Though viewers saw Vicki Gunvalson flip out on The Real Housewives of Orange County, she wasn’t the only Housewife to get a little hot under the collar.
When Kelly Dodd criticized Emily Simpson’s husband — when she called him a “b–ch” — Emily lashed out, even threatening to kill Kelly.
Emily cooled off and apologized, and she’s owning up to her words and actions. But she says that she’s the only one who’s doing so.
“I am in no way proud of my behavior at Tamra’s party,” Emily admits in a Bravo blog post.
In her own defense, Emily says: “I feel like any wife who respects her marriage and her husband would have become as irate as I did.”
“However,” Emily adds. “I am the ONLY one taking any responsibility for my own actions that evening.”
“And let’s be honest,” Emily says, preparing to school her co-star. “For a ‘death threat’ to be actionable, the other party has to have an imminent and reasonable fear that their life is in jeopardy.”
“The fact that Kelly continued to scream, ‘Hit me! Hit me!’ and was laughing means she was not scared for her life,” Emily reasons.
She says that Kelly has been targeted Emily’s words so that she does not have to look inward.
“Kelly’s constant focusing on what I said that night is simply a deflection from dealing with her own abhorrent behavior,” Emily says.
“I have to say I’m quite disappointed in the other ladies,” Emily continues.
Emily asks: “Did anyone else notice that Tamra, in her last blog, says Shane likes to cause drama when all he did was stand at a table and have a nice, quiet conversation with Steve?”
Tamra’s last blog was more or less all about accusing Shane of being dramatic.
Emily spies hypocrisy in Tamra’s accusations.
“Yet she makes ZERO mention of Kelly’s behavior,” Emily points out. “Can Shane ever catch a break? Is he ever allowed to speak?”
Emily then points out that Shane was in a no-win scenario.
“If he said nothing, he would be attacked for being spineless,” Emily imagines. “If he speaks up, he’s attacked for causing drama.”
“At the very least, it is laughable that the queen of ‘That’s my opinion!’ is telling Shane to stay out of it,” Emily says, referring to the famous meme of Tamra screaming.
“I am happy that Kelly and I had the opportunity to sit down face to face and work it out,” Emily writes.
Emily continues: “I truly believe you can work things out by owning your own actions, forgiving, and moving on.”
“I feel that we both said what we wanted to say,” Emily says. “And we both took responsibility for our own part in the evening.”
Emily adds: “I even texted Kelly after meeting with her and reiterated how I was happy that we chatted and worked things out.”
Despite that peacemaking, Emily points out that Kelly hasn’t given up on her insistence that Shane is a “b–ch.”
It’s part of human nature for people to get upset and defensive when their loved ones are targeted for criticism and ridicule.
And it goes with the Real Housewife franchise’s territory for people to have explosive arguments on camera. Viewers expect it.
It’s how the stars respond after the fact that shows fans what their character is really like. Emily, at least, is owning what she did and what she said.
We do hope that, in the future, Emily avoids issuing any death threats. It’s not cool.
