“There’s nothing about me or my personality that has ever, I think, showed anyone that they should be concerned about the decisions that I’ve made,” she explained. “I’ve walked through a lot of really gnarly, really bad things on this show by myself, and I’ve always made sound, good decisions to get myself to move forward, to get myself to level up, to get myself to elevate, to find personal growth in so many different areas.”
She continued, “So now that I’m finding financial success, the fact that they’re questioning how I spend my resources, or if I’m spending my money the correct way is insulting. It really is. I am bothered by that.”
On the RHOC After Show, Gina echoed the sentiment that the ladies’ concern was “ridiculous,” especially given her track record, adding, “For the past decade, I’ve taken hits from my friends who judged me for the size of my home — all because I have chosen to live within my means. Why now am I not just looked at like I’m doing the same thing?”
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Gina Kirschenheiter responds to criticism that money is “changing” her
Another point of contention for Gina arose in RHOC‘s Oct. 22 episode when Jenn mentioned that she hoped her newfound financial success wouldn’t change her “endearing” quality of being able to understand what it’s like to “struggle” sometimes. Later, Jenn clarified that she meant only that her financial independence was something she found to be “inspiring,” but Gina still didn’t view the comment as a compliment.
“The insinuation that I’m changing really is bothersome to me because I think that as women, we need to be able to allow ourselves to change and evolve and let that be OK and not an indication that we’re no longer grounded as humans,” Gina told Bravo Insider. “I’m a very grounded person; I’m just doing it in better clothes. And I deserve that because I’ve worked really hard for it. It’s the truth.”
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Either way, Gina noted that she doesn’t “feel bad about that” — and doesn’t think anybody else should feel bad about it, either.
“You work hard, you get a promotion at work, whatever it is, you want to spoil yourself a little bit,” the mom of three elaborated. “You know what you have in your bank account and what you don’t. I know my kids come first. I’ve been taking such a hit on this show for f–king years, being called poor because I chose to put my money into a home, to put a roof over my kids’ heads, and to put money in the bank, to be able to build, to be able to put myself in a good financial decision. And now I’m in it. Because of that, now I’m getting questioned about it. It sucks.”
As Gina added on the After Show, “I can’t apologize for the fact that I’m doing well. I’m not gonna apologize for the fact that I bust my ass, and every once in a while, I want a pair of Prada shoes.”
Where does Gina Kirschenheiter stand with the RHOC cast today?
Gina cited the age gap between her and some of her RHOC castmates in explaining to Bravo Insider why she’s decided to simply “accept” what they’ve had to say about her spending. She further theorized that some of the ladies were coming from a good place in taking on a parental role of sorts with her.
“As much as I try to be a peer to everybody, [with] some of these women, I’m simply not,” Gina said. “Some of these women are just numerically older than me. I have to accept that sometimes I think that some of the women kind of want to parent me, you know what I mean? I have to accept that that’s their perspective too and look at it like, OK they care about me.”
She concluded, “I’m too East Coast. It’s hard for me to accept that. But I do think it’s coming from not a bad place. I do think these women genuinely do care about me. I’m just insulted that they think they have to care about me. You know, it’s like really head-y. I’m like, ‘You don’t have to worry about me.’ Maybe it is too much of me being too, like, ‘I can take care of myself.'”
