There must be nine lemons in a bowl in Shannon Storms Beador‘s house somewhere, because the Real Housewives of Orange County icon is thriving. Fresh off of Bravo’s Love Hotel, Beador is ready to leave the relationship drama behind and embark on a “silly” Season 19 of RHOC. While that may mean she needs to reevaluate some of her friendships—namely, with Tamra Judge—Beador isn’t going to allow their tumultuous past to take precedent this season.

“It was important for me that we got to a place where we could be OK together, because there was so much tension that all the girls felt last season, with both Tamra and Alexis [Bellino] and I,” she told Decider in a recent interview. “I didn’t want to be the cause of that anymore.”

While Beador and Tamra have been friendly in group settings, they haven’t shied away from trading blows in the press. When Beador appeared on a June episode of Watch What Happens Live, host Andy Cohen asked her to name the RHOC househusband with the most “small dick energy.” After hesitating for a moment, Beador finally named Tamra’s husband Eddie Judge, who, in the Season 19 premiere, told his wife that she’s “not a real friend.”

“All the RHOC men [are] nothing but kind to me,” Beador said. “So, of course, I chose Eddie, because he said some negative things about me. Oh, the wrath that I received for that.”

The Tres Amigas might be far from reuniting, but Beador admitted that hers and Tamra’s mutual beef with Katie Ginella “absolutely” brought them closer together. Ginella, now in her sophomore season, was not only confronted for speaking to bloggers about Tamra, but also for showing Bellino—who’s now engaged to Beador’s ex-boyfriend John Janssen—a recording she took of Beador allegedly having a meltdown at the cast photo shoot.

“I came to the very clear realization that recording someone has only negative intent,” Beador said. “There was no good intention behind her doing that.”

When Beador stopped by our studio this week, she also spoke about her friendships with the men from Bravo’s Love Hotel, why she claimed Ginella was “worse” than Judge and Bellino, and whether her daughters would ever consider joining future seasons of Next Gen NYC. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: Going into this season, it must have felt like you had a huge weight, or two weights, lifted off of your shoulders. Would you agree with that?

SHANNON BEADOR: Absolutely, and I put myself in the position last year to kind of have a little bit of a rough go, but I knew that it couldn’t get any worse. It had to get better this season. I’m excited because I got to be silly a lot this season. So I’m excited for viewers to see that and not a lot of tears. 

I love to see in the trailer you confess to making out with multiple men in Newport. Would you say you’re living your best life right now?

It’s just a few. And it’s just a very short kiss. No boyfriends. After the Love Hotel, I just don’t want to date right now. It was hard for me to accept that it was another failure, so I just don’t want to get hurt again right now. I just don’t. 

Have your fun. That’s all that matters. 

I am having fun. I’m really happy. I mean, I want to find a partner, but if I don’t, I’m having a lot of fun right now visiting my girls and doing things just that I want to do. 

It was nice to see you and Tamra pretty amicable in the premiere episode. Will that continue this season? Or would you say that you guys are still kind of doing your own thing?

It was important for me that we got to a place where we could be OK together, because there was so much tension that all the girls felt last season, with both Tamra and Alexis and I. I didn’t want to be the cause of that anymore. We get to a point, and I am very aware of what she’s going through emotionally with Teddi being sick. We have our ebbs and flows, ups and downs. 

Would you say that your mutual issues with Katie brought you closer together? 

I think a little bit, absolutely. Yeah, it did. 

When Tamra was talking to Eddie in the premiere episode, she accused you of throwing away friendships. What’s your response to that? 

That’s what Tamra does. She takes things to such exaggeration. What I’m doing and what I want to continue to do and will continue to do and work on is taking that healthier path. I am happy right now, and I need to create healthy boundaries for myself. We had a toxic friendship. So, we can be in a room, we can laugh together, even. But I’m not willing to go right back into a friendship, because if you look back on it, we had a lot of ups and downs, and I don’t want to go there right now. 

What did Eddie say? Oh, “I’m not a friend.” OK. It’s so weird because he hasn’t said a lot of kind things about me in the last few years. And I was on Watch What Happens Live, and I was asked who has small dick energy. All the RHOC men who were nothing but kind to me. So, of course, I chose Eddie, because he said some negative things about me. Oh, the wrath that I received for that. 

I do want to get into this week’s episode. Heather decided to throw herself this big birthday party, which four times more expensive than the Nobu party. That ran them about $35,000, according to Terry Dubrow. She had women in champagne glasses, guys rolling joints, and someone writing haikus. Was this the most elaborate Heather Dubrow party you’ve ever attended? 

No, I don’t think so. It was beautiful and it was a lot of fun. But no, I don’t think so. I mean, all her events are just over the top and always so fun to go to. 

I love to see you getting together with your Love Hotel pals, Adam and Phill, in this week’s episode. You were very adamant that Phil is just a friend. 

So is Adam!

So is Adam! I was gonna ask if there have been any developments? Do you see yourself becoming romantic with Adam? Because there was a little bit of interest in Love Hotel. 

Right, but I eliminated him. So, no, we’re just friends. But Adam and Phill live in California, so I see them quite often. Although, I’ve been texting with Mark today. He lives in New York. And Ralph and JB Live, we all keep in touch quite often, so it’s fun. I wanted to bring a new Love Hotel guy to every single thing, but I guess there’s a certain point I couldn’t do it. But it was fun to have both of them participate. 

I love the matching bowling outfits. That was amazing. 

I’m not a big costume person as much anymore, but just like a little snippet.

What did you think of Gina grilling Adam? I thought that was hilarious.

I didn’t realize that she was grilling him so much. I think it’s funny. They’re so sweet, Gina and Emily. They were looking out for me. So I appreciate that. 

Things got pretty explosive between you and Katie at the end of the episode, and you told her that she was worse than both Alexis and Tamra. Do you still stand by that, or was that kind of in the heat of the moment?

Well, that might have been a little reactionary. You might hear me say they’re equals in the future. But I have to say I really was trying to give Katie what I thought was sound advice to make things better with certain people. To find out that she did what she did was just a shock to me. When this recording happened was right when we got back from London last year. Last season, I left London early. I was spent. I was really in a dark place after London, because it had been a lot, emotionally, to go through. She knew that. For her to, literally, two days after we got back from London, pull out a phone to record me and then play it for Alexis when I’m in a lawsuit? None of it adds up to me. The bottom line is if you’re going to have an important business meeting, you’re not going to do it in a glam room with eight people, because that’s how many people were in there. By the way, I wasn’t on the phone, but if I were so noisy, use your legs and walk in one of the many rooms at the studio where we were. 

I did not like what she did at all, especially after everything you had gone through with the Ring cameras last season. I thought that that was just a very big turnaround. And you were also one of her only allies going into this season. You and Jen. 

I know, it was really shocking to me. That’s why I removed myself from the hot pot lunch. That’s what I do now. I just need to take it in and process it. And after processing it, I came to the very clear realization that recording someone has only negative intent. There was no good intention behind her doing that towards me. There’s no explanation. There’s no reason. Her “but” excuses? That’s the apology, “but” … That is not an authentic apology. 

What do you think of Jen’s part in it all? Because she says she wasn’t there. Katie says she was there. 

First of all, it doesn’t matter. How does that negate that I was recorded? By the way, it’s against the law in the state of California to tape someone without their consent or knowledge, especially if they were in a place where they were reasonably expected to have it be private. At the gallery shoot, there’s no behind the scenes cameras coming in.

We did see Heather and Jen get into it a little bit over dinner. Do you think that Jen holds Tamra to a different standard than Katie? 

I mean, I see the point in that. I think that it’s really hard when you’re friends with someone to believe or think that they would do something unkind. I think it’s hard for both Heather and Jen to see sometimes how mean something might be that their friends do. 

Gretchen Rossi is back this season. I can’t help but wonder if this is kind of Tamra’s karma for being so close with Alexis last season while she was not getting along with you. What do you think of that? 

I mean, I don’t know. I’ve never filmed with Gretchen before, because she left and then I started. I never got close to her, because Tamra wasn’t friendly with her. If I ever saw her at a social event, I wouldn’t get to know her. But I think she’s great on the show. I can’t speak for Tamra, but I will say that it’s clear, after that hot pot lunch, that there is deep-seeded pain and hurt in both of them that’s been sitting there for years. 

You guys also have some fun cast trips coming up. What are you most excited to see from those?

I’m excited to see silly fun. I call myself Fun Vacation Shannon. I don’t even know why. That’s just the weirdest thing. But I am silly on the trips. We go to Amsterdam. You can do things in Amsterdam legally. So I might have done that. And I might’ve laughed a lot. I loved that. 

I have to ask, you have two daughters living in New York City currently. If the opportunity ever presented itself, do you think they’d ever consider joining future seasons of Next Gen NYC? 

Oh, gosh. I don’t know. People have been messaging Sophie about that. I don’t know. Sophie has a job. She just celebrated her one-year mark at her job here in New York City, so I’m really proud of her. And Adeline’s in school, so who knows? I mean, they haven’t been asked. 

Maybe down the line! Are they friends with any of the other Bravo kids? 

No, they’ve never met. I think Adeline’s met Gizelle [Bryant’s] daughters. My kids know the OC kids, but that’s about it. 

Is there anything else you can tease about the rest of the season? 

I keep using these strange words. There is so much drama this season, but it’s odd, it’s unique. Like, the recording – are you kidding? Someone recorded me and that’s the drama? It’s just very odd, but there’s a lot of it. It’s just nonstop, until the very end. 

Honestly, the recording really came out of left field. I was not expecting that.

It’s interesting. Katie is trying to deflect off of the fact that she did something that, again, isn’t lawful in all states. And then she says, “Oh, Shannon was throwing a fit like usual.” Last season, where did I throw the fit? I did throw a fit in Episode 3 … with you, Katie! 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

New episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County air Thursday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo. New episodes are available to stream the next day on Peacock.