Vicki Gunvalson loves to whoop it up, has fun wherever she goes, and says whatever she wants (like any good reality star). The former The Real Housewives of Orange County cast member who was a guest in seasons 17 and 18 is now sharing a shocking story about her health.
While Vicki has popped in and out of RHOC since she stepped away after season 14, fans have kept up with her thanks to social media and her podcast. Fans know that honesty is Vicki’s middle name, so let’s hear what she said happened to her recently. Vicki is my favorite housewife and always gets people talking, so I’m particularly interested in hearing what happened, and every RHOC fan will want to know, too!
What happened to The Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson?
Vicki got sepsis and pneumonia in the summer of 2024, according to USA Today. She told the story on her podcast “My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast” and was working at her Coto Insurance office when she realized something was off. She got super sick just a few days after she enjoyed a fun vacation in Barcelona.
Vicki said, “I was talking gibberish and I wrote an email out and the email didn’t make sense.” While she might not be one of the wealthiest Real Housewives, fans know Vicki works hard and has built an amazing business, and it must have been distressing to feel so out of it. When her client (who was once a doctor who worked in the ER) said it could be a stroke, Vicki went to the hospital and was told she had a sinus infection. In a terrifying turn of events, she passed out in the bathtub at home, and her boyfriend Michael Smith found her.
Thankfully, Vicki went back to the hospital and found out what was actually going on. She was given steroids and antibiotics and while she has been healing, she has of course been exhausted.
Since the doctor told Vicki that sepsis was “deadly,” it’s alarming to hear how sick she got, but also a total relief that she is fine now. She says she had “amnesia” and “there’s a lot of hours missing” because she isn’t sure what happened. She got her hair done and went back to the office, but it sounds like it was a blur.
Of course, Vicki is Vicki, and even when sharing a scary health story, she overshares about her intimate life. She said on her podcast, “I’m having a hard time getting it up. So that’s my biggest thing.” (I didn’t need to know that, but thanks Vicki!) She also said that while her health is improving and she’s feeling better, she’s been crying a lot.
When the former RHOC star shared a clip from her podcast on her Instagram account, some fans sympathized with her… and others said she was lying. One commenter pointed out that she went to the hospital a few times while filming the Bravo reality series. In 2016, she went to the hospital when she got into an accident while riding an ATV. In 2017, she felt sick in Iceland. And then, in 2019, she fell in Key West near the pool of her hotel (alcohol was involved).
This also isn’t the only health issue Vicki has had. According to People, Vicki said on Jeff Lewis Live in 2021 that she “had cancer” and “had my whole f***ing uterus taken out!” Then, in 2022, she said in an interview with Page Six that she had “cancer cells” and got a hysterectomy, but wasn’t actually diagnosed with cancer. As Page Six pointed out, RHOC fans are wary of hearing Vicki talk about cancer, considering her ex-boyfriend Brooks Ayers lied about being sick.
I’m happy Vicki is okay and, since she’s just like her candid co-star Gina Kirschenheiter, I’m sure she’ll say more about this tough experience as she continues to recover.