Old bridges were mended and new lines were crossed on The Real Housewives of Orange County.
On Wednesday’s episode of the Bravo series, tensions escalated between Heather Dubrow and Taylor Armstrong, who joined this season in a “friend of a housewife” role.
Taylor, 52, and Tamra Judge went out to lunch when the former RHOBH star confessed she felt disrespected by Heather after offering a part to the 54-year-old actress in her upcoming movie Masterpiece.
According to Taylor, Heather had accepted the part after another actress suddenly dropped out. When she invited the mom of four to the acting class and handed her a script, Heather called Taylor’s efforts “cute.”
In a confessional interview, Tamra agreed, noting that “Heather sometimes has a way of talking to you that makes you feel belittled.”
Taylor went on to share that Heather left the script for the movie on the table as the screen played a flashback of last week’s episode where the reality star claimed she was going to leave the pages “just in case you need to do scene work with someone.”
“I’m not angry with Heather. I’m not pissed off, my feelings are hurt. It’s my first movie role and she’s acting like ‘eh … poo poo,’” she told cameras with a swatting gesture.
Further into their lunch, Taylor shared how she spoke to directors and told them to look up her credits on IMDb as she believed Heather “had this huge, long acting career,” but the production company wanted her to send a casting tape.
Taylor and Tamra then proceeded to look up Heather’s credits on the site as they discussed her acting chops. Taylor later revealed she was planning on confronting the former actress, but her mind was overthinking about why she had refused her role.
“Is it because she thinks if I’m gonna be cast, she’s too good to be cast? Is it because it’s in Oklahoma [so it’s] a honky tonk movie?” she questioned. “Is it because she doesn’t have the time?”
While tension might be brewing between Heather and Taylor, Shannon Storms Beador and Tamra finally put their two-and-a-half-year feud to bed.
The group left Orange County for a girls trip to a ranch in Montana. They were enjoying dinner when Jennifer Pendranti admitted she was “shocked as s-” to hear that Tamra was bunking with Shannon.
“We just have a long ass history together,” Tamra explained. “There’s going to be no resolution to what happened in our past. It’s time to move on and just go on.”
Later, inside the saloon, Tamra and Shannon poured a shot of tequila and toasted to “new beginnings.”
“I’m happy,” the fitness coach admitted, to which Shannon replied, “I am too, let’s just start slow and trust each other.”
“What’s so crazy is that it literally feels like the two and a half years didn’t even exist. I’m hopeful but still cautious,” Shannon said in a confessional interview.
As things progressed into the night, Heather approached Taylor and asked if she has any updates about her upcoming movie. When Taylor asked why she wasn’t interested in the part, she replied, “I didn’t think you were serious.”
“I didn’t know if it was like, ‘I didn’t want to be in this cause you’re a rookie actress and you don’t know what the hell you’re doing and I’m not gonna attach my name to anything you’re attached to,’” Taylor said.
Heather denied claims that her actions were belittling and argued that Taylor’s insecurities with her role had nothing to do with her.
“I think this is a ‘you’ issue not a ‘me’ issue. I don’t feel that way,” Heather defended herself, explaining that official offers don’t usually come from another actress. “There is a protocol to the whole thing, not someone from the production calling. It’s not a thing.”
When Taylor reiterated that they had lost an actress in “a split second,” Heather doubled down, “They didn’t fire an actress, there’s no contract. There’s no deal. There’s no understanding of what the role is — how many days, when is it?”
She continued, “It’s not your movie. You’re not the producer, you’re not the director. This is something you’ve built up in your mind.”
Though Heather confessed to cameras it was “odd” that Taylor still wanted her to be in the movie when her feelings were hurt, she agreed to consider the offer if she received it from the proper channels.
The two seemingly buried the hatchet until Tamra asked Taylor how the conversation went and she revealed that the director wanted to see Heather’s casting tape before giving her the part.
“Are you being serious? The director wasn’t impressed with my IMDb?” Heather asked after she overheard the conversation.
“So just for clarity: I was offered a role, I turned down the role, I’m better than the role, but now I’m not good enough for the role, and still, no one has reached out to me,” she told cameras incredulously.
“But your IMDb was good enough but mine needs a casting tape? So you’ve never worked before but I-” she trailed off with laughter as Tamra and Taylor revealed they had looked over her IMDb page over lunch.
“I was confused why they would even ask you to do a casting tape when you’ve already done so much,” Taylor explained as Heather interjected, “But that sounds very punitive to look me up like that.”
While Taylor tried to defend herself and speak up to Heather’s acting “pedigree” to no avail, Tamra pointed out that she had said she didn’t think her credits were “that impressive” during lunch.
“You said that?” Heather said, shocked. “That is so incredibly rude. I’m someone who has put my entire life on hold as many women do for my family. So for you to denigrate my career is not only anti-female, but just not nice. And I am at a crossroads in my life, figuring out who I am and I just find this to be so incredibly rude.”
“For you to sit with Tamra and talk about my IMDb when you were offered a part and you’ve never been in anything ever and I was excited for you? That’s the person I am,” she continued. “The person you are, is making a mountain out of a mole when you offered me something that was not yours to offer me in the first place and then talk to all of my friends and s- talk my career? F- you.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
