When your fame-shy daughter writes up a massive callout post that takes aim squarely at you, how do you respond?
If you’re Tamra Judge, you apparently go for a walk on the beach and post the pics!
Seriously. Sunday night, Tamra’s daughter Sidney said that Tamra Judge was no mother to her and slammed her for neglect and verbal abuse. Tamra’s big retaliation is to share pics of her renewing her wedding vows.
For ages, part of Tamra Judge’s storyline has been her estrangement from her teenage daughter, Sidney Barney.
Tamra has even taken to social media to talk about the hardships of being apart from her daughter, even on happy occasions like Sidney’s high school graduation.
Sunday night, Sidney took to Facebook and dropped a lengthy post about how that’s all a big crock of nonsense, basically.
Sidney says that she isn’t separated from Tamra because of the divorce — that she actually initially sided with her mother, mostly due to the fact that her mother’s constant badmouthing of her father, Simon Barney, had led her to take her side.
Tamra would reportedly ridicule her children if they did things that she didn’t like, calling them “Simon” or “mini-Simon” to insult them, which is just all sorts of awful.
Sidney also mentioned that Tamra would sometimes just ignore the children and not stock any food at home.
Making sure that your kids have food to eat is about as basic as parenting duties get, and Tamra couldn’t even get that right.
Clearly what had driven Sidney to go public is that she’s been asking, nonstop, for Tamra to stop posting about her and to stop talking about her.
Sidney was forced to allow her mother’s presence at her graduation (which is absolutely wrong; shame on Simon Barney for that), but Sidney asked her mother that, if she’s going to be part of the event, would she please not post anything from it.
Clearly, if Tamra cared about her daughter’s desires and feelings, they’d have a very different relationship.
So, naturally, Tamra posted photos and talked about it, presenting it as evidence that she and Sidney were repairing their relationship.
Sidney went public to set the record straight.
And here’s Tamra’s big response:
There she is, walking the beach with Eddie Judge as if everything is fine.
We guess that she won’t have as easy of a time milking audiences for sympathy now that Sidney’s spoken up.
Tamra did refer to Sidney’s message, if very indirectly, in her caption:
“Celebrating love [heart emoji] with all the hate that’s going on. May God bless your life because it’s not always easy. But God has a plan.. a big plan.”
Okay, so, we’re no theologians, but “God has a plan … a big plan” sounds like the ramblings of a certain orange president
But while obviously she’s celebrating love, the “with all the hate that’s going on” sounds like something that a celeb would post after getting roasted in a feud.
Tamra … that’s your daughter calling you out for the things that you’ve done.
This is not the time to double down.
This is the time to apologize once in public and then never speak about Sidney if you ever want even a chance at contact with her ever again.
And yes, it can be done.
If Nicole Kidman can avoid saying anything negative about Tom Cruise and Scientology so that she won’t lose contact with her adult, Scientologist children, then Tamra can avoid using her estrangement from Sidney as a prop to get sympathy and continue to be famous.
On The Real Housewives of Orange County but also on social media.
Maybe she can pursue that “help I’m being bullied by Vicki Gunvalson” storyline some more.
Even her worries over Shannon Beador’s slight weight gain would make a better storyline than shamelessly using her children for fame.
Tamra Judge apparently really liked Aruba.
And, you know, more power to her for that.
Her romance with Eddie Judge is a totally appropriate thing to post about on social media.
Tamra did respond publicly to RHOC alum Gretchen Rossi, slamming the other woman for … reaching out to Sidney with some supportive words.
Gretchen told Sidney:
“You have no idea how your brave words are helping so many who have been wronged by your Mother’s manipulation and lies as well….so thank you for being brave enough to speak the truth.”
That’s nice, right?
“I am so sorry your mother and your family is going through any of this, especially publicly, but continue to stay strong. Your morals and strength are commendable and inspiring.”
Tamra flipped out in a now-deleted Instagram post that featured a screenshot of Gretchen’s comment:
“I usually don’t give this troll any attention because it’s exactly what she wants. But after years of her bashing me and now reaching out to my daughter I must say. Gretchen you are the biggest piece of s— I’ve ever met. Move on with your sad empty childless life and stay out of mine you thirsty wannabe.”
Super mature.
“You have NO IDEA What my family is going through or what the truth is, Nor do you care. It’s just an opportunity for you to get your name in the press. #obsessedfreak. Funny you of all people should be talking about morals. You have none!”
Tamra … maybe this isn’t the best time to be calling out people for ploys for fame.
Evidently she did think better of it,
That’s progress.
Progress or not, Sidney doesn’t owe Tamra anything.
Sadly, not all commenters understood this.
Sidney’s post got more than a few comments about how “you have only one mother,” which is a transparent effort to pressure people into trying to repair toxic relationships.
Even non-famous people who’ve cut off contact with a parent get vile messages like that from time to time over social media.
A word to the wise: even if someone hasn’t told you why they’ve cut ties with a family member, it’s usually for a very good reason and nobody owes you an explanation.
And, again, Sidney doesn’t owe Tamra the time of day, much less a relationship.
We just hope that Sidney’s relationship with her siblings isn’t too strained by all of this.
A toxic parent can tear apart sibling bonds. Sometimes forever.