REAL Housewives of Orange County alums Tamra Judge and Simon Barney have mended their bitter feud after his stage 3 throat cancer. The whole family has been brought back together after Simon revealed to his ex-wife that he was diagnosed with the deadly disease. PEOPLE reported yesterday that Simon had been diagnosed with stage 3 […]
REAL Housewives of Orange County alums Tamra Judge and Simon Barney have mended their bitter feud after his stage 3 throat cancer.
The whole family has been brought back together after Simon revealed to his ex-wife that he was diagnosed with the deadly disease.
PEOPLE reported yesterday that Simon had been diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer and had been going through radiation and chemotherapy since January of this year.
But this sudden change of health has brought the family together with the former couple putting their differences aside and their kids checking in more with their parents.
Simon told PEOPLE: “It’s kind of like a new beginning for me and my family. It’s really brought everyone closer together.”
The real housewife also talked to PEOPLE about the first thing that went through her head when he revealed the news to her during a Starbucks meeting in November 2019.
She said: “Honestly, I’ve never seen him like that. He told me the news and we both literally started crying. I just couldn’t believe it.
“My first thought was, ‘I don’t want to take my kids to their dad’s funeral,’ and immediately, any ill feelings between the two of us just vanished.”
They both revealed that their relationship has never been better, even after a nasty custody battle.
Simon recalled: “When I told Tamra, she said she cried for like, two or three days. Things changed with our relationship from there, in a good way. We’re getting along in ways we haven’t in years.”
Tamra added: “Our conversations now are so different than they were before. Before there was always such hate behind them.
“Not that we would always say nasty things towards one another, but we both came from a place of hate. And now we’re coming from a place of concern. It just put everything in perspective and helped us remember of that other s**t means anything.”
The two also dived into their relationships with their kids and further explained their co-parenting ways these days.
Tamra said: “The kids were split after the divorce and chose sides but, at the end of the day, none of that matters. All we have to do is rally together to make it through this.”
Simon expanded: “We’re just talking more, especially with our youngest one, to make sure we’re on the same page when it comes to how to take her through this situation.
“I’ll say, ‘What do you think of this? I tell her this,’ and Tamra will go, ‘Yeah, that’s a great idea, I’ll tell her that too.’ We never would have done that three, four years ago.
As fans of the show might know, their three kids – Spencer, 19, Sidney, 21, and Sophia, 14 – took sides after their divorce.
Sidney stopped talking to the mother and Spencer stopped talking to his father. Tamra’s son from another marriage, Ryan Vieth, also pulled away from Simon.
After taking their kids to therapy to deal with the news, they’ve all been closer.
Tamra said: “We wanted to find a way to get them through this the best way possible,” Judge shares. “We were making sure that our kids are taken care of.”
Sophia has reportedly been supportive, but mostly “doesn’t want to talk about it” and “doesn’t want to see me sick.”
Sidney, on the other hand, has been checking in a lot. But Barney is “really protecting her” and “making sure she doesn’t get distracted” from her college career.
Simon recalled the time that Sidney offered to quit school and take care of her father but he refused her help.
Tamra said that Spencer took the longest to reach out to her dad: “He wanted to know specifics first, he’s more an old soul. So he wanted to know where he’s going to be treated, who his doctor is. He’s just very clinical about it.”
Simon also recalled: “He finally reached out to me the other day and just said, ‘Sorry, Dad. I just had to get a hold of it.’ It’s good because, I haven’t really talked to him in a while. But we’re getting there now.”
He also said that he’s been talking more with Ryan.
And it hasn’t just with their kids that the couple has mended their relationship with. Tamra has also grown closer to Simon’s fiancee, Catushia Ienni.
Simon talked about the women’s closer relationship and said: “Tamra’s become close with my fiancée. They text each other almost every day, which at first I was very uneasy. Like, ‘Okay, what are they saying? Is she telling her to get rid of me?’ But they’re really both just taking care of me.
“It’s funny, because now Tamra’s concerned about Catushia, making sure she’s getting enough sleep, that she’s not too stressed out.
“Catushia has been such a great support to me throughout all of this. And the other day, Tamra brought me soup from a restaurant to see if I could eat – because it’s very hard to find anything to eat – and she had soup for Catushia too.”
Tamra also added: “I’m just so grateful he has her by his side.
“I told her, ‘Thank God you’re here. I know we’ve had our differences, but I just want you to know I’m here for you too.'”
Simon revealed yesterday to PEOPLE he had undergone an aggressive dual treatment plan at the beginning of January which included radiation and chemotherapy.
“I’m a private person, despite what my time on reality television might say, but I wanted to speak before someone else does and uses their words, not mine.
“I think everything happens for a reason, I think your destiny is pretty much set for you, and you’re here to learn lessons. This has been a tough lesson for me.
He went on to describe the agony of the treatment: “The process is the real bad part. It basically attacks all of your organs. You’re like poisoned. It’s been killing me.”
The former couple underwent years of custody drama amid their bitter split and she revealed during a Bravo reunion special in 2017 she had not seen her daughter Sidney – who was 17 at the time – “in years.”
In 2016, she said a therapist diagnosed Sidney as suffering from “parental alienation,” which is where a child rejects the parent she does not live with.
Though Tamra – who is now married to Eddie Judge – previously admitted to being “fired,” she also said in a recent Instagram Q & A that she was leaving for “personal reasons” just before Simon’s diagnosis was made public.
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