Kelly Dodd attempted to repair her strained relationship with Shannon Beador on Monday’s Real Housewives of Orange County. But while apologies were made, Dodd refused to believe Beador hadn’t constructed the drama at her disastrous ’70s party.
“The whole thing was a setup, an ambush – 100 percent,” Dodd said, implying Beador had invited their mutual friends Jaci and Nina to the event for the sole purpose of exposing Dodd’s previous marital infidelities.
“Everyone knows about Michael and me – we are an open book,” Dodd explained of her complicated relationship with her husband. “I never had an affair. I was legally separated from Michael. I was engaged, and when you’re engaged and you’re legally separated, that doesn’t constitute you as being a cheater. Get your facts straight.”
She continued, “Shannon was absolutely rude at the party. But you know what? Karma’s a bitch. If Shannon wants to play, you’ve got another thing coming, girl.”
While she may have been ready to fight at one point, Dodd’s mother eventually calmed her down – urging her daughter to be the bigger person and let it go. “Try to be nice – people respond more to niceness than if they are negative or mean,” she said. “Maybe Shannon’s really not that way. Maybe you just didn’t get to know her.”
Taking her advice, Dodd set up a coffee date with Beador. “I want to be the bigger person,” Dodd confessed to viewers, before their meeting. “For me to move on, I have to know her stance. And if Shannon tells me that she did not do it, I want to believe in my heart that she did not do it.”
Beador also seemed ready to apologize to Dodd, telling viewers she was not happy with herself after their argument. “Yes, it has been brought to my attention that Kelly allegedly had an affair,” she explained. “I just saw red, and I stooped to Kelly’s level. That’s not what I do. I made a big ass mistake.”
But when the two came face to face, it didn’t take long for Dodd’s self-described “anger issues” to surface. She immediately started grilling Beador about her friendship with Jaci and trying to catch Beador in a lie.
“At the beginning of the party you go, ‘Oh I didn’t know you two knew each other,’ Dodd said. “And I knew right there – and I should have said something – I knew that you knew that I knew her.”
“I didn’t set you up!” Beador said. “Look me in the eye – I didn’t! I would never have a party to stir stuff up. That is not who I am.”
“I just cannot believe it happened that way,” Dodd said. “You are absolutely a liar.”
“I’m not a liar!” Beador claimed. She criticized Dodd for saying her husband, David, looked like a pedophile and that his infidelity was justified.
“You said that I was ugly,” Beador reminded Dodd. “You don’t call people ugly! Who the hell do you think you are? Your words are so hurtful, you have no friggin’ idea.”
“I apologize for that,” Dodd said. “I thought your outfit was, but I don’t think you’re ugly.”
After some talk of etiquette – and a misguided comment about Native Americans – Dodd finally admitted she would believe Beador. “I thought you set me up,” she said. “If you said no, then I’d believe you. If you say that’s true, then you know what – you’re right and I will say I believe you.”
“You just said I was a liar a second ago,” Beador responded, confused. “Clearly you don’t mean it and if you don’t mean it, don’t say it.”
Dodd appeared frustrated: “I apologized to you,” she said. “You’re supposed to forgive. You’re supposed to accept the apology. That makes things better for everybody.”
“It’s It’s hard for me to say I’m sorry,” Dodd continued. “I just want to move on from this. Let’s just be cordial to each other.”
But Beador wasn’t buying it.
“I don’t trust you,” she told her. “I’ve only seen you four times and it’s like a different Kelly every time I see you. You made it very clear you judged me from the first time you met me.”
RELATED VIDEO: RHOC‘s’ Shannon Beador on Why Kelly Dodd May Not be the ‘Best Fit on the Show’
For the record, Dodd wasn’t the only one questioning the legitimacy of how the action unfolded that night. Amateur detective Meghan King Edmonds and Tamra Judge also wondered if Beador had planned it.
“I see a setup,” Edmonds told Judge and Heather Dubrow. She went on to explain she saw Shannon pull Jaci and Nina aside prior to the confrontation to discuss something private.
“I have no idea why Shannon asked the ladies in the back room, but I know that the outcome was ugly,” she said. “I love Shannon but what I saw was a little suspicious.”
“There’s more to it – I’m telling you,” Judge agreed.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
