Tamra Judge broke the internet when she tearfully revealed she is “on the spectrum” last month. However, her Real Housewives of Orange County co-star Jennifer Pedranti believes making such a bold confession so soon was probably “not a good move.”
Pedranti celebrated the end of RHOC Season 18 (and Halloween) in the Bravo Clubhouse for Thursday night’s (Oct. 31) episode of Watch What Happens Live, where host Andy Cohen asked for her reaction to Judge’s diagnosis.
“I mean, if I was her friend I would probably say not a good move. I would say, I don’t know how you come up with that in one therapy session,” Pedranti said. “To that, I do hope the therapy is — I hope that’s something she’s looking into. I think she could benefit from that.”
Judge first opened up about being “on the spectrum” in the Oct. 15 episode of her and Teddi Mellencamp‘s Two Ts in a Pod podcast.
“I just did my first therapy session … Let’s just say I found out something pretty big about myself that I didn’t know,” Judge said, per People. “I am on the spectrum.”
“I just thought that things were black and white to me that, you know, I grew up with a family that didn’t have a lot of empathy or love or whatever, so that just transpired that onto, you know, my adult life,” she continued. “But after talking and going through everything and my emotions, and I have a hard time with empathy and feeling other people’s feelings … there’s a reason why.”
Judge’s revelation came on the heels of a rough season. The longtime reality star went from facing backlash for her treatment of Shannon Beador in the show to getting ridiculed online for the convenient timing of her diagnosis, forcing her to address her critics and apologize for speaking “too soon publicly.”
The Traitors star also noted that “on the spectrum” is “such a broad term.”
“I don’t really understand it fully, and my therapist told me more evaluation was needed,” she said, per BravoTV. “But when I sat down at the mic to record my podcast 15 minutes later and my head was spinning from what she had said, I had no time to process things, or even talk to my family — I was just back at work. And I was so emotional, I just blurted it out.”
She later added, “If you know me, you know I don’t like to look weak or play the victim. I also hate labels, just as much as I hate excuses. But I’m working on myself — not a TV show; to be a better person for me and the people around me.”
Watch What Happens Live airs Sunday through Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.