In last night’s episode of “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” we got to spend some quality time with Tamra and her mom and a reported audience of a thousand people that really looked to be about 50. Tamra was giving an inspirational keynote speech at a women’s expo in Los Angeles, which turned out to be more about Tamra barfing out the crappy details of her life than inspiring anyone, unless the inspiration was “You, too, can someday be a reality TV star with a wine club! And a gym which has yet to open! And maybe good hair!”
Okay, I’m being a little rough on Tamra. As abrasive as she can be, she’s still one of the housewives I enjoy most on the show. She’s funny, she’s brutally honest and she’s never shy about her opinions. Of course, the down side of all that honesty is she tends to throw wine at people, toss them out of her parties and scream like a she-beast when she feels wronged. I think it’s safe to say that Tamra has anger management issues.
The good news, I guess, is she has some understanding of why she has these issues. Her parents never said “I love you.” She started looking for love in all the wrong places. And… well, I guess some other bad things happened. But Tamra thinks she’s gotten to the root of her problem. She acts out out of insecurity! And low self-esteem! It’s a protection mechanism! She had to be tough, because that was the only way to survive. Or something. It’s all a little confusing, because I’m pretty sure we’re not getting the whole story or even a fraction of it, but Tamra would like to change.
My fear is that Tamra won’t change, but will instead have a handy reason at the ready for being an asshat. “Sorry I screamed at you and tried to gouge out your eyes, but I wasn’t loved enough growing up.” “Didn’t mean to strangle your purse dog, but no one tucked me in when I was six.” I hope Tamra is going to work on her problems, primarily because she has four kids and a fiance who are probably pretty sick of dealing with temper tantrums from a grown-ass woman. But behaving yourself isn’t exactly a plus for a “Real Housewives” star.
Do you think Tamra’s past excuses her behavior in the present?