Heather Dubrow has been a popular cast member on The Real Housewives of Orange County since her debut in Season 7.
Viewers connected with her because she was rich, shady, and unafraid to get involved in arguments with her co-stars.
Over the years, it’s been difficult for any Real Housewives shows to attract genuinely wealthy stars, probably due to concerns about editing and how the audience perceives them.
When Heather returned for RHOC Season 16, it was like she’d never been away because she had genuine connections with some of the women.
Two seasons later, she’s falling out of favor with both viewers and her co-stars, meaning she’s probably prepared to walk away from the show once and for all.
Initially, RHOC Season 18 was a good one for her because she was locked into a silly feud with newbie Katie Ginella and offered her unwavering support to Shannon Beador after her DUI arrest.
However, Heather has alienated her fanbase over the last few episodes because she decided to side with Tamra Judge and make nasty comments about her co-stars.
While it’s evident Heather attempts to curate this persona of being fancy and not having a perfect life, the mask is slowly slipping, which means she’ll probably be against signing on for another season on the show.
The one thing we know Heather can’t stand is criticism. She verbally annihilates her co-stars when they say anything about her that she disagrees with, which begs the question of what she’s like off-screen.
Even her relationship with her husband, Terry Dubrow, isn’t as rock-solid as she’d like viewers to believe, as evidenced by her telling him not to “admonish” her on camera.
It makes sense that she would want to keep that kind of thing away from the prying eyes of the cameras because then people will run with narratives that everything is not going well in their relationship.
But her co-stars bring much more to the table and delve into their relationship woes, so it’s starting to feel like she believes she’s above certain aspects of being on the show.
The big turning point was her decision to go after Shannon because of her legal drama with John Janssen.
That drama aside, her comments about Jennifer Pedranti wearing a $2000 dress amid financial woes were just mean-spirited.
We know how Heather gets when anyone mentions her in a negative light, so it was satisfying how Jennifer called her out at a dinner table in front of their co-stars.
Heather was backed into a corner, and there was no way out, so she had to own up to her actions, which is a rarity.
Unlike some of her co-stars, Heather doesn’t need the show. She’s wealthy enough without those lucrative Bravo checks.
Plus, she’d hate the thought of people knowing she’s been “paused” or “fired” by producers, so there’s a good chance she’ll walk away from the series of her own volition at the end of Season 18.
There has been much chatter about her potentially moving to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, but that show is in an entirely different ballpark, so we doubt she’d make the jump unless she really needs to.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo. Stream Seasons 1-18 on Peacock.
