Major RHOC Star Exits Show Ahead of Season 20 Following Short Return

As The Real Housewives of Orange County gears up for a milestone season, the cast list is quietly locking into place. While most familiar faces are staying put, one recent returnee won’t continue into the next chapter. The exit comes after a brief but buzzed-about comeback that reignited old feuds, raising questions about how much space the show has for its past as it moves forward.

Gretchen Rossi leaves The Real Housewives of Orange County again

Gretchen Rossi won’t be back for Season 20 of The Real Housewives of Orange County, PEOPLE has confirmed. The news marks another goodbye for one of the show’s early standouts.

Rossi briefly returned in Season 19 as a “friend” of the cast after being away for more than 10 years, but her comeback run is already coming to an end as production gears up for the milestone 20th season.

Rossi first joined RHOC in Season 4 back in 2008 and stayed on as a full-time Housewife through Season 8. Her early time on the show was deeply personal, centered around her engagement to Jeff Beitzel, who sadly passed away from cancer while the season was airing.

She later got engaged to Slade Smiley, a familiar face in the RHOC world thanks to his past relationships with other Housewives. The two are still together today and share a daughter, Skylar Gray Smiley, who was born in 2019.

Rossi’s short-lived return in Season 19 quickly threw her back into drama with longtime nemesis Tamra Judge. Things really blew up toward the end of the season when old social media activity from 2023 resurfaced, showing Rossi allegedly liking posts that were labeled transphobic, anti-abortion, and anti-vaccine.

The issue came to a head during the Amsterdam finale, where Rossi seemed blindsided by the conversation and appeared to struggle to clearly explain herself. At the reunion, she pushed back against the accusations and fired shots at Judge, but she didn’t back up her claims with proof.

Despite the turmoil, Judge is expected to return for Season 20. Variety reports that Bravo is leaning into the storyline potential of reuniting the fractured “Tres Amigas”—Judge, Shannon Storms Beador, and Vicki Gunvalson. Aside from Rossi, Katie Ginella is also not returning and has been let go.

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