Update: On March 9, Tamra Judge seemingly deleted her Instagram story announcing her departure. With RHOC still absent from her bio and a new story encouraging people to take care of their mental health, it's unclear whether or not this means she changed her mind.
Filming for season 19 of The Real Housewives of Orange County is under way and fans were already excited to hear that Gretchen Rossi was returning back to the series after having departed after season 8, but it looks like that may not be the only cast change coming to RHOC.
On March 9, pictures of the cast were shared across social media of the RHOC cast out and about filming a cast trip in New Orleans. Shannon Storms Beador, Emily Simpson, and Tamra Judge were spotted by several Bravo fans walking and chatting together, but the excitement didn't last long before Tamra seemingly announced her departure from the show.
Tamra Judge made a cryptic social media announcement that she's quitting RHOC
Later on March 9, after fans spotted the trio on an RHOC cast trip in New Orleans, Tamra Judge took to her Instagram story to announce that she was departing the series.
"It's been a long run!" Tamra Judge wrote in an Instagram story. She went on to say that her decision to leave the franchise came because of things going on in her real life, which has fans speculating. The statement on her story continues, "When life gives you real problems this reality s--- doesn't make sense. Peace out."
That escalated quickly? Looks like Tamra had an extremely sudden change of heart while filming a cast trip... #RHOC 🤨🍊 pic.twitter.com/cWCJpmQYZX
— Always Unscripted (@AlwaysUnscriptd) March 10, 2025
When an Instagram account posted her departure and asked if it means she's leaving the series ahead of the 19th season, she posted a comment affirming they were correct. This is very sudden considering they were in the midst of filming, literally having been spotted earlier that very day, and seemingly came out of nowhere, but it doesn't seem like Tamra's intentions have been misunderstood here.
Fans think Tamra Judge is stepping away due to Teddi Mellencamp health update
Close friend of Tamra Judge and fellow Bravolebrity Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave recently announced that a scan had found multiple tumors on her brain.
The former RHOBH star recently shared that she had undergone surgery to remove a total of four tumors from her brain and that doctors have also discovered two tumors on her lungs and tumors in her brain that couldn't be removed with surgery. According to Teddi, all of the tumors that doctors have found are metastases of her melanoma, but that her medical team is hopeful that immunotherapy will be able to successfully treat the remaining tumors.
Even though Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave is no longer on any Bravo shows and Tamra Judge is on a different show than Teddi was, the two of them are still best friends and they're the hosts of the Two Ts in a Pod podcast together.
Because of this, some fans are speculating that the personal toll that someone so close to her going through a serious health scare has made her realize that reality TV isn't worth it to her right now.
This makes sense with Tamra Judge's statement about "real problems" in her life and there are fans on social media that have speculated that's exactly what's going on. One fan on X (formerly Twitter) speculated that this is the reason Tamra abruptly realized she wasn't interested in being on RHOC right now and said, "I’m thinking she was sitting there trying to argue with everyone about something stupid while one of her best friends is fighting multiple brain tumors and said ya know what f--- this."
It's unclear whether or not Tamra Judge will walk back her decision to leave The Real Housewives of Orange County yet, but it seems like she was serious about leaving -- at least when she posted it.