Jeana Keough, Peggy Tanous and Lizzie Rovsek Dish on Life After 'Real Housewives'

RELATED: Real Housewives of Orange County: Where Are Your Favorite Cast Members Now?

The Original Housewives of Orange County Get Real on the First Season, 10 Years Later

EW.com:

Ten years ago, on March 21, 2006, The Real Housewives of Orange County premiered, and forever changed reality TV. The first series of Bravo’s hit Real Housewives franchise, RHOC is currently in production for an 11th season, which is set to begin airing this summer. When the pilot debuted a decade ago, it kicked off one of the biggest reality TV phenomena in the format’s brief history — not that anybody knew it at the time.

“I did not think it would make it to television,” original cast member Lauri Peterson tells EW. “I thought, ‘Okay, they’ll shoot a few scenes and try to put it together, and just like a million other people that attempted a reality show, it won’t fly and that will be it.’”

She wasn’t alone in that lack of foresight. In honor of the 10th anniversary of the premiere of RHOC — and by extension, the 10th anniversary of the birth of the entire Real Housewives empire — EW caught up with Peterson and her season 1 castmates Jo De La Rosa, Vicki Gunvalson, and Jeana Keough, none of whom ever dreamed that the show would reach its current degree of popularity.

”I really never thought it was going to amount to anything,” admits Gunvalson, the only original Housewife who is still a member of the current cast. “Reality wasn’t a thing back then,” De La Rosa adds. “It was a very foreign concept to me.” Keough echoes her sentiment, “I don’t think I even knew what a reality show was.”

The first season’s opening credits begin with the foreword, “Seven million families live in gated communities.” The five wives of RHOC’s first season — Peterson, De La Rosa, Gunvalson, Keough, and Kimberly Bryant — all lived in the exclusive gated community Coto De Caza in Orange County, California, and the Desperate Housewives-inspired series sought to examine their lavish lifestyle “behind the gates.”

“The homeowner’s association had big meetings at the club, trying to decide if there was any way they could stop us from filming,” Keough recalls. “They tried to see if they could fight it, and the lawyers would say, ‘No, look, it’s not even a big production.’ Back then we had karaoke boxes and a little handheld movie camera; now, it’s a full-on four-camera shoot.”

Kimberly Bryant must've really gone into hiding for them not to even get a quote from her.

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Jo De La Rosa Gets Engaged To Marketing CEO Mark Lovette

From Jo's Instagram account:

justjodelarosaMost unexpected surprise ever! So excited to start planning forever with the most incredible man in the world and my best friend - feeling like the luckiest girl in the world 💍❤️🙈 

 RELATED: Jo De La Rosa: My Life After the Real Housewives

Jo De La Rosa Says Slade Smiley and Gretchen Rossi "Deserve Each Other"

Wetpaint.com:

Of all the revelations from last night’s 100th episode of Real Housewives of Orange County, at least one is still making waves on Twitter: Jo De La Rosa accusing Gretchen Rossi of violating the “girl code” by shacking up with the erstwhile Housewife’s ex Slade Smiley. 

After hearing that comment, Gretchen tweeted at Jo, “hate to burst your bubble honey but I didn't meet Slade through you, I knew him from working with him in the real estate busin[ess].” Then she added, “Hilarious that Jo thinks I meet Slade cause of her, I knew him long before her, and Jo and I were only acquaintances because of Slade!” 

Jo didn’t seem to agree with Gretchen’s assessment and wrote back, “whatever helps you sleep at night, darling. I'm happy for the both of you - the two of you truly deserve each other.”

Sounds snide, but after Slade jumped in the mix to tweet, “yes we do and @GretchenRossi and I sleep great at night knowing the truth. Hope u quit pretending one day and find happiness,” Jo insisted to her ex, “I have no negative beef with you. I've always stood up for you and you're better than this.”

Tamra Barney suggested in a tweet to Andy Cohen that he bring Jo back “to shake things up.” Or at least give her a spot on the reunion couch!

RELATED:  Gretchen Rossi Slams Heather Dubrow For Gossiping Behind Her Back About ‘Malibu Country’ Gig, Insists Producers ‘Wanted Me’

Vicki Gunvalson on 100 'Real Housewives of Orange County' Episodes: 'Why the Hell Am I Doing This?'

Yahoo.com:

While Bravo is celebrating 100 episodes of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" with a special airing on Monday, it's only standing original cast member is still trying to wrap her head around the experience.

"I don't know if I'm still into it yet," Vicki Gunvalson told TheWrap. "I'm still trying to understand why the hell am I doing this?"

"There are days when I absolutely, 100 percent love it and there's days where I need to get my head examined. What sane person would ever allow millions of viewers to judge them question their looks, question every time they speak, question who they date? I mean it's annoying."

The insurance company owner isn't in the mood to celebrate the show's big accomplishment. She's in the middle of great controversy surrounding former cast mate, friend and employee Lauri Peterson. Peterson left the show after Season 4, but returned this season accusing Gunvalson of cheating on her ex-husband along with a host of other sexual accusations, including a threesome with another woman.

"It just totally blindsided me," Gunvalson said of Peterson's accusations. "And then I got upset with the production company because I said, 'Why didn't you ask me before you aired that, because it's a lie?' They said, 'You'll come around, you'll tell your truth.' But now the viewers think that I sleep around with a woman, it was just disgusting to me. So, how do you combat things that are lies? That's where I go deep and dark."

Defending herself, Gunvalson said that the woman in Peterson's threesome story was actually her sister and believes that the returning housewife made the stories up in order to get camera time. "She's pretty boring in her own life," the 51-year-old said. "And if she didn't come back with something they wouldn't have aired her."

Gunvalson said that the accusations have affected her business and said she didn't sign up for this kind of personal and professional attack.

"If I knew Lauri was going to come back like that, I probably would have never filmed again a day in my life because I wouldn't have allowed something like that to be out to the universe," she said.

"I mean we're talking stuff people will see 10 or 20 years from now; my grandchildren. It's gross, it's filthy, it's disgusting and I hate liars," she continued. "Now, I have to be the one that defends myself and that's not the person I want to be. I really am still very raw about it, still very upset about it, I don't understand it and I'm mad. I'm just very upset. Probably in time things will heal, but right now it's not good."

In interviews for Monday's 100^th episode special on Bravo, Gunvalson was in a much better place. She opens the special and during it she declares that the show is like one of her babies.

Gunvalson had yet to watch the two-hour program when we talked to her, but after we informed her that there are plenty of touching flashbacks over the past eight seasons on the special that will probably counteract some of the drama this season, she said, "Oh, good."

"At the end of the day, it's business," she added. "I understand without that drama we wouldn't be on, so I'm smart enough to understand that. I will never tolerate just somebody coming on and lying about me. Pretty much, I'm going to claw her eyeballs out. But, other than that we're all good."

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Real Housewives of Orange County Cast Tells How It All Started

 

RELATED: 'Real Housewives of Orange County' Recap: Lauri Peterson Drops a Big Bombshell About Brooks Ayers

Ex-Real Housewives: Where Are They Now

Glamour.com:

Mary Schmidt-Amons
Mary "I don't make money, I spend money" Schmidt-Amons divorced her husband, Rich, about a year ago. The Labels for Love founder also recently launched bodybymaryamons.com, a website that scarily knows where you're clicking in from and appears to have something to do with diet supplements.

Lynda Erkiletian
Lynda's company, The Artists Agency, actually celebrates its 29th anniversary today. That's the good news. The bad news is that she's no longer with Ebong. Boo.

Stacie Scott Turner
I'll admit to falling in love with Stacie's search for her biological father--and I'm sad to say that she and husband Jason, who went on the quest with her, have since gone their separate ways. She's still running her real estate business.

Catherine Ommannen
Cat has written her autobiography and a sequel to her autobiography since the show aired. Let's disregard the fact that many world leaders have been captured in a single volume and just focus on how good she looks. (She also recently had a baby girl!)

Michaele Salahi
Michaele and her rocker bf Neal Schon are reportedly considering getting married on TV, while the rest of us are reportedly going "nah, we're good."

Now let's travel back to the origin story that was Real Housewives of Orange County and catch up with some of the first women to hold up fruit on television ever.

Jo De La Rosa
Jo's LinkedIn profile lists her as director of sales for the media company Optimal Fusion. I say: any position other than "Slade Smiley's television in" is a major step in the right direction.

Jeana Keough
The fact that Jeana rarely smiled at anything made her one of my favorites on the first season of RHOC. But I had to grin at this: Jeana recently took daughter Kara, who got engaged last year, to find a dress at Kleinfeld's in New York! PLEASE let this be an ep of Say Yes to the Dress.

DeShawn Snow
Well hey, DeShawn wrote a series of kids' books called Lil' Shawnee aimed at empowering young girls. I can't say anything snarky because I'd be lying if I said this cover, with all its preteen awesomeness wouldn't have brought me to a screeching, captivated halt in the library's YA section back in the day.

Danielle Staub
One-woman drama machine Staub won VH1's Famous Food (I know, I didn't see it either) in 2011--but her restaurant, The Lemon Basket, has since closed. There have been rumors of her returning to RHONJ, but no official word.

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Where Are They Now: Former 'Real Housewives Of Orange County'

Ology.com:

Do you watch a classic TV show or listen to an old song and wonder, "what happened to that person?" Welcome to Where Are They Now, an Ology feature dedicated to finding out what happened to some of Hollywood's former bright stars. This week, we search the web to find out about the former wealthy women of The Real Housewives of Orange County.


Jo De La Rosa


Viewers remember De La Rosa as the non-traditional housewife. During her time in Orange County, the twenty-something tried to pursue a music career while becoming a pseudo wife for her then boyfriend Slade Smiley. After two seasons she finally moved out to Los Angeles, leaving the drama in Coto de Caza. Well, kind of. Current housewife Gretchen Rossi started dating Smiley, which upset De La Rosa. She turned that anger in music, and released her first album Unscripted in 2008. She promised a second album in 2010, but it looks like no one really wanted it.


Lauri Waring Peterson


Each season meant a different economic standing for this former housewife. At the end of season three, Peterson finally found happiness (and wealth) when she married George Peterson. Sadly, her picture perfect life has had some smudges. In July 2010, police arrested Peterson's son Josh after he violated his probation for possession of narcotics. In 2011, her husband's ex-wife released a video accusing him of abuse and theft. Maybe it's a good thing she got off the camera.


Jeana Keough


If you didn't pay close attention to the series, you'd think Keough was still part of the cast. Even though she left the series in season five, she continues to show up at parties (and piss off Tamra Barney). She will continue to appear on the show, but only when she's not showing houses as a real estate agent.


Lynne Curtin


Who didn't love this ditzy housewife? Unfortunately, her husband's legal issues made them a liability and the family left the show during the sixth season. Curtin managed to pick up the pieces, launching her jewelry line in 2011. She continues to sell custom made accessories, as well as bedding, belts and hand bags. No word on whether her daughters are still out of control, but it's safe to assume yes.


Peggy Tanous


Last season viewers fell in love with Tanous' honesty and humor. Sadly she decided to leave the show after one year, worrying it would take too much time away from her family. According to her website, the mom of two has tried to get back in the modeling game, but that may be hard after leaving the industry for so many years. Here's hoping Heather Dubrow is just as entertaining.

The “Real Housewives” That Bravo Evicted, Salahi's Not Invited Back?

TheFrisky.com:

The Salahi's are finding themselves unwelcomed once again. Reports are saying that the couple have not been invited back to season two of “The Real Housewives of D.C.” Bravo was hoping the attention surrounding the gatecrashing twosome would bring high ratings to the show, but now the network suspects that Michaele and Tareq are turning viewers off the series. I guess there is such a thing as too much self-promotion. [PopEater]

After the jump, other housewives who found themselves booted out when it was time for a contract renewal.

Jo De La Rosa @ Gridlock 2010 New Yera's Eve Bash @ Paramount Studios

Jo De La Rosa @ Hmm Awards

Jo De La Rosa Talks About Gretchen Rossi and Slade Slimey

RealFauxHousewives.com:

Jo De La Rosa is a former housewife from seasons 1 and 2 ex-fiancee of Slade Slimey back when he was pretending to have money, and who later starred in a failed TV show called Date My Ex; where men competed with each other to date Jo and Slimey had to approve of them while they all stayed at Slimey's pretend house that Bravo rented for them. Jo is still pretending to be a singer and says she has an exciting glamorous life and dating a younger man. I heard some rumors this Bitch was recently seen working as a bartender at Cafe Boogaloo in Hermosa Beach, CA. But who knows if that is true, with these Bitches and their luck it just may be.


I knew I couldn’t stay away even on vacation, this blog is like crack to me. And fixing the little Internet connection problem helped also.


I was waiting for Jo De La Rosa to say something about the famewhore-mance and shenanigans that Gretchen and Slade have been up to lately. Finally Jo has spoken up and says her and Gretchen used to be friends and this is how Gretchen was introduced to Slimey boy who later ended up hooking up with Gretchen. They probably started screwing while Jo and Slade where ‘trying to work things out’ I bet. I saw that one coming! I remember when I wrote the recap for that episode where Gretchen is invited by Jo to be in her music video Slimey was already flirty with her you could see it in their body language he was all cozying up to her.


Jo found out that Gretchie and Slimey where bumping fuglies through Jay Photoglou who told her back around the time, when Slade got arrested at Gretchen’s house when all that hoopla was going on and Gretchen was sleeping with Slade and dumping Jay for Slade. Gretchen had the audacity to call Jo and ask that Bitch for help, because Slimey boy went to jail and Jo was like what the fuck is wrong with this crazy Bitch!? Yep! Sounds like something a fucked up narcissistic Bitch like Gretchie would do.I remember hearing Gretchen say that her and Slimey had Jo’s blessing and there was no heart feelings but Jo says BOOLLSHIT! To that, and pretty much says that Gretchie is a ho’.


Well that’s what she gets for being friends with someone like super ho’ Gretchen. That bitch will throw her own mother under the bus for a man; she don’t give a shit. That’s why Tamra and Crazy ass Vicki hiss at that ho’ because they can smell ho’ from 18 yards and older Bitches know that shit. That new Bitch Alexis better watch out ’cause when Gretchie runs out of the 2.5 million she may dump Slimey and go after her man since he seems to be the only binezz men that’s carrying the serious bling right now in OC House-Ho’ land.


Here is the original article from Reality Wanted:


By Chandra Clewley


The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Season 1 and 2 resident raven-haired beauty, Jo De La Rosa has been off of the show for four years (!) with just a few guest appearances in Season 4. Last year, her long time love and former fiancé Slade Smiley appeared with her in Date My Ex, a spin off in which Jo dated men that Slade had to live with! With Season 5 of The Real Housewives of Orange County upon us, we have found that Jo’s ex-boyfriend Slade is now in a relationship with Gretchen Rossi. Gretchen, whose fiancé, Jeff Beitzel, died in 2008 of leukemia, has a controversial role on the show. Her antics include potentially cheating on Jeff with Jay Photoglou while Jeff was dying. Gretchen and Slade were introduced by Jo who was friendly with her through their real estate network and happened to cast Gretchen in her first video. Now, the lovebirds who Jo introduced while she was engaged to Slade herself, are the talk of the OC. These days Jo revels in the Los Angeles lifestyle! She is working on her music career, a movie, is the fresh face of a fabulous line of purses and is dating a hot new guy! While everyone expected the Gretchen/Slade relationship to go over like a lead brick with Jo De La Rosa, here she tells Reality Wanted why Slade did her the “favor”…


Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: Will you make an appearance in Season 5 of The Real Housewives of Orange County?


A. Jo: It is one of those things where, I left the show back in Season 2, and my life is so different now, who I am now compared to who I was 4 years ago. I live in LA now. There were talks of me coming on the show to confront Gretchen and Slade, but I need to be selfless at this point. Regardless of how I feel about them being together, this is Gretchen and Slade’s time in the spotlight and I just want to move forward with my music. It would have put me back out there in the public eye, but for all the wrong reasons. I will forever be thankful for The Real Housewives of Orange County, because that is how I got my start, but I have my own story that I have to tell through my music, and for me to go back to confront the past just doesn’t make sense.


Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: Do you keep in touch with any of the other Housewives from the show?


A. Jo: You know what? I don’t. The thing is, people never really understood, I was so much younger than the other women on the show. I was never really as much friends with them as I was working with them. I had my own friends that I went out with in LA, doing my own thing, and the show made it seem like we were all friends, but really, I had my own life with Slade. I have always felt like the black sheep in that group because they were so much older than me, with children and marriages and I was just a 22 year old girl, barely figuring out who I was.


Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: Did you feel stifled in your relationship because you wanted to be in LA when you were on the show?


A. Jo: I definitely had so much inside of me that I hadn’t even tapped into at the time, but when I was engaged to Slade, I was engaged and I wasn’t working. I lost a lot of my goals, my dreams and my passions, and it wasn’t until I was finally in the relationship with Slade and at home bored that all of those things kind of rekindled in myself. It was a wake up call, like “what am I doing?” I’m 22 years old, engaged, and I had always wanted to pursue my dreams of music. I was accepted into the UCLA dance program, so I was always interested in the performing arts. I ended up passing on the dance program, but I was always involved in music and dance. Most girls in my situation would have taken that ring and that car that Slade gave to me and they would have lived off of that, the difference is that I gave back everything, the ring, the car, all of what he gave to me and I started over in LA! Slade really did me a favor because it used to be all about “Slade and Jo”, “Slade and Jo”. Now it’s “Slade and Gretchen”. For the first time, I can be on my own terms as Jo De La Rosa.


Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: How long did you two date? Even on Date My Ex, he was always with you…


A. Jo: We were together for five years. Here is the funny thing, some insider information: even though I was on the show; I was still in love with Slade. I was still trying to work things out. It was never really over for Slade and I. Even after Date My Ex, Slade and I were still trying to work it out and then….came Gretchen.


Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: I know that Lauri dated Slade for a little bit before she was married. Chronologically, when did this happen?


A. Jo: Slade and I were on a break, and he started dating Lauri. And then we tried to get back together…Lauri and I had a conversation about it on camera, and then here we go again with Gretchen…


Q. Chandra, Reality Wanted: On the show, Gretchen said that she called you to let you know about her and Slade, even though he had said not to. Is this accurate?


A. Jo: She called me because I found out from her ex-boyfriend Jay that Slade and Gretchen were hooking up. So the whole reason she called me was because it was already out. She actually called me when Slade was in jail and she was asking for help. (Smiley was arrested in February 2009 for unpaid child support, purportedly at Rossi’s Costa Mesa home.) I was just like, “How can you call me and ask me for help when I just found out that you are sleeping with Slade?” The truth of the matter is that it is what it is, and Gretchen, to me, is…it’s just dumb. We were ALL friends, you know, no matter how close we were, I just wish they would have come to me first, without me having to find out the way that I did. Even being able to talk to Slade on it, one on one, but they didn’t even give me that. I just have to move forward, and not have a confrontation on camera. He was the love of my life, and she knew that. I was with him for 5 years, we were engaged, I acted as the mother of his children, and I was building a life with this man, and she was the girl that I knew, and you know what it is, at the end of the day, I just hate the way it all came down and came to an end. Slade and I are no longer even friends, and I haven’t even been able to talk to him face to face about it, and I know that is because of her (Gretchen).

Jo De La Rosa - "U Can't Control Me"

Jo De La Rosa Performs "You Can't Control Me" @ NYC

Jo De La Rosa & Slade of Bravo's "Date MY Ex"

Jo De La Rosa, who appeared in the first two seasons of The Real Housewives of Orange County, gets a second chance at love (with a little help from her ex-fiancé Slade Smiley) in Bravo's new dating competition series, Date My Ex: Jo & Slade.

"Hugs For Harlem" Interviews Jo De La Rosa

Jo De La Rosa Tours Her Recording Studio And Debuts Clip Of New Song