“She said, ‘Listen girl, you’re gonna be fine. You’re a smart woman,” Vicki Gunvalson, 57, told Andy Cohen, 51, about the advice Bethenny Frankel, 49, gave her after leaving RHOC on her Whoop It Up With Vicki podcast on Thursday, March 12. “She also emailed me on some advice on how to look at it through different glasses. She also said one thing I found very profound, she said, ‘You always want to leave the party before it’s over.’ I keep thinking about that.” The mother-of-two shocked fans when she announced in late January 2019 that she would not be returning for the show’s 15th season. Vicki has been part of the long-running Bravo series since its inception way back in 2006 and remained a full-time cast member on it for its first 13 seasons (she was downgraded to a friend of the wives for season 14).
If there is one person who can dish advice on this kind of matter it is The Skinnygirl founder who left The Real Housewives of New York City not once, but twice. Bethenny is considered to be one of the most successful Real Housewives outside of the show as her businesses have thrived over the past decade. She was also able to secure two different Bravo series outside of RHONY (Bethenny Ever After, Bethenny & Fredrik) and also had a national talk show that aired between 2013-2014.
The interview between Vicki and Andy wasn’t without its drama as the “OG of the OC” continually brought up how he “fired” her. “She actually was sad for me, she knew how much I loved it and she said, ‘Mom, I’m sad for you but thank god you have your business, thank god you saved money,” Vicki said about how her daughter Briana Culberson, 32, reacted to the news of her RHOC departure. “Many people in my situation may have sold their business, then get fired from Housewives like I did — thank you Andy — and they don’t have anything.”
Vicki wasn’t the only one who left RHOC recently. Tamra Judge, 52, who isn’t an OG but is considered by many to be (she began her stint on the series in season 3) announced that she was leaving one day after Vicki did. “It’s been a wild 12 years . But it’s time for me to move on. I’m sad to go but I’m very excited about my future,” she posted on Instagram, captioning a photo of herself and husband Eddie Judge, 46.