Tamra Judge looked back on her exit from The Real Housewives of Orange County cast during an interview earlier this week.
Months after Tamra confirmed on Instagram that she would not be a part of the season 15 cast, the mother of four, who owns a gym in Orange County as well as a CBD line, said she knew “for the past couple years” that she needed a break from the Bravo reality series. However, it wasn’t until after she learned her former husband, Simon Barney, was battling stage 3 throat cancer that she decided to turn down a part-time position on the series.
According to Tamra, who spoke to Us Weekly magazine on May 21, she went into last year’s season 14 reunion with plans to retire, but because other people on the show convinced her not to and told her that she was “super emotional” and shouldn’t make any “rash decisions,” she decided to wait.
In January, just before announcing she would be leaving the show to focus on her family amid Simon’s health crisis, Tamra received a call from producers to inform her that she had been demoted.
“They even said, ‘We’re shocked. We’re completely shocked at this,’” Tamra revealed of her producers. “‘They know that you said you’d never become a friend, so they want to give you a limited role.’ And I’m like, ‘No, thank you.’ That’s not what I said. I said, ‘F off!’”
After having some time to cool down, Tamra took a conversation with Andy Cohen, who encouraged her to take a year off and reassess the situation next year, ahead of the potential 16th season of The Real Housewives of Orange County . He also assured Tamra that she’s “good TV.”
In closing, Tamra admitted to Us Weekly that she’s “a little bummed” that she didn’t have the opportunity to walk away from the show on her own terms before adding that the door for a return is “absolutely” open.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Tamra spoke of a potential return to The Real Housewives of Orange County during an interview with Hollywood Life on May 14. At the time, she went into detail about the conversation she had with Andy after confirming her exit from the show.
“[He] did contact me afterward and just said, ‘You know what? They want to mix things up a little bit.’ [He said], ‘Take some time off, come back the following year,’” she recalled.