Tonight is the premiere of The Real Housewives of Orange County. Woohoo!

While we're looking forward, Vicki Gunvalson is looking back -- dealing with the fall-out her marriage, which happened on camera last season.

Vicki is returning tonight for the premiere of season seven, and she is the only remaining housewife from RHOC season one, which was the origin of the Real Housewives franchise.

"I never would have guessed it--that our marriage wouldn't make it--when we started this seven years ago," Vicki tells the Chicago Sun Times about the end of her 18-year marriage to Donn Gunvalson.

Vicki explains that her move with Donn to Orange County from the Midwest had nothing to do with seeking fame, but that her husband was transferred because of his work. "We had no intentions of being on a TV show, it just sort of happened," she says.

The crumbling of the Gunvalsons' marriage took place on camera, and Vicki revealed private details, like her and her husband's lack of intimacy, to over 2.5 million viewers each week.

But Vicki does not blame the show for their marriage's collapse. Although the "pressure" and "time commitment" of filming a reality show may have played a role, she says, what really drove the two apart were her long hours at her insurance business.

"This season, I'm in a much better place," Vicki says. "I'm becoming the person I feel like I was always meant to be."

And maybe some of that newfound happiness has to do with her new man, Brooks Ayers. Although Brooks has a somewhat shady history, including arrests for unpaid child support and a DUI, the Mississippi native is really lighting Vicki's fire.

"I'm totally, madly in love with him," she says.

The Real Housewives of Orange County season 7 premieres tonight at 9pm on Bravo. See sneak peeks and read a preview of the premiere here!

Gina Pusateri
Contributing Writer

(Image courtesy of Bravo)