So, hey, have you been watching The Real Housewives of Orange County this season? Well, of course you haven’t. Because you gave up after the episode where infamous deadbeat dad Slade Smiley decided he wanted to become a comedian.
I feel you.
But then maybe you started watching again when you heard that Vicki Gunvulson is shacking up with what appears to be a bonafide con-man, and while her friends and family are voicing their concerns over his shady past, she continues to fervently defend him.
OF COURSE YOU DID.
Hell, this past Friday, 20/20 did an expose on cheaters because ratings are down or something, and GUESS WHO THEY FEATURED? Vicki Gunvulson’s boy toy: Brooks Ayers.
So let’s get the story.
For much of the season, there was buzz that Brooks was a deadbeat dad who left behind a gaggle of children when he met Vicki. In fact, it eventually came out that Brooks had, in fact, done time in jail for failure to pay child support. The 45-year-old Southern business man stated that he learned valuable lessons from the experience, and now things are all caught up.
But, the thing is that no one really believed him. (Isn’t it sad when men have to suffer from the unfair stereotypes placed upon them by society when they abandon their families?) Anyway, Vicki and Brooks remained ironclad, while the rest of the housewives remained suspicious. By the end of the show, Brooks had moved to Orange County to be with Vicki, and is said to be driving her cars. He has even been added to Vicki’s checking account. In the season finale, Vicki got into a heated argument with her daughter, Brianna, over Brooks and basically defriended Tamra Barney in front of everyone.
Scandalous!
But, really, it was all hearsay and speculation…UNTIL NOW.
You see, an ex of Brooks, and the mother of his “extra” child, caught wind of his new television gig and decided to speak out when she heard him flippantly refer to the child he had fathered, whom he had lost all contact with when the boy was about five months old. Meet Nicolette Catanzarite:
Nicole became pregnant with Ayers’ fourth child (he has three from a previous marriage) a few months into their relationship, despite the fact that Ayers claimed he’d had a vasectomy. He was still in the process of divorcing his wife, but was talking the big talk with Nicole about eventually getting married to her. Once she gave birth, however, things changed rapidly, and for the worse. Says Nicole:
Our electric bill was getting shut off, my phone was getting shut off and I didn’t know he hadn’t been paying the rent on the house. He would always make up excuses and say the judge has held the escrow account and they’ve locked all their funds until the divorce was final.
Eventually he left one day and never came back.
No birthdays, no cards for Christmas, no phone calls, nothing. It’s very frustrating.
She went on to sue Ayers for child support, but claims to have seen little to none of that money. Ayers, on the other hand, has been taking interviews with celebrity bloggers and the like, where he boasts how he is such a great father.
I speak to my kids every day. I have three kids by my previous marriage and one extra child as well.
Extra child? HOW CUTE.
I’ve been in jail as a result of getting behind on child support and I have learned from that. I am happy to tell you that we got everything current. I never walked away from my kids.
Interesting. Or, you know, appalling. Either, or.
Initially I had high hopes, remembering that the season finale of the Real Housewives of Orange County was filmed in December. Surely Vicki has gotten the wiser since then and kicked Brooks out on his tail end?
Nope. Apparently they split briefly, but are back on, and as recently as two weeks ago, Vicki was tweeting pictures of the two of them together. Vicki is a grown woman, of course, so she can just lay in that bed she is making for herself. I just hope all this publicity gets Nicole Catanzarite the financial support she deserves.
Anyway, who will be watching the reunion special when it airs next week?
*raises hand*
source, source, source, source, source
About Kristine Cook
