Gretchen Rossi Opens Up About Rekindled Friendship With Vicki Gunvalson: “Time Away From People Kind Of Helps Heal Wounds”

By the end of Season 10 of The Real Housewives of Orange County, Vicki Gunvalson had no friends left on the show as her co-stars decided to cut ties with the OG of the OC after the controversy surrounding her ex Brooks Ayers cancer diagnosis.

But Gunvalson gained the support and friendship from someone audiences might have least expected after the cameras stopped rolling. Her former nemesis Gretchen Rossi.

The fashion and beauty entrepreneur opened up about how she rekindled her friendship with the OG of the OC. She revealed that she reached out to her after watching the Season 10 reunion.

"It's interesting to see how time away from people kind of helps heal wounds and helps change things," Rossi, told People. "It was interesting because at the end of last season for [Vicki] when all the women turned against her and were just so vicious and so ugly to her, my heart went out to her," Rossi says. "I think it was because it happened to me in my final season 8 where all the women just completely turned on me and just were so vicious and so mean and it was just on a level that was kind of unnecessary."

Throughout Rossi's time on Housewives, the Bravo alum and her fiancé, Slade Smiley, both endured constant criticism from her fellow castmates, including Gunvalson.

"I knew what it was like to love a man and have women coming and attacking me just because you simply loved a man," Rossi says. "I reached out to her and we started talking. I just said, 'Listen, I understand. I'm here for you.' " 

Rossi says that the two connected and spoke on the phone to patch things up. 

"We made up and she apologized for a lot of things that she had said about me and Slade and done to me," Rossi says of Gunvalson. 

"I think that in life, that happens a lot. Sometimes it takes you having to go through something yourself for you to really have perspective and in hindsight, be kind of looking backing and going, 'Wow, I wish that I hadn't treated that person that way,' " Rossi told People.

Rossi also revealed that she recently went to lunch with Gunvalson, Kelly Dodd and Lizzie Rovsek in June and "just had a ball" with the ladies. 

"The four of us went out to lunch and we had such a blast and such a great time. We giggled and told stories and compared stories to certain cast members and [things] that they were doing," Rossi tells PEOPLE. "Ever since then, Vicki and I have stayed in touch."

Besides having a friendship with Vick Gunvalson, Gretchen Rossi is still friends with former Housewives Jeana Keough, Lizzie Rovsek, Lydia McLaughlin and Peggy Tanous, including newbie Kelly Dodd.

Photo Credit: Bravo