Jim Edmonds’ time in the MLB speaks for itself, but to some, he’ll always be known as Meghan King’s husband from the Real Housewives of Orange County.
“I do care what people think but I am starting to realize that the people who are commenting are Housewives fans and then I was portrayed a little different and that’s fine because that’s not me, that’s not my reality, that was not even my show, I just happen to be on it,” the 50-year-old former St. Louis Cardinals star explained on SiriusXM’s The Highway on Thursday, August 27. “Their idea, what I was told by Terry Dubrow right away, they’re gonna make you look bad because if your wife doesn’t perform they’ve got something to fall back on … which is you two arguing. So I kind of accepted that.”
Edmonds was featured on seasons 10 through 12 of RHOC alongside King, 35. Us Weekly broke the news when the pair split in October 2019, two years after she left the show.
“It was really funny because what they did, they spliced stuff so bad,” the baseball player told host Storme Warren. “They would show me, I was waiting for my [Meghan] to come downstairs, I’m sitting on the couch on my phone I’m just flipping through it and she comes downstairs and I put it down and she asks me something like a hot topic and they slice it back to me on my phone, which I was on my phone thirty minutes prior to her coming down the stairs. … They make you look like you don’t care and all that.”
Despite not feeling like he was accurately portrayed, Edmonds chalked up his time on Bravo as a “great experience,” noting he made “some good friends” and some “really fun enemies,” including Vicki Gunvalson and Kelly Dodd.
“The first year was a blast, then the second year the ratings were kind of up in the air, they were kind of like ‘Hey if you fight more …’” he explained. “And then the third year, Kelly came on and she just went straight for the jugular and I was like, it felt like now people are coming on to these shows with so much background that they already know that they need to fight and go along the bad persons side to get publicity and for them to stay on.”
When the topic of returning to reality TV came up, Edmonds didn’t shut the idea down, but he had one requirement.
“Someone asked me yesterday if I would ever do a show again and I said, ‘Yes, if I had creative control,’” he said before rerunning girlfriend Kortnie O’Connor. “I like my life now. I spent a lot of time with my friends and I have an amazing woman in my life with Kortnie and we’re having a blast. I built a house and all of my kids are comfy and here in St. Louis and it couldn’t be better right now. I’m really starting over and enjoying my life.”
Edmonds and King share daughter Aspen, 3, and twin sons Hayes and Hart, 2. The athlete is also the father of four children from previous marriages. Us confirmed earlier this month that he was considering filing for full custody of his kids with King due to concern “about the amount of time Meghan is away during her custodial time and the amount of time she is actually spending with the children,” per a source.
King, meanwhile, fired back in a statement to Us: “I am a working, single mother and I have one live-in nanny (with no plans to hire an additional nanny). In the 10 months since Jim walked out on our children and myself, I have left Aspen, Hart and Hayes with my mother for three days (with my nanny helping her). I told Jim I had to be out of town for those days but he told me he couldn’t take custody of the kids because he would also be out of town.”
Edmonds’ rep subsequently issued a statement. “Jim has seven children and understands that as a parent you run your life around your children, not the other way around,” Steve Honig told Us. “Meghan has continually tried to smear Jim in the press and it seems nothing has changed.”
