Already have an account?
Get back to the

RHOC Recap: Vicki Storms Out of Party After Fight About Brooks’ Cancer Claims, Heather Lunches With Lisa Rinna

Real Housewives of Orange County
On The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vicki Gunvalson and Brooks Ayers storm out of Shannon Beador's party, Heather Dubrow lunches with Lisa Rinna, and so much more! Check out the recap!

No woo-hoos in sight! 

The Sept. 21 episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County picked up where the last left off — with Tamra Judge and Vicki Gunvalson sparring over allegations that Brooks Ayers was lying about having cancer. After the OG of the OC stormed out of the Aries party — before host Shannon Beador had time to cut the astrologically-themed cake, no less — the women grew more suspicious of her boyfriend’s health.

Things lightened up, however, when Tamra gave her son, Ryan, a tour of his new rental home, Meghan Edmonds went prom dress shopping with stepdaughter Hayley, and Heather Dubrow asked Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna tips for selling her new skincare line on television. Oh, and Vicki tried “earthing,” which was basically just yoga on the grass without a mat. How did the Housewives handle the wrath of Vicki this week? Read on to find out! 

Related: PICS: Real Housewives’ Biggest Fights Ever

Whine and Wine

In an attempt to diffuse the tension and articulate the concerns of the other women, Heather pulled Vicki aside and tried to talk to her on the couch at the party. “Vicki is clearly angry, and she’s upset, and she’s placing all of it towards Tamra and Meghan,” the actress explained in an interview. “The truth is, we’re all having the same conversations about Brooks and his health. And she needs to know.” 

Heather explained that she first became suspicious of Brooks’ condition a few weeks before at his impromptu birthday party at CUT Fitness. When he told the women about his plan to stop chemotherapy and begin a holistic treatment with a different doctor, she recognized the name right away. Because Heather had gone to the same specialist for cellulite treatments after the birth of her twins!

“Is Brooks being duped?” she asked Vicki. “Because you don’t go from trying to cure cellulite to curing cancer. I’ve just never heard of that.” 

But Vicki was not having it. She refuted Heather’s claims by saying that Brooks was starting the holistic treatment to prep for more chemotherapy, despite his previous (and repeated) claims that he was seeking the natural alternative after the first few rounds proved unsuccessful. 

“This is a group of people who love you and want you to have the very best,” Heather said. “If they feel like you are being taken in some way, they would want you to have the best.” 

Vicki refused to believe that the women were acting in her best interests, exclaiming in an interview, “It’s not any of Heather’s business!” 

Brooks whisked Vicki away before Heather could finish and the pair fled the party without any goodbyes.

Related: PICS: Real Housewives’ Plastic Surgery

Family Bonding

With prom just around the corner, Meghan and stepdaughter Hayley went on the hunt for the perfect dress. As she's been stressing all season, she’s not a regular stepmom — she’s a cool stepmom! 

“Prom was so important to me in high school,” the stepmother reminisces to the camera. “It was the time that you could wear a big puffy skirt and get away with it.” 

While sorting through the racks of formal designer duds at a local boutique called Havoc (!), Meghan shared her own prom experience, including the part where she and friends booked cabins for a special post-dance celebration. “But I don’t like that idea for you,” she quickly added. 

“I thought that my role with Hayley was to be this über stepmom and set rules and push her to do well in school,” Meghan told the camera. “But after seeing how this affected my relationship with Hayley, I’m not so sure that it’s the right thing to do.” Apparently when Meghan cried to the other women during the trip to Tahiti about her deep maternal feelings for her stepkids, she didn’t think that included reprimanding and disciplining the children. 

“I don’t want Hayley to pull away, so I think that it’s time for me to give a different approach,” she said. “Right now, Hayley needs me as a friend more than ever.” 

Related: PICS: Hellish Housewives Romances

Damage Control

Regretting their fight at Shannon’s Aries party, Tamra visited Vicki at home in an attempt to patch things up between the two former BFFs. 

“First of all, I want to say to you, and I would say it to Brooks if he were here, I’m sorry for going at him as hard as I did,” Tamra said after the pair took a seat on the couch. She apologized for her overdramatic response to Brooks’ “consider your source” comment, explaining, “I was very upset, so I kind of got hit with, ‘Wait, he’s calling me a liar?’ Brooks should’ve never said that. He made a mistake by saying that.” 

Vicki of course jumped right in to defend her man. “I made the mistake by revealing it. I should have never said anything to you,” she responded, referencing the comment about Meghan’s allegedly rocky marriage that was made at Tamra’s “sex party.” Vicki also expressed her disappointment in Tamra for relaying the information to Meghan. “You and I are hopefully better friends than you and Meghan,” she said. “You’ve only known her three months.” 

“I’m not on anybody’s side!” Tamra fired back. 

“Well, you should not condone or support a 30-year-old going and contacting Brooks’ ex-girlfriend of 10 years ago,” Vicki continued. “If you do support that then you’re not my friend.” 

“As your friend, I’m here to tell you what everybody else is saying,” Tamra calmly explained. “I don’t want you to get defensive.” When she later suggested that Brooks show his medical records to squash the rumors, Vicki became irate. 

“What does he have to do, die, to prove everybody wrong?” she yelled. “This is unconscionable that somebody’s got to prove they’ve got an illness.” Vicki then advised Tamra to stop talking about Brooks (because that’s so realistic) and shut the conversation down. 

Related: PICS: Before They Were Real Housewives!

The Dubrows, They’re Just Like Us! 

Sure, the Dubrows seem like they have it all — piles of money, successful careers, an endless supply of champagne — but Heather and Terry showed that they can bicker like any other married couple. 

After showing her husband a sketch of the tree that she planned to etch into a steel window in the dining room of their new house (which they designed and built), Heather didn’t quite get the response she was looking for. “Do you like it?” she asked, pulling up a photo of the “concept drawing” on her phone. 

“Do I like it?” Terry repeated slowly, fidgeting with his shirt collar. “I don’t know. It’s just different than I visualized.” Heather rolled her eyes and sighed, her signature sassy response, and Terry tried to backtrack. “The birds look a little weird,” he chuckled. But it was no use. 

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” Heather responded, putting an immediate stop to the conversation. She spent the rest of the meal silently glaring at Terry and sipping champagne. 

Related: PICS: Former Real Housewives Stars

Bravolebrities Galore!

Bravo worlds collided when Heather invited fellow actress and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna to lunch at a posh restaurant. The pair had met 16 years before in an acting class and now Heather needed advice for selling her skincare line with Terry on television. 

“You have a very, very successful [clothing] line,” the champagne enthusiast said. “I want to know the tricks.” 

“It’s all about not caring,” Lisa instructed. “Take all the rules and everything people tell you and throw it out the window. Hello, I sold a diaper!” 

“Back in the day, nobody wanted to represent the vag,” Heather explained to the camera. “There were no douche commercials or tampon commercials. You just didn’t go on those.” 

When Lisa asked about her relationship with Terry, Heather mentioned the strain his busy schedule — which included waking up at 4 a.m. to operate and then filming for his show Botched on E! later in the day — had put on their family. 

“I have been really good at making sure that there’s dinner on the table when he gets home, that we’re having couple time,” she said. “I don’t expect Terry to get on two knees and start bowing and scraping at me. I am very appreciative of everything he does for me and our family, and I always acknowledge it. I’m just looking for the same thing back.”

“I don’t think these men are hip enough to know,” Lisa responded, nodding her head.

Related: PICS: Biggest Reality Show Catfights

Aries Ladies Who Lunch

Things got off to a rocky start when Shannon invited Vicki to lunch to discuss her behavior at the Aries party. 

“I’m just getting killed today,” Vicki whined before sitting down at the table. She was unhappy about the amount of taxes she had to pay and felt drained from talking on the phone with her accountant all morning. 

Shannon remained unsympathetic and confronted Vicki about leaving the party early without letting anyone know. She and Vicki were both Aries, and the party was a tribute to the astrological sign that first kindled their friendship. “I was bummed about that,” Shannon said. 

“I heard you guys out there, but I was just over it,” Vicki responded coldly. “I’ve got way too much stuff going on in my life. I’m not going to be around that negativity anymore.” 

“I’m in a position where people are starting to come to me and talk to me about a lot of things,” Shannon said. “I’ve been your strongest supporter. I’ve stood by your side and you are my good friend.” When she mentioned that it was rude when Brooks didn’t see any of the doctors that she had pulled strings to get appointments with, Vicki became furious. 

“He didn’t go to your doctor because he has his own doctors. That’s it!” Vicki shouted. “Call Brooks. I’m done. I’m done talking about it.” She threw her hands in the air and began to cry, begging Shannon to stop talking about Brooks. “I just want to go back to work and see my therapist,” she said.

In this article

Got a Tip form close button
Got a tip for US?
We're All Ears for Celebrity Buzz!