‘RHOC’ Star Gina Kirschenheiter Was “Surprised” By How Much Backlash She And Emily Simpson Got For Talking About Gretchen Rossi’s Appearance: “It Was Funny”

Gina Kirschenheiter and Emily Simpson have become one of Bravo’s most recognized dynamic duos. Having both joined The Real Housewives of Orange County in Season 13, they quickly formed a close friendship, and their kid-like banter has been the comedic relief of the show for seven seasons now. While they’ve largely been successful at bringing levity to an otherwise chaotic (and, at times, dark) environment, not all of their conversations have landed well among Bravo fans.

In a recent episode from Season 19, the BFF duo joked about Gretchen Rossi‘s appearance, likening her to an Instagram filter from 2003 and speculating that she dips herself in formaldehyde. Fans were quick to call them out for commenting on the returning Housewife’s looks, and while Kirschenheiter admitted that some of her remarks were “snarky,” she was “surprised” by how much backlash she and Simpson got for the conversation.

“We were complimenting Gretchen,” Kirchenheiter told Decider, before adding, “That’s just a real conversation between two friends joking it up. Why I like Gretchen is because you can have fun with Gretchen. I could say all of this to Gretchen, and she would laugh with us.”

One person Kirschenheiter won’t be joking with any time soon is Katie Ginella, who has been in the hot seat this season for speaking with bloggers about her castmates. According to the real estate agent, it’s “really scary” for the ladies to let new people into their group, as so many women come in thinking “they have to do certain things in order to survive.” With Kirschenheiter’s (and much of the cast’s) trust for Ginella on thin ice, she found it “interesting” that the former golf reporter told Decider that she’d “love” to come back for another season.

“I don’t know why she would want to be in this group anymore,” Kirschenheiter said. “Maybe it’s time to go check out Summer House. I don’t know.”

When Kirschenheiter stopped by our studio earlier this week, she also talked about moving back in with Travis Mullen, whether she thinks Heather Dubrow is scared of Tamra Judge, and her thoughts on Jenn Pedranti‘s broken vagina. Check out the full interview below.

---

DECIDER: I’m so happy to have you back. I’m also really happy to see that you and Travis are back living together. How has it been having everyone under one roof again? 

GINA KIRSCHENHEITER: It’s been wonderful, honestly. Obviously, that has been really hard for us as a family. Although I don’t regret taking the time that I felt like I needed to kind of figure it out, I’m actually really happy because now we’ve come together and I’m recommitted in a way that I feel fully, 100% committed to this situation in this circumstance. So it feels really good. And the kids are so happy. 

It broke my heart to hear everything going on with his ex-wife. Have things kind of gotten any better? 

No. I think we’ve just gotten better at handling it. But a lot of it is really sad. It’s very unnecessary. It’s totally heartbreaking for us as a family, and it’s a real struggle that we have to endure.

Watching you talk about it, I was getting mad for you.

Me too. It is really difficult. To be very candid about it, I got to a point where I had to start opening up about this. I don’t think it’s right, and I think I’m entitled to my perspective to speak about this. But then even me speaking about this now could have consequences back again on the kids. I’m in this really weird, tough position. It’s awful, honestly. I would do anything to make it get better, but I just don’t see that happening. 

I want to get into everything going on this season. The fans have really been rallying around Katie. Did that surprise you at all? Is there something you think everyone’s missing? 

I think it will become more clear. I think it’s really difficult for the fans to see things that aren’t there. I think it’s really difficult for them to understand the things that were happening off camera. We do our best to try to explain that. That’s number one. I think number two, things will become more clear as time goes on. But also, I’m going to be honest, I’m questioning this whole idea that all of the fans are rallying there because I see some of it, but I certainly don’t see all of that. 

First of all, on the show, nobody has a problem with Katie anymore. As soon as she apologized for the things that she had done to me from the previous year, I immediately moved on. I’m on good grounds with her. I feel like most of the women are, except for Shannon, obviously. I understand it. I think that Shannon, in that particular instance, she was – I think she’s even said this, maybe even to you – that she feels that maybe she overreacted a bit. She was giving the emotion for that circumstance based on where she was emotionally at the time that it all happened. I think a little bit of it was displaced. So, I mean, certainly Shannon doesn’t think that Katie is worse than Alexis. Let’s be real.

I know you’ve said in interviews that you would reconsider your spot on the show if Katie were to return. When we talked to Katie, she said she’d love to come back for another season so she could try to get everyone to get to know her more, because she doesn’t feel like she’s been afforded that opportunity. Is that something you’d be open to? What do you think of that? 

Here’s my take on it. First of all, I understand that you say something and it gets blown very out of proportion. I just speak from my heart. What I’m talking about, I feel like it has actually less to do with specifically with Katie, and more to do with this problem than I think we’ve been having the last couple of years. It’s been incredibly hard to find women that can come into this group and assimilate into this group that just simply want to exist and form authentic friendships and just hang out with us and become a part of the crew. I think that it’s because of the whole Housewife-dom, it’s now a thing where women come into this circumstance, and they think that they have to do certain things in order to survive. That’s really scary for us as a group of women who aren’t necessarily doing that. I don’t know. The problem is, I just don’t know how you trust somebody that’s already approached this in such a weird way and a threatening way. That’s why I love Jenn Pedranti. 

I feel like Jenn was the complete opposite of what you just described. 

She really is. She doesn’t even know what’s going on half the time. And I love her for it. She’s just really trying to figure it out. Honestly, she’s trying to build new friendships, and she’s also trying to understand why some of her other relationships went off the rails. But either way, she’s there just so authentically to share who she is. She shares her life, whether it’s good, bad, ugly or messy. There’s some things that I feel like she shared that I was surprised that she’s even opened up and shared about, and I think that that’s really cool and a really effective way to just naturally become part of the group. I don’t even always get along with Jenn. But that’s okay. I just like Jenn because she’s just being herself. 

She was a great addition to the show. 

That’s why it works. I don’t know if Katie gets that and if she would be capable of doing that. I wish that she did that the first time. I’m the one who put her in the group, you know what I mean? I adored her when I first met her, and I just wanted her so badly to just be that person in this group. I don’t know what it is. Maybe she just got caught up in all of it. But it’s interesting that she says that. I don’t know why she would want to be in this group anymore. Maybe it’s time to go check out Summer House. I don’t know.

You and Emily got a little bit of backlash for commenting on Gretchen’s appearance. You guys jokingly said she looks like an Instagram filter from 2003 and like she dips herself in formaldehyde. Is there anything you’d like to clear up about that conversation? 

Let’s be honest, it was funny. I’m not going to say it wasn’t, because it was. I was so surprised by how much [backlash] we got. We were complimenting Gretchen. Emily saying she’s dipped in formaldehyde means she’s well-preserved. We call her Gretchers. I’ve told Gretchers this to her face. I’m like, “You look like a walking Instagram filter.” Yes, I understand the 2003 comment is snarky, but Gretchen herself laughs about the fact that she hasn’t changed her style from when she left to now. Come on, man. We’re on a reality show. I’m not shy about having real conversations that I have with my girlfriends on camera. This is a real conversation between two girlfriends. Do we get a little snarky? Yes, but what do you want the whole show to be? “Oh, Gretchen’s looking lovely today. She looks spot-on beautiful. The end.” Like, would we be here right now? No. That’s just a real conversation between two friends joking it up. Why I like Gretchen is because you can have fun with Gretchen. I could say all of this to Gretchen, and she would laugh with us. She’s a good time. I was surprised by that.

I guess you never know with what you’ve seen on TV versus meeting the actual person. 

To me, Gretchen is so different than I thought she was going to be. I was so surprised. I like when people surprise me. 

Also, you were the one who told Jenn about Tamra bringing up the so-called “former fatty photo.” What did you think of Tamra doing that? And why did you decide to tell Jenn? Why did you think it was important that she knew?

Oh my God, there was no way I was not telling Jenn that. I’m sorry. I am that way. I have no problem. Just like I told Tamra, “Oh, I heard you yelled at Katie’s husband.” We got to get it all out. That’s just a part of this, right? I have no problem bringing up all that stuff. But I think she does have a right to know what’s being discussed about her behind her back. That was not nice. The two of them get caught in this place where they want to move forward. They say they’re going to move forward, but then they just can’t help themselves. I get it. I think Tamra was retaliating and still angry about some of the stuff that had happened off camera. I think during the break, Ryan had kind of gone after her a little bit and said some comments about Eddie last year. It becomes like a real tit for tat game. But honestly, I feel like a former fatty photo is pretty mild as far as Housewife stuff goes. Let’s call a spade a spade. Jenn is stunning. Her former fatty photo? I was like, “Oh, it’s me on a normal day.” The whole thing is just so silly. 

Jenn sort of called Heather out for kind of sticking up for Tamra. Do you think that Heather’s afraid of Tamra? 

Oh, gosh. I think Heather herself even admits that there’s times that she is afraid of Tamra. I mean, are we going to sit here and pretend like Tamra’s not scary? She’s a little scary. But I think that Tamra is the type of person that’s very reactionary. And Tamra is the type of person that will tell you how it is directly in the moment. She gets very activated. We all know this about Tamra. Sometimes she’ll go a little below the belt. Heather is not great with that kind of sparring. She’ll spar with you. I mean, I’m in trouble with Fancy Pants every day, right? But she’ll spar with somebody that she knows she can spar with, but you’ll stay within bounds. I think it’s the fact that sometimes, Tamra – she admitted it, she’s in therapy to work on this – she goes out of bounds. I think that does scare Heather. She doesn’t like it. We’re all a product of where we came from, our upbringing and all of that. And that’s something that Heather is just very uncomfortable with. 

I do want to get into this cast trip to New Orleans because it’s so much fun. What did you think of Tamra’s emotional reaction to your invitation, and what were your thoughts on Gretchen claiming she was the victim?

I felt bad because the Teddi stuff is very real. Teddi is very ill, and I’m sure you guys know, as people who are keeping up with all that. She’s very open about her health struggles and that journey. When we were filming, she had just found out that she had brain cancer, and then she went into those surgeries, and it was not good. This is Tamra’s closest person to her in her life. It’s her best friend. I don’t even want to say, but it’s like, God forbid something happened to Emily. It was really affecting her. You don’t see it on camera, but she had sat with me and she was very upset. She was telling me the story about the last time that they were hanging out together, and it was in New Orleans. That’s why I apologized, because then I was like, “Let’s go to New Orleans!” I felt so bad. It really did trigger her. She has a right to be upset. Unfortunately, she’s got to pay the piper with some of these women. It’s bad timing, but it doesn’t make it not real. I think both of those things can be true. I think that she can be very upset about a circumstance surrounding her friend, and I think also these women could have real gripes and still be really angry about the things that have happened to them with Tamra, and they could not be wanting to accept that. 

On a lighter note, I cannot tell you how happy I was to see everyone getting along and laughing. Which fact surprised you the most — that Terry Dubrow wears lifts in his shoes? Or that Jenn’s vagina is broken? Or that Emily watches My 600 Pound Life during sex? 

That does not surprise me at all, or that she incorporates snacks into that. Not at all. Jenn’s broken vagina? I was like, “What? What does that even mean? How do you break your vagina?” That was so wild to me. I truly meant it when I was like, “Ryan is a saint.” To know what he’s dealing with and everything that he’s putting up with – he’s taken on her and all the children. He’s really stepped up for her, and they’re not even having sex? I mean, wild. That’s a good man. That’s all I can say.

Everything gets off to a great start. But next week we see that it all kind of starts to fall apart. It looks like you and Tamra get into it. Tamra quits the show. What can you say about what we’re going to see? 

I feel like the problem is, there were a lot of people around the table that were lit. I think that that definitely did not help the circumstance. To me, sitting around the table is like, this is all just so ridiculous. How did we even get here? But there are things that happen and there are things that come out. Honestly, I think Tamra was carrying a pretty heavy load this year, and I know nobody likes to give her a break. I get it. But she was. I think she just hit a wall and she just couldn’t do it. I do think she needed a break. Maybe she was kind of running away from some things, but sometimes that’s what you have to do for your mental health. Protect your peace. 

She always comes back anyways. 

Yeah. She came back! She’s good at dramatics. So it was interesting. We found out with everyone else that she quit, on social media.

Oh wow! I thought maybe she would’ve told you guys in the moment.

Well, she texted me basically to go fuck myself. But she put it on Instagram. And we were like, “What?”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

New episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County air Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.