AceShowbiz - Kelly Dodd is getting real about her exit from "The Real Housewives of Orange County". In a new radio interview, the former Bravo star admitted that she was "blindsided" by her axing and "had no idea" of the firing.

"I had no idea. …I was blindsided," the 45-year-old revealed during an appearance on SiriusXM's Jeff Lewis Live with her husband Rick Leventhal on Monday, June 28. The reality star, who originally joined the Bravo series in 2016, admitted that she asked the producers whether her exit was because of her political views. "I said, 'Well, why? Was it political?' and he said, 'No. Bravo wanted to take a different direction than you,' " she said.

Elsewhere in the conversation, Kelly hinted that she felt responsible for her firing. When host Jeff asked her if the decision could have been "personal" and whether she had "[insulted] any executives," she confessed, "I did." She stressed, "Listen, ultimately I got fired because of myself. I'm the one who got myself fired. I had the executives calling me, and Emily's like, 'Who are they?' and I'm like, well, they know me! I know them!' But I was causing them a lot of grief. I was causing them a lot of trouble." She then pointed out, "And, you know, I'm sorry about that. I feel bad."

Rick, whom Kelly married in October 2020, chimed in, "There's no one more popular than her. Even if people hate her, they love to hate her. They love to watch her." The 61-year-old former Fox News reporter continued praising his wife, "She was the brightest spark on that show. I have to say, when that phone call came I was very surprised because even though she's so controversial, she's still great television."

"You want somebody to love to hate you, or you want people to really love you, but I have a million followers and they are diehard, like, fans, and they love me. And then I have, then I have this little group of people that are the cancel culture that hate me," Kelly noted. "And so they're the loud ones. They're the, actually the ones that can't afford to. The woke, broke people. They love to hate me."