Emily Simpson Thinks Gina Kirschenheiter Gets Mad At Her To Be Accepted By The Group On Real Housewives Of Orange County

Emily Simpson and Gina Kirschenheiter have been at each other’s throats the past few weeks on The Real Housewives of Orange County. First, the tension over Gina bailing on Emily’s trip to Las Vegas (on account of her DUI) led to a major blow-up between the besties on the cast trip to Miraval. Then, the pair fought again at Shannon Beador‘s hot mess express-themed birthday party over Em’s disastrous attempt at setting her pal up on a date with her husband’s not-quite-single cousin.

Got all that? Honestly, me neither. However, Emily thinks she understands the root of why exactly her erstwhile BFF has been picking fights with her this season.

“It all boils down to one thing,” the RHOC star said on this week’s Aftershow. “She wants to be mad at me. Because if she’s mad at me, then they accept her into their group even more.”

Of course, the “they” Emily is referring to are the lawyer’s frenemies within the cast, Shannon and Tamra Judge, whom Gina has spent the season cozying up to at the expense of her friendship with the OC’s legally brunette lawyer.

RELATED: Gina Kirschenheiter Claims Being “Betrayed” By Emily Simpson Is Worse Than Going To Jail

“‘Oh, you don’t like Emily,” she continued, rubbing her hands together in mock glee as cast mate Kelly Dodd nodded along in agreement. “‘Come tell us. Come, my child. Tell us how much you hate Emily.’ I mean that’s all it is; I’m not f–cking stupid! Right?”

“Right,” Kelly agreed. “They spun her out of control. Hence why she is very much Stockholm Syndrome’d.”

RELATED: Emily Simpson Says Gina Kirschenheiter Was “Judgmental” Over Las Vegas Trip On Real Housewives of Orange County

Whether Gina is suffering from actual Stockholm Syndrome is up for debate, but one thing the painful rift has taught Emily is that her personal style of resolving conflict sharply contrasts with her friend.

“In my mind, it was between me and Gina, and that’s how I work things out. Directly,” she explained. “So I never went to Kelly. I never went to Braunwyn [Windham-Burke]. I never said anything to anyone else…It was very difficult for me knowing that I couldn’t even have a conversation with her without her bringing Tamra into it, bringing Shannon into it. ‘Cause I felt like she just kept repeatedly going to other people and talking about me behind my back.”