Shannon Beador sounded off on Tamra Judge calling her a “drunk” and a “liar” on The Real Housewives of Orange County — and revealed how they overcame the drama.
“It’s hard. I know that that’s not who I am,” Shannon, 59, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, June 14, while speaking about the unkind names Tamra, 55, called her on season 17. “My kids watched the episode with me and they were pretty upset about it. They’re like, ‘Mom, that’s not who you are.’”
Shannon — who shares daughter Sophie, 21, and twins Stella and Adeline, 18, with ex-husband David Beador — confessed that when certain cast members “throw that label” on her, it’s upsetting.
“I feel as though when I’m on the show that I will point out something unkind that a cast member’s done,” she explained. “But I try to avoid putting general characterizations out there about people’s personalities because it’s damaging.”
Shannon and Tamra — along with OG Housewife Vicki Gunvalson — had a strong friendship during their original stint on RHOC and later became known as the Tres Amigas. During season 14, which aired in 2019, both Tamra and Vicki, 61, began feuding with Shannon amid her budding friendship with costar Kelly Dodd.
The fitness coach later unfollowed Shannon on social media, claiming she “didn’t want to see” her relationship with Kelly, 47, grow. (Kelly, for her part, was fired from the Bravo series after season 15.)
When Bravo confirmed in January 2020 that neither Tamra nor Vicki would return for season 15, their tension with Shannon seemed to build. In fact, Eddie Judge’s wife hinted that same year that once she was off the series that Shannon “stopped communicating” with both women.
Shannon, meanwhile, exclusively told Us in December 2021 that there had been a “lot of untruths being said continually for years now” about her and her alleged disassociation with Tamra and Vicki.
Despite their issues, Tamra signed on for season 17 of the hit show. During the Wednesday, June 14, episode, Tamra called Shannon a “fake friend” for allegedly ghosting her after she exited the reality show. At the time, the Real for Real founder claimed that was false and the two once again butted heads over who was telling the truth.
Shannon told Us on Wednesday that she does “understand” that Tamra was “hurt” after not being asked back to RHOC following a long stint on the series. She noted that the TV exit led to her once-close friend taking part of her frustrations out on her — even though she was busy working.
“Sometimes when we were filming, I couldn’t get right back to her, but I’d never ghosted her,” Shannon claimed to Us. “I have 150 screenshots of conversations I had with her over the two-month period before she said I was a ‘fake friend.’”
The mother of three alleged that she “checked in with [Tamra] all the time” after her 2020 departure, but when Shannon was stuck on a cast trip later that year — which happened during the COVID shutdowns — and couldn’t respond fast enough, the TV personality claimed that Tamra was quick to start publicly “trashing” her character.
Shannon revealed that watching season 17 back has been “hard” because when shooting began she hadn’t spoken to Tamra in more than two years. Now, however, they are in a “good place” — but fans won’t see them make amends for a while on camera. (She also teased a reconciliation with Vicki.)
“Once we did come to that, you know, kind of agreement that we are going to become friends again, it was just an instant [comeback],” Shannon told Us. “It was like we were right back to where we were two and a half years ago.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
