Tamra Judge tried to hold back tears when recalling a recent encounter with her estranged daughter, Sidney Barney.
“She came to the house and she was going to lunch with Sophia and I went outside and we hugged,” Tamra, 58, shared on the Thursday, November 6, episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County. “We talked about life for about 30 minutes, and she’s very sweet.”
Before saying goodbye, Tamra recalled a question from her daughter that she won’t soon forget.
“Then she said, ‘Mom, can I hug you goodbye?’ And she hugged me and I just held onto her for so long, and I just said, ‘I can’t let you go. I just can’t let you go,’” Tamra said during part one of the season 19 reunion. “It was just a really, really special moment. She’s coming around.”
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Tamra shares Sidney, Spencer and Sophia with her ex-husband, Simon Barney. (She also has an adult son, Ryan Vieth, from a previous relationship.)
During The Real Housewives of Orange County’s Season 11 reunion in 2016, Tamra told host Andy Cohen and her castmates that Sidney chose Simon’s side after the couple’s contentious divorce.
“My oldest daughter, Sidney, said, ‘I don’t want to live with you anymore. You’ve ruined my dad’s life,’” Tamra recalled on the show. “[She] left that day and has not come back.”
During the most recent season, Tamra’s relationship with Sidney was brought up when she accused costar Gretchen Rossi of “contacting” her estranged daughter.
“Sidney posted something about me, and Gretchen started communicating with her,” Tamra claimed in a confessional interview, as an image of her Facebook post flashed on the screen. “That is one of the lowest, most disgusting things you can do: involve somebody’s child.”
When confronted with the allegations, Gretchen, 47, said commenting on a social media post is different from formal contact.
“It’s not the same thing,” Gretchen said. “You really wanna play this game? Because it’s not the same thing. I made a comment on a public Facebook post that your daughter made.”
In a screengrab shared on the show, Gretchen commented, “You have no idea how your brave words are helping so many who have been wrong[ed] by your Mother’s manipulation and lies as well…”
During the season 19 reunion, other cast members also shared updates on their children. Jennifer Pedranti expressed how proud she was of her son, Dawson, graduating from boot camp and becoming a Marine.
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Meanwhile, Emily Simpson shared an update on her son, Luke, after she revealed his diagnosis with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). He has since been tested for PANDAS, which is a subset of ARFID.
“I would have never known to have my child tested for PANDAS if it wasn’t for these moms who watched and reached out to me,” she said. “It’s been an amazing community of sharing information and learning, and that means a lot to me.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET. Stream old episodes anytime on Peacock.
