Gina Kirschenheiter said she feels like she’s not “allowed to be friends” with Katie Ginella amid her drama with Heather Dubrow. Meanwhile, Heather shared where she stands with Katie and Gina, and Katie revealed an off-camera conversation with Gina.
On the current season of Real Housewives of Orange County, Katie claimed she had proof Heather allegedly called the paparazzi to photograph her with her husband, Terry. Heather denied it and seemed continually upset with her friend Gina for not nipping it in the bud.
At some point, Tamra Judge suggested that Gina set Katie up to reveal the paparazzi information on camera. Katie then indicated that Gina told her on a phone call that she maintains a close relationship with Heather due to her real estate connections. Gina, however, denied it.
In separate interviews for Bravo TV, Gina, Katie, and Heather opened up about the paparazzi drama.
“It definitely affected me and Gina’s friendship in a horrible way,” said Katie. “[But] I don’t think it was necessarily a setup … I just think that Gina unfortunately found herself in a tough spot and knew Heather much longer than me, has a deeper connection with Heather, and was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna side with Heather on this one. Sorry, Katie.’”
Gina addressed her own side: “It’s a little hard for me because I feel like I’m not really allowed to be friends with Katie — you know what I mean? — in like a way that is completely comfortable.”
“[But] listen, Katie burnt me. I got burnt in this,” she added. “Somehow they were fighting and I took a hit for all that … I don’t know if everybody sees but I was going through a lot of personal life things this year, and yet I kept getting picked on by everybody and getting a spanking by Heather like every other episode.”
While the drama “caused a rift” with Heather and Gina, they’re still on good terms.
“Today we’re great,” shared Heather. “I mean, she is a really good girl and I care about her a lot. We have fun together.”
Katie also gave a positive friendship update.
“My friendship with Gina’s a little rocky, but we had a very long conversation while the show was airing a couple weeks ago. We both said, ‘Hey, this is gonna be tough for a couple weeks for both of us, we both talk about each other a lot, but that’s kinda how we felt at the time,’” said Katie.
In the future, Gina and Katie are “just gonna try to work through things together.”
Unfortunately, Katie and Heather aren’t in such a good place.
“It’s just very obvious that Katie doesn’t have consistent stories, doesn’t tell the truth,” said Heather. “How are you friends with someone like that? I don’t know. We’re not anything.”
Katie added, “Like Heather likes to say, we were never friends to begin with. So, we aren’t friends. I think we co-exist really well together and [are] very respectful, and I think that’s kind of all we really need right now.”