Slade Smiley and Gretchen Rossi have a long history with the Real Housewives of Orange County. And for both of them, their prior relationships were focal story lines, until they started dating each other in 2009. Slade was featured in the premiere season of RHOC, by proxy of his relationship with Jo De La Rosa. At the time, he was a very eligible bachelor and riding high with a top paying job. Jo’s tagline for Season 1 said it all, “he’s pretty much keeping me.” But his fortune turned with the market crash in 2007. Since then, he struggled with employment and paying off debts pertaining to child support.
Slade tried to stay relevant on RHOC by briefly dating Lauri Waring, before he and Gretchen got together. Rather than put attention into seeking employment, Slade bickered with costars Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge. Gretchen was the bread-winner since the beginning of their relationship and said she would never marry Slade until he paid off his debts. Well, apparently Gretchen is sticking to it because Slade has yet to deal with his financial obligations. And though the two are clearly committed to each other after 11 years together, an engagement, and welcoming a daughter, Skylar, in July of 2019, they still haven’t tied the knot.
Gretchen never cites Slade’s debts as the reasons they haven’t wed though. On a recent episode of Watch What Happens Live, she said it was their focus on IVF.
A fan asked Gretchen about the authenticity of their engagement that was filmed for RHOC in 2013. The viewer asked, “since you deny that your elaborate proposal to Slade was just for the show, how do you look back on that moment since you two still aren’t married?”
“We actually had a date on calendar,” Gretchen responded, “I don’t know if you guys know that. But we had a date on calendar. Slade got booked to go down to film for the History Channel. And so we actually make a joke that we missed our own wedding.”
Did they not want to reschedule?
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“But the truth is is that we got really focused on IVF,” Gretchen continued, “it’s very expensive to do IVF, so we just focused on that. And the truth is, is like I said earlier to Andy [Cohen], you know, we are happy and content in our relationship.”
Gretchen could heave left it at that, but maybe she felt very strongly about comparing her relationship with a persecuted community that, until recently, was denied the right to wed. It’s a flimsy comparison. No one is legally preventing her from marrying Slade, but if she doesn’t want to be honest about the real reason then she will present soundbites instead.
“And just like the LGBTQ+ community, for years they haven’t been able to be married,” Gretchen said, “so does that mean they’re not in love? Does it mean their relationship is fake? No.”
Andy quickly challenged Gretchen, saying, “well, but we can get married now.”
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Gretchen replied, “yeah you can now, and maybe Slade and I will get married one day soon, you know what I mean? But right now, it wasn’t on the priority list if you will.”
Unfortunately, it’s not on Slade’s priority to pay the child support owed to his ex-girlfriend either. Not ideal for the ex, but it doesn’t change Slade and Gretchen’s dynamic overall. They wear wedding rings and call each other husband and wife .It works for them.
RELATED: Braunwyn Windham-Burke Responds To Gretchen Rossi’s Claim She’s An “Inauthentic” Lesbian; Braunwyn Calls Gretchen “Uneducated”
TELL US- WHAT DO YOU THINK OF GRETCHEN AND SLADE’S RELATIONSHIP? WHY DO YOU THINK THEY HAVEN’T MARRIED YET?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
