‘RHOC’: Vicki Gunvalson Finally Breaks Silence on Steve Lodge Relationship Status, Did They Break Up?
Although Vicki Gunvalson is not on The Real Housewives of Orange County anymore, she is still one of the beloved stars. The insurance maven left the Bravo series at the beginning of 2020 after 14 fantastic years. Gunvalson has focused her time on growing her insurance company and spending time with her family. Recently, the reality TV personality has been plagued with rumors that she has split from boyfriend Steve Lodge and she’s finally addressing the status of her relationship.
Did Vicki Gunvalson split from Steve Lodge?
Gunvalson has lived her love life in front of the RHOC cameras for 14 years. Since leaving the show, fans had been keeping up with her through social media. However, fans noticed that Gunvalson had been posting less and less photos and videos with her boyfriend Lodge. Following multiple rumors that the OG of the OC had broken up with Lodge, she finally broke her silence about the situation.
“Just because Steve and I don’t always share pictures of each other on social media, is not indicative of the status of our relationship,” Gunvalson told Champion Daily. “I flew to North Carolina on a red-eye to spend Christmas Day with Briana [Culberson] and her family while Steve stayed back and spent Christmas in California. I am currently en route to my home in Puerto Vallarta to spend New Year’s with Steve.”
Gunvalson is not only running her successful insurance company, she also bought a condo in Puerto Vallarta, México and a home in North Carolina. The latter was to have a place for when she visited her daughter and grandchildren.
“We are looking forward to having some time together and are working hard on balancing time with each other, my career, and time with our families who live in different states,” Gunvalson continued. “Steve loves Puerto Vallarta and so do I, and we are very excited to spend some down time together to ring in 2021 together.”
Former ‘RHOC’ co-stars don’t miss Vicki Gunvalson
Gunvalson is an institution on RHOC as she was the longest-running cast member and with the show since the beginning. After her 14-year stint though, some of her former cast members that went on for season 15, are not missing her. Emily Simpson and Gunvalson clashed through a couple of seasons they shared together. In fact, Simpson said that with Gunvalson and Tamra Judge out, the show is better.
“For me, I think it’s better. And I don’t mean that as disrespect toward them,” Simpson told E! News. “I think that they were on the show for a long period of time and I just think the show has to evolve. And that means that you have to have new people and you have to keep it moving forward and I feel like the relationships are more authentic and more real because I feel like when someone has been on the show as long as those two have, I think a lot of things get manipulated and contrived.”
Braunwyn Windham-Burke is another current cast member that is happy that Gunvalson is no longer on the show.
“I think it’s good not having Vicki there because a lot of what she did last year was manufactured, fake drama and lies against [co-star Kelly Dodd],” Windham-Burke told Digital Spy. “I’m not into that kind of thing, I don’t really like that when women do that do each other.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
