Poor Lydia McLaughlin was emotionally exhausted after taping her first Real Housewives of Orange County reunion. The new (and hopefully returning!) cast member took to her blog this week to express her frustration over the way things went down on last night's third and final installment.
Lydia starts off sharing that she was disappointed in the way Briana Culberson handled the topic of Ryan's treatment of her mom, Judy Stirling. As we all saw, Briana suddenly didn't want to discuss altercation (hello! that is what a reunion episode is!) and tried to shut down any talk of it because Ryan wasn't there. She feebly attempted to excuse his behavior and Lydia is aggravated, to say the least. "What happened between my mother and Ryan was unfortunate. However, I feel Vicki, Ryan, and Briana are trying to steer away from the facts. Ryan shouldn't have yelled at my mother. End of story. He should apologize for his actions. She wasn't drinking red wine, but if she had been, don't you think he would have mentioned that while he was verbally assaulting her!?"
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She continued, defending her mom – who did not drag mud into Vicki Gunvalson's house. "I was upset with how Briana acted at the reunion. She said she didn't want to talk about "it," but then went on to insinuate that my mother was somehow responsible for "mud and red wine" on the couch. Why wasn't this mysterious glass of red wine ever mentioned before and where is this magical mud patch my mom supposedly walked through before resting on the couch? My mother doesn't drink red wine and Vicki's home has all cement in the back. Oh and let's not forget that my Mom was wearing all WHITE! Brianna is clearly making excuses for Ryan. What's upsetting to me is that there was no acknowledgement that he was out of line."
Lydia confirms that none of them attempted to make amends and apologize to Judy for the appalling behavior, "Neither Briana nor Ryan have reached out to me or my mother since this all happened. They haven't apologized in the slightest, even after watching the scene when it aired on TV. "He was stressed out." "He was drinking too much." The reason is irrelevant. I just hope Ryan can watch it, accept responsibility and grow from this because there is absolutely no excuse for his behavior. I was and am very proud of how my mom handled herself that night at Vicki's. She was VERY shaken, but kept her cool while some arrogant man dropped f-bombs at her."
As we all saw, Lydia was overwhelmed and couldn't take anymore of the negativity and crazy that was happening and bolted from the room in tears. She explains, "Once the reunion conversation turned to Brooks, Briana, and Vicki, I had had enough. We had been filming all day. Eight hours of constant drama and negativity! I'm just not used to being around that energy. It's one thing for one of the Housewives to call out another for something petty, but the drama went to a whole different level when Vicki's daughter starting talking about Brooks, a man her mother cares about. In no way am I defending Brooks' actions or taking sides, but Briana made some serious accusations about Brooks on a world stage and my heart broke for my friend Vicki. She looked broken and so sad and while it was all happening, I was sitting there wondering, "How did I get myself into such a bad situation?" and I decided I didn't have to be. So. . .I got up and left. I had a good cry, said a prayer and took a few deep breaths. When I felt composed I was able to rejoin the group."
Despite the crazy and distressing day of filming, Lydia isn't ruling out returning for another season of Orange County Catastrophes. "It's kind of an oxymoron being involved with a show like this, knowing at my core who I am. . .But I don't regret this journey for a second and who knows. . .Maybe I'll be back." Lydia's a brave woman.
TELL US – DO YOU WANT LYDIA TO JOIN THE LADIES AGAIN NEXT SEASON? DO YOU THINK BRIANA HANDLED THINGS AT THE REUNION POORLY?
