Vicki Gunvalson is one-on-one with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live. Vicki shares her side of the Brooks Ayers cancer storyline that plagued Real Housewives of Orange County season 10.
About the fact that Brooks was never treated for cancer at City of Hope, Vicki says, “I obviously called him right away and said, ‘What the hell is going on?’ He’s like, ‘It’s a spokesperson from City of Hope. It was not my doctor who said that. My doctor practices out of City of Hope.’ I’m like, ‘You are a liar. This isn’t making sense. You are lying again. Tell the truth.’ I got a whole file here that we can go through that he says he has cancer. He had to orchestrate some crazy ass chain of lies in order for all of this to make sense. He brought work into this. He brought his friends into this. He brought me and the cast into this.”
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Vicki says she hates Brooks. When asked if her love tank is to blame, Vicki admits, “I definitely needed love. I still need love. I own the fact that I don’t want to be alone. So, when I had a man swooping me off my feet and being there for me, yeah, I did put blinders on some things that I saw red flags about.”
Andy tries to make sense of the timeline. In October 2014, Brooks told Radar that he was diagnosed the Fall of 2013. In December 2014, Brooks tweeted that he was starting his second round of chemo, which begs the question, what was he doing for a year? “He didn’t do anything,” claims Vicki. “He said he took a chemo pill to get his levels back. Then I heard nothing for a year.”
Vicki adds, “He had his first treatment in October. I was at my mom’s birthday the beginning of December. One of our friends, Tony Toth, took him, picked him up, and stayed the weekend with him because I was gone. That was his second treatment. Then we went to Puerto Vallarta in January. In March, he said he was going to start switching from City of Hope and going a more holistic route.”
“I said, ‘This does not make sense. The doctor is telling you to do more chemo and now you’re not going to do any at all. This does not make sense.’ He kept saying, ‘Stay out of it. Stay out of my healthcare. It’s my business, my journey. You’re filming a reality show, it’s not about me.’ I’m like, ‘But it is becoming about you and I need you to be honest with me.’ He had to fabricate this lie all the way prior to filming. This lie had to be thought out way before filming.”
Vicki suggests Brooks could have drank eye drops (apparently it’s a thing) to make himself sick and mimic the side effects of chemo, “You can actually take eye drops and they can make you violently ill. I don’t know if he did that. That’s pretty sick, but I witnessed him with fevers, night sweats, and chills. He lost 42 pounds in three months. The extent of what I did for this man to cure him I can’t even tell you. Time and money, time and money, I spent on him.”
Does Vicki believe Brooks has cancer? “I do not believe he does. <laughs> Right now, today, I don’t believe he has cancer. Why would he lie about City of Hope medical records if he has cancer? It doesn’t make sense. I never want to see him or speak of his name again. I want him out of my life. My family is finally coming full circle. My business is great. I am a business woman. I am not part of some scam.”
That said, Vicki admits she embellished details surrounding Brooks‘ cancer, “I wanted the girls to become compassionate for him.”
Vicki says it hurts her feelings to know that viewers want her off the show. “I’ve never lied about his cancer,” she insists. “I’ve only relayed what I’ve been told. I am guilty of loving Brooks and believing him. That is it.”
What does Vicki want to say to her RHOC co-stars?
Shannon Beador – “I’m sorry, like, 100% sorry. I love Shannon and I want the best for her and David. At the baptism, I never knew Rhonda was going to approach her. I told Billy and Rhonda that morning what we filmed all season. That was 100% on Rhonda.”
Heather Dubrow – “I have high respect for Heather. I apologized that I even used Terry’s name in this IV situation. That was never supposed to get back… it was a conversation Briana and I had off camera.”
Tamra Judge – “Continue to love me. I’m going to make mistakes. We’ve been through a lot together. She messes up all the time too. I messed up – no doubt. I messed up in not believing them, but I had to do it on my time and on my terms.”
Meghan King Edmonds – “She was coming from a good place in the very beginning. All in all, it’s a sweep of an apology across the board, but they got to figure out where I was coming from at that time, too. It was not anything more than defending my man, which they would all do, too.”
Vicki continues, “I needed them to hug me through this and say, ‘If this doesn’t make sense, we’re still your friend and we love you.’ Gretchen [Rossi] came from a great place. She said she feels bad for me. The fact that Brooks did this to me and to the ladies, he’s the one that’s sick, not me.”
Andy asks Vicki why she picks men who aren’t good for her. “I think Donn was an amazing man,” she shares, “so I’m not going to say that he wasn’t good for me.” Vicki goes on to say that she would NOT divorce Donn if she could turn back time.
Is Vicki afraid of Brooks? “I am afraid of his power. I’m afraid of him releasing any personal information on me to the public – text messages, social security numbers, anything personal that he may have. I’m afraid of his anger. He feels he has been put through the ringer dating me. He blames me for his demise. He said no normal relationship goes through what he has gone through. I said, ‘You’re dating a reality star. You better have your ass in line, because anything that’s not in line is going to get exposed.'”
Vicki admits she had reservations about Brooks but chose to “stick it out” to avoid an on-camera breakup.
“It has been a hell of a year,” bemoans Vicki. “I got my mom dying February 4th, which was completely unexpected, I got Brooks being diagnosed a couple months prior to that, I got my entire family away from me, and I am filming a reality show, going, ‘OMG! I got this guy that I don’t know if he is telling me the truth or not but I’m going to stick it out through the filming and then I’ll figure it out when we’re done filming.’ I didn’t want to have a break up on camera. I didn’t want the breakup to be on camera like it was with Donn and I.”
Is Vicki in denial? “I’m over talking about it. I really am. It’s been four and a half months since we broke up. My life has been talking about Brooks‘ cancer for a year now. I’m not in denial. Whether he has it or he doesn’t have it is really none of my business anymore. I hope he loved me. I gave my life to him for four years.”
Andy asks Vicki if she believes Brooks ever loved her. “If he has lied to me about all of this, the answer is no,” she says. “But, while I was in it, I thought he loved me like I had never been loved before.”
As for her daughter, Briana Culberson, Vicki says they’re in a good place. “I completely asked for forgiveness and love on her end,” shares Vicki. “She understands that I was lonely. She understands that I might have pushed some things under the rug that I shouldn’t have.”
TELL US – DO YOU BELIEVE VICKI? IF BROOKS IS LYING ABOUT HAVING CANCER, IS VICKI IN ON THE SCAM?
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