Andy Cohen kicked off Wednesday’s episode of his late-night show grilling the 45-year-old Real Housewives of Orange County star about her past comments about the coronavirus pandemic.

“Of course I regret saying [coronavirus was God’s way of thinning the herd]. I mean at the time, it was a question, like, ‘Why are all these people dying?’” Dodd said about her first controversial comment. “It was a stupid thing for me to say. It was insensitive and I apologize if I hurt or offended anybody because that wasn’t really my intention. I got, like, freaked out about in hindsight it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said.”

Cohen, 52, went on to read a viewer question about Dodd’s refusal to wear a mask. While the Bravo star claimed she was “misinformed” and she made her remarks that “no one is dying” of COVID-19 in Orange County “back in January,” she actually made headlines for the comment in May.

“I hate [wearing a mask]. I’m claustrophobic. I can’t stand wearing a mask,” she said. “Now I understand the science behind it and I’m really, willing and able to wear a mask and I know that it’s important because I don’t want to get sick and I want to get others sick.”

The host subsequently injected to ask Dodd about her mother, Bobbi Meza, who was hospitalized amid her own battle with COVID-19 last month. The reality TV personality’s brother Eric Meza revealed Bobbi was in the ICU on November 21.

“My mom and I are estranged right now; we got in a fight. I found out that she COVID and [was in] the ICU through — my older brother didn’t even know either — through Instagram,” Dodd told Cohen. “My brother put that out there. He couldn’t even call me or my brother to tell us. … I ended up talking to her at Thanksgiving and she is doing fine. She at home.”

After asking Dodd about the “Drunk Wives Matter” hat she sported at her bridal shower over the summer — she maintained the hat was a gift and she supports the Black Lives Matter movement — Cohen suggested the Housewife get off the Internet.

“You’ve had such a bad run on social media. I mean I get tweets and DMs … since this whole thing started saying, ‘You gotta control her, you have to stop her,’ this and that and the other. I mean, at some point, it seems like you need to think before you post,” Cohen said.

Dodd replied that she’s a “human being who makes mistakes” and noted everyone has “regrets.”

The topic of mistakes came up again during Wednesday’s WWHL when Cohen had Dodd play her third round of his game, “Do you regret it?” When asked by the producer if she regrets “her lack of sensitivity toward [costar] Braunwyn’s [Windham-Burke] struggle with sobriety,” Dodd said no.

“I don’t regret it because I think that her whole sobriety thing is contrived and I think it’s fake,” she told a shocked Cohen. “I don’t think that she had seven kids so she could ‘not drink’ and I know her well enough that this was a pre-plotted thing that she wanted to do to get her own show. … She wanted to get her own show, her talent agent told her to stop drinking. It’s all contrived. I don’t believe that she is a real alcoholic, no. You’ll see it after on at the end of the show, what happens. It’s really good.”

Windham-Burke, 43, revealed during the season 15 premiere of RHOC that she has a substance abuse issue.

“I have seven kids, so that’s a huge chunk of my life that I was sober — or I should say, not drinking. Now I realize there’s a difference between not drinking and being sober, for me,” she wrote in an essay for Glamour in October. “When I say I’m getting sober, I mean that I’m taking the time to be still and think about why I drank so much. For me, it’s insecurity, it’s anxiety, it’s that I’m uncomfortable in my skin. I’m working on understanding why I have those feelings and finding a healthy way to deal with them.”

Braunwyn shares Bella, 20, Rowan, 18, Jacob, 15, 7-year-old twins Caden and Curren, Koa, 5, and Hazel, 2, with husband Sean Burke. Hours before WWHL aired, she came out as a lesbian. While she seemingly introduced her fans to girlfriend Kris, Braunwyn maintained she and Sean have no plans to divorce.

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Sarah Hearon