The long-beleaguered husband of Real Housewives of Orange County star Vicki Gunvalson, Donn Gunvalson, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The news comes after an already tumultuous period for the Gunvalsons. After 16 years of marriage, Vicki filed for divorce from Donn in 2010. As viewers saw, he learned of her decision to divorce via a phone call after he discovered that she’d frozen their assets.
Vicki’s son and Donn’s step-son, Michael Wolfsmith, 26, told the National Enquirer that the Gunvalson household as experienced a series of “weird” events within the last year.
“It has sort of been weird around here for the past year or so,” he said. “Donn has been very sick, Briana eloped to Las Vegas last fall, and my mom is dealing with a lot of different emotions. It’s a very stressful time right now.”
Vicki has since moved on to dating Brooks Ayers, who will appear on this season of The Real Housewives of Orange County. Brooks has had run-ins with the law, having previously been arrested for unpaid child support (ironic for Vicki, who spent most of last season calling out co-star Gretchen Rossi’s boyfriend Slade Smiley for being a “deadbeat dad”).
The Gunvalsons’ divorce is not yet finalized, and according to the Enquirer report, things are getting a bit messy. A source claimed that Donn hired a forensic accountant to determine the value of Vicki’s company. Vicki is also rumored to have started her relationship with Brooks while still married to Donn, which could also affect the outcome of the divorce.
Although Vicki has moved on, her son says she was still upset at her soon-to-be ex-husband’s illness. Michael said, “My mom was upset when she told us. Since they are divorcing, we don’t see Donn as much as we used to. But we still care about him and are pulling for him.”
Vicki tweeted yesterday, “Thank you everyone for your well wishes for Donn. He is doing very good considering his diagnosis. PSA levels have dropped to almost normal.”
Gina Pusateri
Contributing Writer
(Image courtesy of Bravo)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
