Lydia McLaughlin has an announcement to make. And it’s an announcement you may have heard her make before. The Real Housewives of Orange County cast member took to her official blog on Friday and confirmed that she will no longer be a Real Housewives of Orange County cast member “RHOC has given me a great platform and I’m grateful for that. However, I feel like I can only handle this show one season at a time,” McLaughlin wrote online, adding: “I need a break! There is a lot of good that comes from the show, but also a lot of negativity. “After a family vote, it was unanimous that I should take a break. Sometimes the people who love us the most see things even we don’t see. “I trust my path and I’m excited for what the future holds.” Indeed, McLaughlin initially joined this Bravo franchise in season 8. She departed the cable network hit just before season 9, yet returned last year as a full-time cast member for season 12. Earlier this year, it was also reported that Meghan King Edmonds would not return to Orange County for next season. She swears this was her decision. And McLaughlin insists the same. “Bravo and Evolution have been amazing to me and I have made great friendships,” she continued on her blog, expounding: “I treasure all my fans and appreciate all the love and support. “I’ve been honored to be a source of entertainment and inspiration to all of you and I hope to continue spreading light and love. “Being a full time mom to THREE little boys, publisher of NOBLEMAN Magazine, blogger, jewelry designer, author, and wife, I have a lot going on! “I will continue to share my life and faith and use this platform to be a lightworker.” In other words: we haven’t heard the last from Lydia McLaughlin. We’ve just seen the last of her on Bravo. McLaughlin and her husband, Doug, have three kids: Stirling, 8. Maverick, 6. Roman, 2. These children, Doug and even McLaughlin’s mother have been featured on The Real Housewives of Orange County at various points. We don’t know just when when season 13 will air, but it’s clear the cast will look a bit different whenever that date arrives. Any suggestions for women who should fill these two open slots? View Slideshow: 17 Stars Who Really Love the Real Housewives
While the world is still reeling from Miley Cyrus’ gyrations at the VMAs, the dramatic conclusion to The Real Housewives of Orange County season 8 will hopefully take our minds off Hannah Montana’s Humpty Dancing. Did anyone else ever imagine Miley Cyrus and the OC housewives being mentioned in the same sentence? Yeah, me neither. Anyway. Let’s get to it with our THG +/- recap! Andy’s first question for Heather is about her house and the offer they couldn’t refuse. The model of their new house is built and they hope to break ground by December. Plus 8? Next he brings up Heather’s return to acting and Terry’s many attempts at joking his way through the stress of flying solo. Heather defends their on-camera fighting as part of real life after being together for 16 years. Plus 15 . A viewer makes the comment that Heather should’ve just given Terry his onion rings because he gives her so much. Heather scores points with stay at home moms everywhere when she says she’s actually providing him with a pretty fabulous life, too. Plus 25. Alexis blames the editing of the past four years for the reason Jim has looked like such a gross douche. Not the fact that he might actually be a gross douche. Tamra gets to show off her bling now that she’s a married woman. And their sex life is just great. Plus 17. Shamless plug for Tamra’s O.C. wedding, coming in October. Briana joins the ladies and Vicki says the greatest part of being a grandma is waking up the baby at 1:00 in the morning when she gets home from work. Never wake a sleeping baby, Vicki. Never ever. Minus 4. Ryan is currently in Afghanistan and everyone is counting down the days until he returns. When he retires from the Marines, Vicki says he’s going to sell insurance because he won’t have anything else to do. Then Vicki throws a blow at Lauri saying that she “earns her pay on her back” and “doesn’t work.” Ouch. Minus 2. Briana wasn’t happy with the way Ryan treated Lydia’s mother but defended him because he was apparently taking Vicki’s lead. She won’t talk about her husband who is overseas, but she’ll say she cleaned red wine and mud off the couch at the end of the night. Minus 6 Lydia calls her on that insinuation, rightfully so. Plus 8 . Now that Briana and Troy have moved out, Brooks still isn’t coming over to Vicki’s. They’re together but not together. Briana and Vicki say that the Brooks-can’t-be-here story was misconstrued. He was never not allowed at the house. He just wasn’t allowed at the house when Briana, Troy, or Ryan were there. And they lived there? Briana says that Brooks has proven himself to be a man she cannot trust around her family and believes he’s disrespected her and her mother. Vicki admits that they see each other occasionally but that Brooks has been disrespectful to her but won’t give specifics. Minus 14. The ladies give her grief for making excuses for him. When Briana continues discussing Brooks and says that Brooks discussed the size of Little Brooks, Vicki gets up and walks away. After a commercial break, Brooks joins the ladies. He tells Briana he’s sorry and she asks for specifics. He goes back to 2007 and says he’s sorry she saw an email between himself and Vicki while Vicki was still married to Donn. Wait a minute. Vicki’s still married to Donn. Eh. Technicalities, right? Briana has a bullet list of things she wants Brooks to apologize for, chief among them is a recording of him telling Ryan that Ryan should start hitting her to get her to fall in line. Minus Infinity. He blames it on drunken ramblings and Briana brings up the fact that she was abused as a child while the rest of the ladies attempt to skewer Brooks. Except for Lydia who turns into a crying mess and has to excuse herself. Brooks says the comment to start hitting Briana was taken out of context. Vicki says she’s done with the show and Andy has to call her back to the couch. She insists that Brooks has never hit her and that’s supposed to make everything better. They start to roll the montage of Vicki’s relationship dilemmas and Briana and Brooks are too busy going at one another for us to miss that entertainment. Minus 38. Alexis says that Vicki needs to listen to the tape so she can hear it for herself. Heather asks if Vicki’s reluctant to listen to the tape because then she’ll have to make a choice. Vicki doesn’t answer. Minus 12. Tamra has lots of thoughts on Brooks and Vicki and Briana. She’s threatened bodily harm to Brooks if he hurts Vicki. She feels like Vicki is making excuses for Brooks. This is Weak Vicki. Heather says that maybe this is the time for Vicki to move on from Brooks because she might love him but he might not be the right one for her. Vicki starts to cry as Briana talks about how this is the only source of “ick” in her life. Gretchen says she hates to see Vicki crying because she doesn’t want Vicki not to be with the person that she loves. Awww, Gretch. Tamra says that Briana has seen text messages from Brooks to Vicki calling Vicki fat and ugly and disgusting. Brooks and Vicki don’t believe that those messages exist. Minus 8. Briana tells Andy that all of this is coming from a place of loving her mother. Brooks says he loves her enough to let her go and tells her she should listen to those who’ve known her longer. Gretchen asks her if that’s what she wants and Vicki compares Slade and Brooks and everyone starts to feel grossed out by that comparison. Vicki says the world hated Slade and Gretchen says “well, okay, not the whole world…” Brooks says that the thing he has to do is exit Stage Right because of the turmoil his presence causes in Vicki’s family and friendships. He leaves and Vicki breaks down sobbing. Heather, Alexis, Tamra, and Lydia console her. Briana does not. Minus 40. As the reunion comes to a close, Andy asks for their final thoughts. Lydia says she feels like she’s been punched in the head. Alexis feels bad for a lot of people. Heather had a difficult, yet fun and exciting year and calls that the balance of life. Tamra had her best year yet. Gretchen was hurt by some of the friendships and says she’ll always defend her own honor but she’s happy to be engaged to Slade. Vicki is emotionally drained but remains a hopeless romantic. And that’s a wrap! Bravo, Andy Cohen. Bravo. EPISODE TOTAL: -51 SEASON TOTAL: -298
The third time’s the charm for Tamra Barney! She has the groom. She has the bling. And if the ladies have anything to do with it, she’ll have the dress, too. And Vicki will get some shocking news about Brooks thanks to Lauri, who went away to marry George but has come back again to start trouble because apparently her new life was boring. Silly housewife. Let’s catch up with them now with our THG +/- recap! Tamra meets Eddie at what will eventually, hopefully, maybe be their fitness studio. He’s set up a candlelight dinner on a card table. How romantic! Plus 8. They were supposed to be open weeks ago and there’s still no floor. Eddie’s so not interested in hearing Tamra talk about her Spanx. So not. Fake it, Eddie. Fake it. He asks about the Alexis-Gretchen drama and about Gretchen backing out of dress shopping and says that Gretchen’s being childish. Really, Gretchen’s just being a friend and knows that if she goes she might fight with Alexis and doesn’t want that for Tamra. Plus 3. Heather has another table read! She’s going to read for a guest starring role on Malibu Country . Terry was excited when he heard this time and didn’t crack a joke! Hooray, Terry! You really can teach an old dog new tricks! Plus 5 . Lauri and Vicki show up at Tamra’s and they’ve brought coffee. Lauri thinks it’s funny that Tamra’s getting married for a third time when Tamra cracked jokes about Lauri’s third wedding. Tamra’s previous wedding dresses were maternity dresses. The fact that this one isn’t is a big deal. Plus 8. Lydia believes that “marriage is forever” and says that about Tamra’s pending wedding to Eddie. Except this is Tamra’s third wedding. This one will totally stick! The ladies in the limo discuss Cheeseburger-gate and Slade. Lydia’s not a fan of him at all and calls him a 12-year-old tool. Eh, Plus 12. Gretchen wears her engagement ring from Jeff and Lydia sees it immediately upon Gretchen getting into the limo. Vicki thinks it’s Gretchen’s way of upstaging Tamra. It’s a ring, Vicki. That’s it. Heather and Alexis are at the bridal store when the limo arrives. They’re more than just cordial. They’re nearly chipper. Plus 3 Tamra wants to plan her wedding around the dress. The men helping her try on dresses have nothing but dollar signs in their eyes. Gretchen’s kind of stand-offish because she doesn’t want a repeat of the ladies’ night at the gym to happen in the bridal shop. She’s the only one who seems to be thinking about that. Heather pops the cork on a bottle of champs and Tamra comes out in the first dress. While she’s changing into the second one, Vicki tells Alexis that Gretchen wasn’t coming at first because Alexis was coming. Minus 12. Tamra stood up for Alexis, though, so Alexis plans to thank Tamra for that. She’s so done with Gretchen. So done. Alexis follows Tamra into the dressing room so she can thank her for the invitation. Tamra says that she wanted Alexis there and so she was there. Then in an interview, Alexis delivers the best line of the night. About Gretchen: “When it comes to Gretchen and I, I just wish sometimes Gretchen would eat some of her own makeup so she could become pretty on the inside again.” After Alexis leaves, Lauri says it might be Gretchen next time and Lydia says it might be Vicki. Vicki says it won’t be her. She and Brooks went to dinner and ended everything. His love language is quality time and Vicki can’t give him that since he’s not welcome in her home while Briana and Troy are living there. Lauri says Briana and Michael must have an intuition kicking in and she wants to talk to Vicki at some point. And then she just launches into the information she has about Brooks. Minus 26. He’s dating Lauri’s daughter’s friend. Where dating means probably having sex. With a 21 year old. A 21 year old is probably having sex with Brooks. All the bleach in the entire United States isn’t enough to purge the image of Brooks having sex with anyone from my brain. But a 21 year old?? Minus 75. I have a major case of the heebie jeebies right now. And the dry heaves. Lauri doesn’t have any concrete evidence about the probably sex. She just knows he met the girl at a poker party and he was throwing Benjamins at her. Probably Vicki’s Benjamins . Minus 14. Vicki’s kind of devastated because she still has feelings for Brooks. (Why? He’s a disgusting leech! Who probably had sex with someone his daughter’s age!) The girl Brooks has probably had sex with has made porn videos before. And Lydia says that talking about this feels extra dirty because they’re in a room surrounded by white wedding gowns. Gretchen’s come to life now that Vicki’s been knocked down a peg and Alexis has left. When Tamra comes out in The Dress, they all start to cry a little. Heather makes a toast. Tamra says the dress costs $10,000. Yes, 4 zeroes. This one better be worth it. Tamra wants to take a picture of herself and the ladies, and Vicki has to walk away and cry for a minute. She can’t get herself together. Lydia and Lauri go to console her and Lauri says she feels like she’s always the messenger. Well, Lauri, that’s because so far you are. Minus 8 . After shopping, the ladies head to dinner. Tamra finds out that Brooks broke up with Vicki. Then Lauri fills her in on the probably sex Brooks probably had with an under 21 year old girl. Heather asks if Vicki really needed to know the information. Lauri would want to know. Lydia says she would want to know. Heather wouldn’t want to know. Vicki comes back to the table and they order tequila. Plus 9. After a visit from the chefs, Heather tells the ladies about her possible recurring guest-starring role on Malibu Country and Lydia says she’s gone from “Fancy Pants” to “Fancy Outfit.” Gretchen told Tamra that she had been offered a spot on Malibu Country and Heather says that the casting director denied ever offering Gretchen anything of the sort. Oops? Tamra’s pissed about catching Gretchen in this lie. Heather says there’s a chance she’s colossally confused, but Vicki calls her a liar about half a dozen times. Lydia feels squicky talking about Gretchen when Gretchen isn’t there and Lauri feels like this is a giant case of pot meeting kettle for Vicki given all the lies she’s told. Tamra’s also upset that she opened up to Gretchen about her life and now Gretchen’s lying to her. Bad form, Gretchen. Bad form. EPISODE TOTAL: -87 SEASON TOTAL: -190
