Kelly Dodd reveals whether or not she’ll return to The Real Housewives of Orange County for Season 16 amid reports of a cast shakeup.
In the comment section of a recent Instagram post, fans of the series asked Dodd if she was returning to the show.
“You’ll still be on RHOC?!! [Please] don’t leave the show!!! (Selfish of me lol),” one person wrote on May 23, according to a report by Reality Blurb.
“Thank you but I don’t know and don’t care!!” Kelly replied.
“You have to stay. [It] wouldn’t be the same without you!” another fan said.
“Awe thank you but I’m living my life with my beautiful husband and my daughter!!” Kelly explained. “Life goes on… the show is not my life!”
Then, another follower asked Dodd, “Just finally watched reunion [part two]. Favorite housewife hands down! Good for you for living and not being scared to speak your mind.”
Kelly replied, “That was so nice… it’s really hard to do especially when the cancel culture comes after you.”
Earlier this year, Andy Cohen confirmed that the series is currently on hiatus after revealing that a cast shakeup may be in the works.
“I think that show's really important to a lot of people and it's the mothership of all the Housewives and so we just want to take our sweet time,” Cohen told E! News back in March 2021. “You know there used to be times between seasons where we'd say, 'Let's just let the Housewives live their lives and we'll call on them in a bit.' And I think we're in that period in Orange County. I think it will be good for them to live their lives and then we'll pick it back up when we need to. We've got a lot of Housewives shows going in various stages of production so the good news is there's no, we don't have to rush it to air.”
During a separate interview, Cohen shared more details about the future of the OC installment.
“The status of “OC” right now is that we’re just taking a pause. We’re in no rush to get into production. One of the benefits of “Salt Lake City” coming out so strong out of the gate and becoming such a hit is you don’t need to be in such a rush then to get “Orange County” back, because you have more to play with,” he told Variety at that time. “And we really wanted to get back in production in “Salt Lake” when it was still winter there. It’s a stark contrast to all the other shows to see them with the mountains and the snow. So we love that aesthetic. But Orange County, Calif., is still fairly locked down.”
“So that was one issue. There were times in the past where we would say, “You know what? Let’s let the women live their lives for awhile, and see where they’re at. And see where they’re at with each other.” There’s a clear hope from the fans that there’s some kind of shake-up. And I think we’re analyzing everything. I think we just wanted to be really deliberate too,” he continued. “I mean, this is obviously the show that started everything for this franchise. And it’s really important, and it’s important that we keep getting it right. And by the way, I thought the reunion was fantastic! I think, given everything that we faced this season production-wise, it was a pretty good season. I would not say that it was the best season of “Housewives of Orange County.” But given everything we were up against, there were some killer episodes.”
He added, “Well, listen, my God! Listen: “Orange County” is going to be great.”