'RHOC's Vicki Gunvalson Reveals Scary Health Crisis Battling 'Deadly' Infection

The 'Real Housewives of Orange County' star suffered a close call with a "massive infection."

By Anna Rumer

Vicki Gunvalson is still recovering from a serious recent health scare. The Real Housewives of Orange County star, 62, opened up about her terrifying experience with a "massive infection" during the Monday, Aug. 26 episode of My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast alongside partner Michael Smith.

Gunvalson revealed that she was with a client at her Coto Insurance business on Thursday, Aug. 22, when she began speaking "gibberish." The client, who was a retired doctor, alerted Smith's daughter that the Bravo star was "possibly having a stroke," and Gunvalson said she doesn't remember "anything" as she was then taken to the hospital.

Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen – Season 20
(Photo:

Vicki Gunvalson on 'Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen' Season 20. (

- Charles Sykes/Bravo)

The reality star said doctors dismissed her symptoms as that of a sinus infection and sent her home that same night. However, when Smith rushed home from his trip to Scottdale, Ariz., he found her "pretty much passed out" in a bathtub, which he recalled as "one of the scariest" moments of his life. "I grabbed her, pulled her out of the water, put her in bed. The doctor said she just needed to sleep, so I put her in bed and she slept literally 13, 14 hours straight," he shared.

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When Smith then tried to get Gunvalson out of bed, she seemed "discombobulated" and wasn't able to walk, prompting him to take her back to the hospital. "She had a massive infection," he continued. "It was actually sepsis but it was pneumonia." Doctors explained to him that when the body is fighting "that big" of an infection, "your whole body attacks it what affects the brain and everything else in your body because your body sends everything it has to fight it."

BravoCon – Season 2023
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Vicki Gunvalson at the "The Way We OC It" Panel at BravoCon in Las Vegas on Friday, November 3, 2023.

- Greg Doherty/Bravo)

Gunvalson noted that she doesn't remember much of the health crisis, which she described as "the trauma of the brain," explaining, "It's very similar to a stroke or PTSD where the brain just goes into quiet mode, it just won't remember to protect you." While she's "OK" now, Gunvalson said her energy is still "super low" amid her recovery. "I'm sleeping enough – probably too much, but I can't get the energy to walk right now," she lamented. "But it is very similar, it mimics a stroke, and I just have a blank three days."

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