to film!’ Whatever, something nice,” Heather, 57, exclusively tells Us at the Champs with Heather Dubrow event, referring to her exchange with Vicki, 64, before they reunited for season 20 of The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Heather says that Vicki later spun their text exchange into something that it wasn’t.
“Vicki, in her confessional, said ‘Heather texted me to say welcome back, and I’m the leader of the pack’. Would I ever say that?” Heather asks, before responding to her own question. “I never said that. That is so crazy.”
During the July 16 episode of the Bravo series, Vicki suggested that Heather dubbed herself “leader of the pack” while spending time with Tamra Judge for a party debrief.
After Tamra, 58, claimed that Heather is “a people pleaser,” Vicki shared her own two cents about the That’s Life actress in a confessional.
“I don’t begrudge Heather wanting to be liked by everyone. I want to be liked by everyone,” Vicki told the cameras, before claiming, “She did send a welcome back text, like, ‘Welcome to the group Vicki, I’m the leader of the pack.’”
Vicki, who returned to RHOC for season 20 after a six-year hiatus, then corrected Heather’s alleged remarks, saying, “Heather, you’re not the leader of the pack. I am.” (Vicki was part of the RHOC cast from season 1 to season 14 before exiting the show in 2020.)
While Heather insists she never tried to assert her dominance over Vicki, she tells Us that she didn’t mind fans crowning her the RHOC queen.
“When Tamra was on Watch What Happens Live [With Andy Cohen] last week, they did a poll, and I got 53 percent of the vote,” Heather says, referring to host Andy Cohen asking viewers who they think is the “leader of the OC pack.”
Heather teases, “So apparently, I am [the leader].”
Heather, who joined the franchise during season 7 in 2012, admits that year after year she shocks herself by how optimistic she is before filming. She tells Us that season 20 was no different.
“I’m such a moron. Literally every year, I’m like, ‘This is going to be the year that I am just chill and just breeze through,’” Heather reveals. “And then that never happens.”
Heather explains that in reality she doesn’t feel like she’s “ever had an easy season” because of her personality.
“I take things personally. I’m overly sensitive. I step in it a bit,” she shares. “I mean, not intentionally, but you know.”
Heather claims that her time on the hit reality show has also been very different from some of her costars who she alleges get off easier no matter the topic. One of those castmates, she says, is Vicki, who is an OG star of the show.
“I also think that there’s a big double standard when it comes to me. I think things that fly with the other girls don’t fly with me,” Heather tells Us. “I think that, you know, someone like Vicki can do things that people are upset about, but then they go, ‘But it’s Vicki. Ha ha ha’, and everyone moves on. But if it’s me, it hits differently.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
