The 20 Most Scandalous Breakups in ‘Real Housewives’ History

After 19 years of marriage, this one came as quite a surprise. But after declaring that her "love tank" was empty, Vicki filed for divorce in 2010.

In 2013, Vicki told Huffington Post Live that she regrets the split. "Hindsight, I wish I would've worked harder in the marriage," she said. "I really, really do. I think I messed up on some areas, and he messed up, too. It takes two people to get married, it takes two people to get divorced."

Heartbreakingly, Ramona discovered now ex-hubby Mario was having an affair when she walked in on him getting it on in the kitchen of their Bridgehampton, New York, home, she said in her memoir, Life on the Ramona Coaster. Their divorce was finalized in 2015.

“Mario and I have been through so much together,” she wrote. “Over the course of two decades, we raised a child together, traveled the world, built two homes, and supported one another through all four of our parents’ deaths. But once I started doing the show my life began to move in one direction and his in another. The underlying foundation of our marriage began to shift, and I didn’t realize he was unhappy until it was too late.”

We always thought this pair's banter was just that—quippy fun between a loving couple. Turns out it was the real deal. They split in 2012, after Season 3 of RHOBH aired and Adrienne was fired for not showing up to the reunion special taping. The reason Adrienne failed to make an appearance: Fellow castmate Brandi had spilled a "personal secret" about Adrienne's family. According to Us Weekly, that secret was that Adrienne and Paul used a surrogate to carry their twin boys.

Despite constantly referring to David as "my love" throughout her time on RHOBH, terms of endearment weren't enough to keep this marriage afloat, apparently. While the twosome always came across as obsessed with each other, Yo’s Lyme disease put a strain on the marriage, she explained on The Dr. Oz Show in March 2016. Here’s hoping the Dutch beauty can take a page out of Beyonce’s book and turn her famous lemons into lemonade

We saw it all go down during that infamous limo ride on Season 5, which aired in 2010. After Simon accused Tamra of spending more time with Vicki than she did with her fam, a fed up Tamra issued this stinger: “I want a divorce! F*ck you!” While they were able to patch things up for the party they were en route to, it was only temporary.

The Skinnygirl creator filed for divorce way back in 2013, and proceedings are still ongoing. However, Bethenny recently said there’s finally an end in sight. “I feel like I survived something,” she told People in April. “When it all shakes down, I’ll be a woman who has not kind of just felt backed into a corner. I stayed strong and did what was best for myself, my daughter, for women.” The downside: Jason is still residing in Bethenny's killer Tribeca apartment.

We all questioned Phaedra’s decision to marry a sketchy ex-con, and it seems like that choice came back to bite her. Apollo is currently serving a prison sentence for conspiracy to commit mail, wire, and bank fraud. Phaedra opted out of standing by her man and has recently taken steps toward divorce. While things haven't been finalized yet, Phaedra told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in March 2016 that the proceedings were in progress.

Things between Taylor and Russell were very dark. The cameras caught their marital tensions on-screen, but what happened behind closed doors was much worse. In 2011, Taylor revealed on the show that Russell had been physically and verbally abusive toward her and she filed for divorce. A month later, Russell committed suicide.

It was very clear once Camille joined the show in 2010 that her marriage was falling apart. During Season 1, Kelsey dropped a bomb: He wanted to move to New York full time while Camille stayed in California. Over the course of the season, it came to light that Kelsey was having an affair. He’s now married to his then-mistress, and his split with Camille was anything but amicable.

Poor Porsha says she found out she was getting a divorce via Twitter. “I was totally blindsided,” she told Andy Cohen on an episode of Watch What Happens Live in 2013. Their marriage was heavily scrutinized by the other housewives—and Porsha even accused Kordell of abuse in an interview with Access Hollywood in 2014, after their marriage had ended.

During the first few seasons of RHONY, the Countess was all about keeping up appearances, so it was surprising when her fairy tale-like marriage ended in 2009. Lu called the split amicable, though, telling Radar Online that the two are still good friends. Post-divorce, she was seriously dating Frenchman Jacques Azoulay, but that ended after a few years due to rumored cheating on Luann’s part. No worries—she’s now engaged again to Thomas D'Agostino, Jr. and everything is ~cool~.

To quote T-Swift, we knew he was trouble when he walked in. Brooks and Vicki have been on and off for the past few seasons, but after it came out on Season 10 (which aired in 2015) that Brooks was faking a cancer diagnosis, Vicki insisted she was done for good. To be continued...

Jules of the New York franchise had a drawn-out divorce process. Jules first has accused Michael of infidelity, according to People. In a statement to the magazine, Michael's lawyer, Mark Jay Heller, called Jules a drama queen. "Michael doesn't want to be her foil anymore and he doesn't want to assume the role of drama king," he said.

It’s a tale as old as time—boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, get married, split up...then remarry. Well, at least that was the case for Greg and Nene Leakes. After Nene lost that lovin’ feeling, we watched the emotional rollercoaster as the two separated. The twist: Greg eventually won her back. AND they ended up getting a wedding special out of it.

This breakup is so woven together with scandal it’s hard to even know where to begin. They pled guilty to 41 counts of fraud including bank fraud, wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud to allegedly make as much as $5 million over ten years. Teresa and Joe served staggered sentences in Federal Prison so one could be with their children, with Joe serving a much lengthier 41 month sentence followed by deportation to his native Italy in 2019. Giudice's divorce was finalized in late-2020, with Teresa saying on her podcast that seeing Joe go on a vacation to Mexico with other women after their separation sealed the deal of her decision to leave him for good.

Gizelle shocked viewers and her own friends & co-stars when she got back together with ex-husband Jamal Bryant in season 5. We had gotten to know their daughters well on the show up to that point, but we only knew her pastor ex through Gizelle’s stories of his past infidelity. Ten years after their 2009 divorce, they rekindled things for a spell. Unfortunately, they didn’t last due to the pressures of being separated during the pandemic, which we partially saw on camera. Gizelle had her roots firmly in Maryland and was building a house, while Jamal was focused on his commitments at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Gizelle has gone on the record saying there are no hard feelings, though!

Dolores was open about the awful situation she went through with her ex Frank Catania II, who cheated on her while she was pregnant, though the two are on great terms nowadays as friends and co-parents. With that history, fans were overjoyed when she found someone new in David. They sadly called it quits a few years later, and Dolores explained on the show that their communication had broken down. “He didn't meet me halfway on a lot of things. He didn't even meet me a little bit,’” she said.

The name “Michael Darby” should send chills down the spines of any RHOP fan. While he and Ashley seemed to have a great, fun-loving relationship at the start of the series, it began to sour when they went into business together with the restaurant OZ, which eventually closed. Michael was the center of some of the cringiest moments over his run on the show, including various misconduct and infidelity allegations levied against him. Along with seeing cracks form in their relationship through many years on the show, Michael frequently butted heads with the other co-stars, including Gizelle and Candiace Dillard Bassett in particular. Ashley announced their separation last year, and said in January of 2023 she expected their divorce to be finalized soon.

Shannon and David’s 17-year marriage came to an end after many ups and downs on RHOC. She reportedly learned that David had cheated on her just before filming season 10 of the show, and they really tried to repair things with therapy and a vow renewal ceremony. They separated in September of 2017 and the divorce was finalized months later. David has been embroiled in plenty of marriage drama with his next wife Lesley, who he married in October of 2020.

Danielle’s third husband clearly didn’t stick. The founding RHONJ main cast-member who also returned as a friend for a few seasons got married to Marty on camera during season 9 of the show. After the divorce was finalized, she cracked to TMZ that she was “So relieved. I never took his name for a reason, because who wants to be called Caffrey? Staub is my name, don’t forget it." Staub also got caught in hot water in her first season on the show when her co-stars found out Staub had been arrested from her ex-husband Kevin Maher’s book Cop Without a Badge.