Outspoken Kelly Dodd is best known for her five seasons starring in The Real Housewives of Orange County, Bravo’s flagship reality show and the one that heralded the start of the world-famous Real Housewives franchise all those years ago. Dodd joined in 2016, immediately becoming a mainstay of the starring cast, and staying there for five years. She has a huge social media outreach — over 1 million followers across Instagram and Twitter — and has become known both on the internet and on television for her unfiltered opinions. She married longtime partner and Fox News journalist Rick Leventhal in October 2020 and left Real Housewives in typically fiery fashion early in 2021, although she’ll have no problem remaining in the limelight.

Dodd hails from Arizona and joined the Real Housewives of Orange County as a stay-at-home mom working through issues with her then-husband. With her Mexican/Latin ancestry,she became known for “bringing the heat” to the already hot series, frequently finding herself at odds with other housewives. She appeared in over 100 episodes of the show before filming of the 15th season came to a halt during March 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the 16th season was announced, it was revealed that Dodd, now Leventhal, would not be returning. Although grateful for her time on the show and the many great memories it has given her, Dodd did not go quietly into that good night, with fierce parting shots at other cast members who she felt had falsely accused her of racism, something she emphatically denies.