Teddi Mellencamp feels that the Real Housewives of Orange County cast should’ve had more sympathy toward Tamra Judge amid her brain cancer battle, which began as Tamra filmed season 19.
On the latest episode of their shared podcast, which featured the 44-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum discussing last week’s RHOC with guest co-host Dolores Catania, 54, of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teddi admitted to being upset about the way Tamra, 57, was treated by her castmates.
“How is it for you watching this being talked about?” Dolores asked on the August 19 episode of Two Ts in a Pod.
“It’s hard for me not to take things personally, but there’s a point where people are just blowing off anything Tamra is saying that like, one, does nobody care how I felt? How I did? Not from Tamra’s sake. From all the other women,” she replied.
According to Teddi, the RHOC cast was well aware of the heartache she was enduring as she had brain surgery and began treatment.
“They see their friend struggling to this extent. Why is nobody helping her?” Teddi wondered. “I could’ve been part of those conversations, but I knew better than, I mean, if you wanna see somebody who’s a mess, it’s me on a sh*t ton of prednisone.”
While many have suggested that Tamra never really intended to quit when she claimed to have done so, especially after she returned to production soon after, Teddi said she believed that, in the moment, Tamra was truly done with the show.
“She really quit. I was like, probably in the hospital room. I had to get on the horn, harassing Tamra the next day,” Teddi recalled as Dolores mentioned that Teddi was the one who convinced Tamra to stay.
Following the sharing of the clip from her podcast on Instagram, Teddi was met with a barrage of comments from her fans and followers, some of whom agreed with her and others who accused Tamra of using her to gain sympathy.
“I agree with [Teddi]. The total lack of compassion for Tamra during such a hard time is heartbreaking,” one person wrote.
“Stop [Teddi]!!!!” another demanded. “Your friend used your situation as a scapegoat! Enough already we all have empathy for you but we see right through your [friend’s] BS!!!!”
“‘Does nobody care about me?’ Well you weren’t on the show [Teddi] so what [are you] saying?” wondered a third as someone else claimed the cast was “like sharks circling their prey.”
Another person claimed Tamra staged her “exit” from RHOC for attention.
“[Tamra] was never seriously going to quit. She likes the ‘fame’ too much,” they stated. “If her oldest daughter asked her to quit if she wanted a relationship with her moving forward and she still didn’t, she was certainly not going to do it for this.”
“Sorry but [Tamra] is using [Teddi] for sympathy,” another IG user agreed.
“Maybe it’s because when other people were going through stuff Tamra was kicking them when they were down so you get what you give,” shared someone else.
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19 airs Thursdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
