Entertainment

The 'RHOC' Ladies Aren't Fans Of Brooks

by Marenah Dobin

Even though your love life is your life, it can really be a real damper when your friends do not approve of your relationship. I imagine this disapproval is much worse when you are on a successful reality TV show like Real Housewives of Orange County. The controversy plus the magnification from the spotlight has to be a lot for original Real Housewife Vicki Gunvalson. Pretty much everyone from RHOC has expressed their opinions about Brooks Ayers, Vicki's on-again-off-again boyfriend. No one was a huge fan in the beginning, but now the contention is at a whole new level with all of the Housewives questioning whether Brooks actually has cancer or not. Yikes. This definitely is not your typical friend and boyfriend controversy.

Poor Vicki. I feel bad that she's caught up in the middle of all this even now that she and Brooks have split up. On top of that, it's all happening in such a public nature on Real Housewives of Orange County. Since Vicki's life is public fodder, this means that Brooks' life is also up for discussion because of their association. Everyone from the randoms on Twitter to her Real Housewives costars are speaking out to share opinions about Brooks. So, what are the ladies saying? What do they really think of him? Unfortunately for Brooks, he's not getting a lot of praise.

1. Shannon Beador

When asked about the cancer controversy in an interview on Hollywood Today Live , Shannon seemed like she was trying to come from a place of love and be fair instead of completely laying into Brooks like some of the other Housewives have. Shannon said,

At this point, and you'll see as the season goes on, there are so many inconsistencies. And we want answers too. I mean when we're defending our friend and all of a sudden there are certain questions posed to us, we just want the answer.

In the same interview, she and Tamra Judge also stated that they believed Vicki was a smart woman who could not be tricked into believing Brooks has cancer if he really doesn't and that they believe she was helping him hide the truth.

2. Tamra Judge

In a September 2015 interview with People, Tamra did not hold back, which isn't new for her. She is definitely skeptical of Brooks:

I'm not buying it. I'm not a doctor, but I feel like it's fishy. I don't know a lot about cancer but you don't do three rounds of chemo and go, "ehh I don't want to do it anymore." I can understand if you were deathly ill and chemo was giving you secondary infections and you couldn't leave your bed and you were so sick that you go, "I don’t want this," but when you are going to Mexico and having drinks at parties and you're like "ehh…". It's just weird.

She even added that pretty much everyone on the cast agrees with her, saying, "The whole cast is like, 'this does not sound right.'" There is no question about Tamra's opinion here.

3. Meghan King Edmonds

Meghan was the first one to share her suspicions about Brooks's cancer diagnosis, and she has continued to do so. In a recent People interview, Meghan explained her theory on the Brooks cancer situation:

The general hypothesis is that, for example in last week’s episode, I go to the doctor because I have a lump and I need to get it checked out. You see that in the episode, but there’s really no follow-up because it was an infection. Well, what if I said, "It’s not an infection but cancer." No one can disprove that, and there is actual evidence of it starting somewhere because I did go to the doctor. It’s a real thing, but if I wanted to let that story grow legs I could because no one can prove it. I think that’s what might have happened with Brooks.

4. Heather Dubrow

Heather is all about being kind and politically correct. So if she is publicly questioning someone, you know it's bad. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Heather discussed comments Brooks made about RHOC having orchestrated drama:

There is no manufactured drama on the show. You don’t get to see everything, but what you are seeing is what happens. This season is raw, real and disturbing. The audience is smart. I think Brooks is going to be judged and tried by the court of public opinion. The response to this season is so good, because it’s real. To say this season and situations were manufactured for drama is just not true.

She is not taking the Tamra and Meghan approach of directly calling Brooks out, but she is definitely questioning him.

This is tough situation for everyone involved and I really feel for Vicki. I have no idea what she really knows about the veracity of Brooks's cancer claims, but I am sure that this whole thing has to be extremely stressful. With the show still in season and the reunion episodes on the way, I am sure that this topic is going to be explored even more by Vicki's RHOC costars.

Image: brooksayers/Instagram