Scheana Shay was dragged into The Real Housewives of Orange County drama involving Katie Ginella and Gretchen Rossi, Us Weekly can report.
On Thursday, September 4, Katie appeared on Teddi Mellencamp’s “Two Ts in a Pod” podcast. On the episode, they discussed the accusations Katie, 40, told journalist KiKi Monique about a rumor involving Gretchen, 46.
Teddi, 44, said she was told that Gretchen and Scheana, 40, are “very tight” and that Scheana was actually the one who told KiKi the rumor about Gretchen.
“I have that from multiple people too,” Katie told Teddi. “There are multiple sources who could have told KiKi,” Teddi said.
Following the episode’s release, KiKi spoke out on social media claiming this was nonsense.
“John Cougar Mellencamp’s daughter is spreading lies on her podcast about me and Scheana Shay,” KiKi wrote. “This is the weirdest f***ing sentence I’ve ever written in my life.”
KiKi addressed the situation further with Us, saying, “I have my theories on why Teddi put this completely false and baseless rumor into the universe, but unlike Teddi, I don’t just say anything for attention and clicks.”
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She added, “I hate that Scheana was needlessly dragged into this circus. She did not deserve this.”
On Friday, September 5, Scheana addressed the matter on her podcast “Scheananigans with Scheana Shay.”
She said the claim that she was the person who told KiKi was a “lie.
“Why would I do this?” Scheana asked before pondering potential legal action over the claims.
As Us previously reported, KiKi found herself in the middle of a dramatic story line on season 19 of RHOC involving a rumor about Gretchen needing to be hospitalized after the infamous Naked Wasted Party at Tamra Judge’s home during season 8 in 2013.
KiKi has maintained that Katie told her at their lunch in 2024 that Gretchen had told her she was hospitalized.
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Kiki later repeated Katie’s words about the rumor to another reporter during an off-the-record chat. According to Kiki, that reporter clued in Tamra, 58, about Katie’s alleged claims.
For her part, Katie has denied telling KiKi the rumor but admitted having lunch with her. Gretchen, meanwhile, has denied ever even telling Katie she was hospitalized.
When asked why she felt Katie was sticking to denying she told her the rumor, KiKi said, “[Katie] figured I could just be collateral damage because who was going to believe me, especially if I keep getting labeled a blogger …[which] in this Bravo world, it’s a very negative thing.”
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The journalist and content creator added, “And for someone like me who has single-handedly built up her career and her reputation on her own, which I’m sorry, in this particular industry in L.A. as a plus-size black woman is very difficult to do when you have no contacts, no connections.”
“And I did it all on my own, to have that sort of just ripped away in an instant because somebody wants to call you a liar is the most hurtful thing about this. I don’t know why she chose to throw me under the bus, other than she doesn’t see me as valuable,” she said.
A source familiar with the situation told Us, “There is a piece of this story with KiKi that has yet to be told.”
