‘RHOC’ Jennifer Pedranti Reveals Off-Camera Convo With Tamra

Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo

Jennifer Pedranti is speaking out against Tamra Judge following their napkin toss drama on an episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County last month.

Following the encounter, the 46-year-old newbie revealed a conversation she and Tamra, 55, had off-camera as she also reacted to Tamra accusing her of staying with boyfriend Ryan Boyajian, 46, to ensure she’d be cast on the show and Emily Simpson slamming her partner as a “walking neon [red] flag.”

During an interview with Us Weekly on July 27, Jennifer said that when it comes to Tamra’s many issues with Ryan, she “saved it for the cameras” after years of friendship between the two of them.

“There was plenty of days and hours spent in the gym together. I mean, Tamra jumped in and trained with me and my trainer for a long time — and three years is not a short amount of time,” she revealed. “It’s not like Tamra and I had, like, two months in the gym and then we started filming. There was years where all these conversations could have happened.”

Even their partners, Ryan and Eddie Judge, hung out.

“It was very much, like, Eddie and Ryan are buds, and it was not that tone at all,” Jennifer said. “So, I don’t even know where that comes from.”

As their Relationship continues to be front and center on RHOC, with some claiming the romance began before her split from ex-husband William Pedranti, Jennifer admitted she and Ryan have “had a lot of conversations about it.”

“It’s taken up a lot of headspace for us because we don’t understand it,” she shared. “I’m so grateful Ryan manages it the way that he does. I can just head spin about it. Like, ‘This doesn’t make sense. I don’t know this, I don’t know.’ But he keeps me a little bit more grounded with it, and he sees it for what it is. And we, thank God, are just in a great space.”

“Everybody says ‘the [Housewives] curse,’ you know? And we think that’s not gonna happen,” she added.

As for Emily’s claim that Ryan is a “walking neon [red] flag,” Jennifer doesn’t believe he should be judged on his past.

“It’s super unfair to Ryan,” Jennifer said. “I have never been more loved or prioritized in my life and he’s such a good partner. It’s so unfortunate that they just wanna listen to talk from past, and that’s who they’re gonna judge him to be.”

“Leave me alone [and] leave us alone. If something happens and it all falls apart and I eat crow or I do something to Ryan, then that’s our path. But I’m not on Emily, and I’m not on Tamra, and I’m not on Gina [Kirschenheiter]. Like, let me be. I’m so happy. Can I just be happy?” she wondered.

According to Jennifer, she feels confident in her relationship with Ryan.

“I don’t know if I ever said I didn’t trust Ryan. I’ve not experienced that [with] Ryan. I understand Ryan’s past 5+ years ago and the only reason I know about it is because Ryan has shared with me himself about everything,” she stated. “He’s very open with me about everything. … Do I trust Ryan? 100 percent. Do I think for a second I ever have to worry about Ryan? Never. I never think about it. I don’t have to worry about it. It’s not the relationship that I’m in with him.”

As for Tamra’s claim of Ryan cheating on her, which she made during an episode of Watch What Happens Live last week, Jennifer denied it completely.

“You think I’m gonna stay in a cheating relationship because I’m worried I’m not gonna get cast?” she asked. “That’s like the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m not trying to be rude, but, no, and you know, that whole time, sometimes I’m like, ‘Does Tamra forget? Does Tamra remember conversations she and I had when that time was actually happening?’”

“I was not in a cheating relationship and just hoping to God to get casted. Not at all,” she further confirmed on a recent episode of Hollywood Life‘s Pay Attention, Puh-Lease! podcast, noting that she’s “sad” her friendship with Tamra diminished on RHOC.

“That was my friend,” Jennifer said. “I would’ve stood by her. My friends matter to me. I’m like, ‘Was any of our friendship ever real for her? Did I ever matter? Is everything a moving piece for Tamra? Has she been in this world too long?’ The things Tamra says hurt because it was real for me. She was real for me.”

Although Tamra and Ryan have yet to hash out their differences, Jennifer confirmed Ryan was “open” to a sit-down with her.

“He, like me, was trying to understand it. You will see, we do have a dinner and we are together. And Tamra’s so fun with Ryan and they have fun moments. I keep saying it was like this rollercoaster. You will see all of it,” she teased.

Jennifer then looked back on an off-camera chat she and Tamra had about Ryan prior to the napkin toss.

“We were all walking into Nobu that night. Some of the ladies needed to use the restroom. We were not mic’d or no cameras yet,” Jennifer said. “Tamra and I were talking — and she’s even putting lip gloss on me — and she says, ‘Does Ryan hate me?’ And I said, ‘No Tamra, Ryan does not hate you.’ And she said, ‘You know I owe him an apology.’ And I said, ‘I wish you would do that. He deserves it. I wish you would do that.’”

“[So] when the napkin happened, it was even double shock, because two minutes prior to that we were talking about having this amazing fun night together,” Jennifer continued. “And then why? Where in the hell did that go wrong in a span of five minutes? So the napkin — I was just shocked. How do you even make sense of this?”

Even now, months after the napkin toss occurred, Jennifer still doesn’t understand why Tamra had such a dramatic reaction.

“I did watch it back and I think she even says to me, ‘I wanna have fun tonight.’ And I think I sit there and say, ‘So do I,’” Jennifer said. “She ordered a shot. That’s why when I heard her under her breath do that thing that she does, I just thought, ‘You’ve got to be freaking kidding me.’ I had just had enough. I told her to watch it, and she just [threw the napkin] right in my face.”

The Real Housewives of Orange County season 17 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.