Real Housewives Of Orange County: Heather Dubrow denies calling paparazzi for self-promotion while clashing with newcomer Katie Ginella

Heather Dubrow vowed not to call the paparazzi to promote herself after her children died, as she clashed with Katie Ginella on Thursday’s episode of The Real Housewives Of Orange County.

In the season eight episode, titled “Not My Cup of Tee,” newcomer Katie (40) went up against Heather (55), a Bravo veteran who first appeared on RHOC in season seven in 2012.

Katie told Emily Simpson, 48, earlier in the episode that she had evidence that Heather regularly contacts the paparazzi, something Heather has strongly denied in the past.

“A friend of mine controls all the paparazzi photos. She called my friend and said, ‘I’m coming.’ Along with a bunch of other things that have happened, I’m like, are you telling the truth? Are you not telling the truth?” Katie said.

Tamra Judge, 56, had previously accused Heather of staging photos at Disneyland with her husband Terry and was thrilled when she heard Katie’s story about Heather at a bar.

Katie organized a golf tournament that Emily won, but the real action involved Heather and Katie.

Tamra forced the issue by telling Heather about Katie’s resurfaced paparazzi allegations.

“We went out the other night. Katie said some things about you that are a little disturbing. She says you call the paparazzi and tell them where you are all the time. And she has proof of it,” Tamra said.

“Okay. Bring the evidence,” Heather said, clearly agitated.

Katie asked if she could speak to Heather privately and they were given the space.

“I wanted to talk to you because I feel like there’s this weird, threatening tension between you and me,” Katie said.

“Well, we didn’t have any weird threats, other than I just know that you’re talking to all my friends about me and saying that I’m calling the paparazzi, and you have all this evidence, and I’m talking to people about you. And there’s a lot of untruths here,” Heather said.

Katie gave her perspective and talked about how she felt passed over by Heather at Sutton Stracke’s Christmas party.

‘You know, it started with Sutton’s Christmas party. Gina [Kirschenheiter] told me that she called you and Terry. You guys were kind of, scrolling through me and Matt’s Instagram. And so we saw you at Sutton’s Christmas party. You turned around and you were staring at Matt and me. And then you turned back around,” Katie said.

“Oh my God. You expected me to see you in a line after looking at your Instagram and recognize you? I don’t remember,” Heather said in her defense.

Katie then brought up the paparazzi issue and Heather asked to see the evidence.

“I have a screenshot of the text,” Katie said.

“I’m going to tell you something. I’ve never called a paparazzi in my life,” Heather declared, visibly angry.

She again denied alerting the paparazzi and Katie wondered if her friend had lied.

“I’ve never called a paparazzi into my kids’ lives,” Heather said dramatically.

The other women heard it and were shocked to see Heather so upset.

“This is literally exactly what I didn’t want to happen. And I feel like at this point I just need to duck and take cover,” Gina said.

Heather questioned the validity of Katie’s evidence before accusing her of being the one who dug up the information.

“If you get into a group of friends… It would be really great to make friends and just try to meet people and understand them for who they are,” Heather said.

She also accused Katie of “making a mountain out of a molehill.”

“I don’t even know you, Katie. But now I don’t know if I want to,” Heather said.

Heather confessed that Katie was “obsessed” with her.

While the drama was intense for Heather and Katie, it was a source of entertainment for the others who had previously tried to challenge Heather.

“I think we’re going to Katie’s funeral soon,” Tamra joked.

Former RHOC star Vicki Gunvalson, 62, also made an appearance on the same episode, speaking with Shannon Beador, 60.

They were both disappointed that Tamra left their Tres Amigas show.

Shannon also revealed that her ex-boyfriend John Janssen wanted money from her.

“I received a letter from an attorney representing John Janssen stating that I owe him $75,000,” Shannon said.

Vicki was shocked and reminded Shannon of everything she had done to support him.

The episode also saw Emily organizing a night out for Gina at a bar.

Katie told the bar that she has information about Heather allegedly calling the paparazzi herself.

“There was, like, a bit of bad press around Heather and Terry. I texted it to my boyfriend. He’s in charge of all the paparazzi photographers. I said, is this true? Did she hire photographers to take her picture? He said, yeah,” Katie said.

Tamra admitted she felt “a little vindicated” after the Disneyland incident with Heather and triumphantly threw her arms in the air at the bar.

The Real Housewives Of Orange County returns to Bravo next week.