Bravo Star Tamra Barney Didn’t Like ‘RHOC’ Filming Vicki Gunvalson’s Mother’s Death

Bravo star Tamra Barney doesn’t believe Vicki Gunvalson’s emotional loss of her mother, Joanne Steinmetz, should have been seen on The Real Housewives of Orange County. During an interview with Huffington Post Live on Monday, July 13, the Bravo star gave her thoughts.

“At the moment it happened, I thought the cameras should shut down, because it was too sensitive,” Barney said, according to a report by Us Weekly.

“Vicki was in a state of mind where she didn’t even acknowledge the cameras. Now she has to relive it. She told me her family could not watch it.”

Although the Bravo star and her longtime friend, Gunvalson, have had a strained relationship in the last couple of years, Barney will always care for Gunvalson, and seeing her deal with such heartache on a reality series struck a nerve. However, Gunvalson felt differently and has explained a number of times that the decision to air her grief on The Real Housewives of Orange County was something which was necessary to her story line.

“Vicki said that her life has been on camera for 10 years, and ‘this is something that happened to me, and I’m okay sharing it.’ If she’s okay with it, I guess I’m okay with it…The show’s doing their job — they document our life, and that was real life. There’s nothing you can do in that situation other than be there for your friend.”

The Bravo star wasn’t the only one who felt the moment should have been kept private. As the episode aired, fans of The Real Housewives of Orange County weighed in on Twitter, slamming the network, and Andy Cohen, for exposing the issue on air.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the Bravo star also discussed the death of Gunvalon’s mother during an interview earlier this week. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in a video interview, Barney broke down in tears as she discussed the hardships involved in watching her friend endure the loss of her mother.

“Vicki had a hard time this year. In the eight years that I’ve been on the show, [I’ve] never experienced anything like that. There was a time when I thought, ‘OK, cameras need to go down now.’ Like, this is too personal. This is too horrible. This is painful.”

For more of Bravo star Tamra Barney, tune into The Real Housewives of Orange County on Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

[Photo via Instagram]