In the latest episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Tamra Judge and Gretchen Rossi found themselves revisiting a story from the past during a sleepover with Heather Dubrow and Emily Simpson. Gretchen revealed details about a recording session Tamra participated in years ago with an unnamed musician, sparking renewed speculation.
Tamra responded to the resurfaced rumors during the episode and again on the RHOC After Show, addressing both the recording and the allegations about her relationship with the musician.
The session took place “like, 15 years ago,” Tamra estimated, recalling that it happened “right after” she separated from ex Simon Barney and had “just started dating” her current husband, Eddie Judge.
“I think it was a recording studio, like, within a house,” Tamra explained on the RHOC episode. “We were hanging out at this house, drinking. … We were joking around. We were messing around, just singing songs on the thing. But I don’t know who would’ve gotten it, how they would’ve gotten it. I don’t even have it.”
While the recording itself raised some eyebrows, Tamra was more concerned about the rumors that followed. Gretchen and her partner Slade Smiley claimed to have a copy of the song, and more controversially, they alleged Tamra had a romantic relationship with the musician involved.
Slade took the gossip further during a FaceTime call with Heather and Emily, claiming he’d heard audio of Tamra’s alleged “tryst” with the artist in the studio.
Tamra firmly denied the suggestion of any romantic involvement. “If I wanted to hook up with him, I could’ve,” she stated on the RHOC After Show. “Not that it was… being asked or anything. … We didn’t have that relationship. Our kids went to school together.”
In fact, Tamra said she is still “friends” with the “boy bander” today, dispelling any ongoing rumors.
The topic originally came up while Gretchen was sharing her own music career stories in a lighthearted moment with Heather and Emily. She explained that she brought up Tamra’s song partly to highlight what she sees as a double standard.
“Tamra has gone out so many times in the press and said Housewives should not sing,” Gretchen said on the After Show. “And so, it’s just always made me kinda giggle, because I’ve always known about this, like, song that she went into the studio and tried to sing herself where she sounded like a drowned rat.”
Despite being the first to suggest the rumored romantic involvement, Gretchen maintained that she never intended for the other women to find out that Slade had allegedly heard a recording of Tamra’s “extracurricular activities” in the studio.
“I didn’t want it to be about the story that was talked about back in 2010,” Gretchen added.
She even felt she was protecting Tamra by refusing to play the recording for her castmates, despite their curiosity.
“Both Emily and Heather wanted to hear that recording of her singing so badly,” Gretchen revealed. “In a weird way, I almost was, like, protecting Tamra because I was the one that said … ‘I’m not gonna play it.’”
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