The Real Housewives of Orange County star Emily Simpson has come out swinging against accusations her in-laws fund her lifestyle.
In part one of The Real Housewives of Orange County Season 18 reunion, which aired Thursday, November 7, the cast exchanged heated words.
During the tense scenes, Jennifer Pedranti, 47, claimed Simpson’s in-laws paid for her and husband Shane’s lifestyle.
Pedranti made the comment after Simpson, 48, weighed in on what she’d “read” about legal issues surrounding Pedranti’s fiance, Ryan Boyajian.
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Hitting back, Pedranti told Simpson: “Then I’m sorry, I’ve read that your in-laws fund your whole life.”
While Simpson didn’t respond in the moment, she later took to Instagram following the episode’s airing to clap back at the accusations.
“If my in-laws ‘funded our lifestyle’ I’d be living WAY larger than I am right now. I’d be on private jets with Heather Dubrow,” Simpson wrote via her Instagram Story. “They do not.”
While things got particularly fiery during the reunion episode, Simpson has previously revealed that taking part in Real Housewives of Orange County has been good for her marriage.
“Going into the show five years ago, Shane was not a fan of being on the show at all. And he made that very clear to me,” Simpson told Us Weekly in July 2023. “He was like, ‘I don’t wanna film, I don’t wanna be on a show. I don’t want you to be on a show.’ But he ultimately said, ‘But it’s up to you.’”
She continued: “Here we are five years later, and I feel like our relationship has done nothing but get better. And, so, I think he’s embraced that and realized that you can just have fun with it and be yourself.”
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Simpson explained that her husband — whom she wed in 2009 — initially had concerns that the reality series would be “detrimental” to their marriage and their three children: daughter Annabelle, 11, and twin sons Luke and Keller, 8. (Shane also has two daughters, Shelby and Chanel, from his first marriage.)
In the same interview, Simpson shared that RHOC viewers didn’t take too kindly to her partner initially.
“He was very careful about what he said, even though he came across as a big d—k,” she said. “I think he just wasn’t comfortable. … I think people are more open to understanding our relationship and our marriage [now], when before, people were very judgmental. They didn’t know him, they didn’t know me. So, they were like, ‘You should get divorced. He’s horrible.’ And now they’re like, ‘Shane’s so funny.’”
