Keeping their distance? After Vicki Gunvalson’s ex-fiancé, Steve Lodge, announced his engagement to girlfriend Janis Carlson, the Real Housewives of Orange Country star wasn’t too thrilled, according to Tamra Judge.
“He says he’s in love, he’s never had love like this before. And I said, ‘Congratulations, I’m glad you’re in love.’ Everyone deserves love. What am I supposed to do? I’m not going to argue with the guy! I’m trying to keep the peace,” Judge, 54, said on the Tuesday, January 11, radio episode of “Jeff Lewis Live.”
During her appearance, Judge noted that the Coto Insurance president, 59, has since seen the couple after the proposal news broke.
“She ran into him with the [fiancée] and she chased him out of the restaurant,” Judge alleged. “She told me too. ‘I chased him out of the restaurant and he got into his car and took off.’ I said, ‘Vicki, oh my God, did someone take video of it?’ She said, ‘I don’t think so.’”
The businessman, 63, confirmed the pair’s forthcoming nuptials earlier this month.
“We are completely head over heels in love and can’t wait to be husband and wife. Janis is a beautiful person, inside and out,” Lodge, 63, exclusively told Us Weekly on January 3. “We have incredible chemistry, we’re very compatible, emotionally connected and have mutual respect for each other. We are equally yoked and look forward to happiness.”
Lodge’s engagement to Carlson, 37, comes less than three months after he split from Gunvalson.
“He’s a fame whore and is all about staying relevant,” the Illinois native exclusively told Us following the news, noting that she was in “no rush to start dating” right now. “I’ve gone out with some friends, but have no desire to do what he’s doing. Marriage is a sacred thing.”
The exes initially split in September 2021 after a two-year engagement.
“Steve broke up with Vicki while she was filming the [Real Housewives] spinoff show in the Berkshires,” an insider explained at the time. They “had not been getting along” for a long period and “after he told her this, she was traumatized. It ruined her.”
After Lodge’s announcement, Judge dished that her fellow RHOC costar was still coping after learning the news.
“Vicki is adjusting. She’s trying to understand it,” Judge previously told Teddi Mellencamp on the January 5 episode of their joint “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast. “She’s still hurt. She was like, ‘Wait, we were just dancing three months ago at the ranch and now he’s engaged and already planning his wedding.’”