Heather Dubrow Vows To Bring “Receipts” To The ‘RHOC’ Reunion Following Tense Confrontation With Newbie Katie Ginella

Heather Dubrow might be well-regarded as The Real Housewives of Orange County ‘s resident “Fancy Pants,” but the Bravo icon, despite her glamorous lifestyle, has a way of making us regular folk feel as though we’ve known her our entire lives. With her doting husband (and Botched legend) Terry Dubrow by her side, Heather recently stopped by DECIDER’s offices to dish on tonight’s new episode — and she had a lot to say.

After chatting about her children and their exciting plans to study abroad, we got into the nitty gritty with Dubrow — who faces off against newcomer Katie Ginella in the most recent episode of RHOC after she accuses her of staging paparazzi photos in Disneyland, citing a text chain as her rather underwhelming “proof.”

“Someone has to teach Katie what a receipt is,” Heather said.

For the life of us, we can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to be friends with Heather. I mean, at the very least, think of all the champs the woman provides!

Heather, for her part, told us she initially “wanted” to be Ginella’s friend and was “excited” to meet her.

“There’ll be receipts at the reunion, but there were a lot of exchanges between Katie and I off camera, via text, that were lovely,” Heather said. “So was she being phony? Was she saving it for the cameras? I don’t know.”

The mom of four also set the record straight over Ginella’s claim that she gave her the cold shoulder when they crossed paths at Sutton Stracke ‘s Christmas party, speculating that the rookie reality star came to the event with “some kind of agenda.” Not only did Heather not know Ginella was at the party, but they also didn’t interact with one another because, as Gina Kirschenheiter later told her, Ginella “didn’t want to bother” her.

“And then the story sort of drastically changed,” Heather added, noting, “When you want to have a problem with someone, you’re looking for things, you’ll find them.”

When we sat down with Heather, she talked about that epic “STFU” sweater she wore in tonight’s episode, Alexis Bellino ‘s “tough”return to the Bravo universe, and her upcoming event in the show for Family Equality, which is the LGBTQIA+ organization the Dubrow family works with. Check out the full article below.

DECIDER: You’re on your third season back in RHOC – eighth overall – how do you feel going into Season 18 compared to past years?

HEATHER DUBROW: You know, it’s funny. I was thinking the other day that when we started the show, my youngest child was nine months old, and he is turning 14 in December. Is that crazy? Coming into this season, in particular, was not that easy, because last year was difficult for me. And after the reunion, I felt like I had some resolve with some people but not everyone, so I really had to make a conscious decision to walk in this year going, “OK. Gotta sort of wipe the slate clean, and figure out who my real friends are.”

In tonight’s episode, you have a tricky time deciphering which house is yours and which house is Drake’s. Since you live so close, do you ever cross paths with him?

I’ve never met Drake.

Do you have any other big names on your street?

‘RHOC’ Star Heather Dubrow Recalls “Disturbing” Moment Emily Simpson Said It Would Be “Amusing” To Catch Her In A Lie

I don’t want to out our street but I will tell you that there are many illustrious people in our neighborhood. We need a block party. That would be epic. I might have to organize that.

I couldn’t help but notice that you had “STFU” embroidered into the sweater you wore to Katie’s golf event. Would you say that was on par for everything that went down between you and Katie?

I mean, the foreshadowing! Who knew? I think it was very apropos. I didn’t realize I was so prescient.

Speaking of Katie, she accused you of giving her the cold shoulder the first time you met her at Sutton’s Christmas party. What do you remember from that meeting?

Oh, we didn’t meet. I think what people don’t understand is this whole paparazzi thing happened months before Katie joined our group, months before she’d ever met me. And I feel like she probably came into this party with some kind of agenda.

But I was excited that people might be coming on the show. And of course, [I] looked her up, [I] looked up the other girl that might be coming on the show as well, and went to this party, not knowing that she was there. And then Gina called me two days later and said, “Oh, Katie was at that party.” And I said, “Oh my gosh, why didn’t she say hi?” [Gina said], “She didn’t want to bother you.” And then the story sort of drastically changed.

I find it weird and interesting that she went after you. I would want to be Heather Dubrow’s friend!

I mean, I wanted to be her friend. I just thought it was so weird and honestly, come on. If I knew that this girl was at a party who might potentially come on our show, wouldn’t I go out of my way to say hi and be friendly? Why wouldn’t I? Also, there’ll be receipts at the reunion, but there were a lot of exchanges between Katie and I off camera, via text, that were lovely. So was she being phony? Was she saving it for the cameras? I don’t know.

We saw that when you guys were getting pedicures. There was no tension.

[There was no tension] at all! I was so excited to meet her. I was excited that Gina liked her. I was excited that she was friends with Sutton. And then we were getting our nails done [and] she brought up this tagging thing, which was obviously a mistake. Like, my social person was typing in Givenchy, which was the dress I was wearing, and she hit [Ginella’s name] by accident.

But what was really funny was, a few days later, Katie sent out a group text to our cast, and put the wrong Heather in, and then had to sidebar me and say, “Oh, sorry, I put the wrong Heather in the group chat.” I go, “That’s OK.” And she said, “No, I was doing too many things at the same time and it was an accident.” I go, “Yeah I get it.” It’s not a big deal, but she didn’t see how those things were comparable.

Here’s the bottom line, when you want to have a problem with someone, you’re looking for things, you’ll find them.

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That brings me back to the paparazzi photos. Why is everybody still so obsessed with those pictures?

I guess when I watched the girls at the bar celebrating this news, at first I understood it. Because Katie said it in such a salacious way and had this proof and all this kind of thing. But as I continued to watch it, I kept thinking, “Why is no one vetting this? Why is no one asking for the proof?” And then she shows the proof and it’s a text from some rando named Mark. Who is that?

There also wasn’t any text from you to this guy. It was just, “Did Heather do this?” “Yes.” That’s not really proof.

Someone has to teach Katie what a receipt is.

I know that you and Emily Simpson hit a little rough patch this season. What was your reaction to her saying in tonight’s episode that it would be “amusing” to catch you in a lie?

I love Emily. That was a very difficult scene for me to watch because as a friend, I want my friends to succeed. And to hear Emily say that she was excited to see something, maybe bad, happen to me, see that I’m flawed — we’re all flawed. No one’s perfect. But the glee with which it was all said, it was very disturbing to me.

What do you think of Emily making digs about Jennifer Pedranti’s finances in tonight’s episode?

Well, as far as Emily goes, I think that her knee jerk reaction is to make jokes. That’s her defense mechanism, and it’s her thing. And she’s funny, but sometimes the funny crosses over into mean-spirited, and I think she’s got to be a little careful with that because it hurts feelings.

You and Gina are obviously close, despite your past hiccups. How do you think she did navigating the fact that she’s both your friend and Katie’s friend?

I’ll have to wait and watch and see the things that I don’t know, but it is very difficult to be in the middle of friends. It really is. I had it this year between Shannon and Alexis. We’ve had it with Tamra and Shannon. There’s been a lot of that, and there’s no handbook for figuring that out. So what was important to me is when I understood who Katie was as a person, I really wasn’t interested in pursuing any kind of more permanent friendship, but always would be polite, and would never tell someone else who they should be friends with. So that’s up to the other girls to make their own decisions about who she is and how they’re going to continue with their friendships. And as far as how Gina did, I mean, I guess we’ll have to see.

You’re also good friends with Alexis. How do you think she did being back in the mix?

It was tough for her. She came off a very difficult year of her life. Her beloved mother passed away, she ended a three-year engagement, she had stuff going on with her kids, just a lot of things. And I think, if I could speak for her, I would say that she found love in an unlikely place at an unlikely time and wanted to shout it from the rooftops and also saw Shannon as someone that was trying to bring this great love of hers down, and wanted to protect him and clear his name. And I appreciate those things about her and I get it, but I wish that the audience would see more of how fun she is and how light-hearted she is and how she’s evolved.

Yeah, because I feel a like a lot of what we’re seeing from her is her flaunting her relationship in front of Shannon. Do you think she should’ve handled that differently?

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Listen, we had many conversations on camera about how she posted pictures and whatnot and I said to her, “Look, I don’t think that this is appropriate, maybe bring it down a little bit.” And she said, “You know what? If someone doesn’t want to see my posts, don’t look at them.” And you know what? That is her prerogative. So as her friend and as Shannon’s friend, I feel like I did and said what I thought was appropriate. But she’s an adult and she’s gonna make her own decisions.

Speaking of Shannon, you seem to agree with Tamra Judge in the trailer that she has an alcohol problem. Is that accurate?

I think when someone’s three times the legal limit and hitting a house, there’s a problem, right? How she has come through, I mean, the change in her is incredible. We just shot a Deadpool commercial together, and we’ve been texting about some other things, and our kids were recently at a concert together, and everything that she’s told me and from what I am seeing, I think that her trajectory is great. Her credit is good. And I’m excited for her … I’m happy for her.

Vicki Gunvalson makes a brief cameo in tonight’s episode. Would you like to see her come back full-time someday?

I love Vicki. Vicki’s funny, she’s the OG and always welcome.

Your son Nick made an appearance on Million Dollar Listing as Josh Altman’s intern. How did Nick like his experience? Do you think he’ll work with the Altman brothers again in the future?

We love the Altmans and he had the best time. He had just gotten his real estate license, and Josh is the ultimate mentor. And so it was such a great experience. And will he work there again? Who knows? I mean, he and Josh are in the middle of a deal right now.

Talk about a great internship!

I know. At this age, that’s what I want my kids – to just try everything. He also worked as a PA this summer and he’s going abroad this semester. And so he’s getting a lot of different experiences.

That’s amazing. Is there anything else you can tease about the rest of the season? Anything you’re excited for? Dreading?

I mean, the answer is yes. I’m excited for it. I’m dreading it. All those things. We take a lot of trips this year, and some of them were so funny and so fun. So I hope you get to see all of that.

But I think the thing that I’m most excited about is the event that I throw for Family Equality. So I did a sparkling wine collab with them where 100% of the proceeds go to Family Equality, which is an incredible LGBTQIA+ organization that we’ve worked with for a long time. And it means so much to us and our family, and to be able to put that on this kind of platform is everything.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs every Thursday at 9/8c on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock .

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