Real Housewives of Orange County alum Alexis Bellino said that she was shocked, hurt and put off that Meghan King shared private text messages they exchanged with a media outlet.
‘Sharing our private texts with the world may be the lowest point yet in your pursuit of fame,’ Bellino, 46, addressed King, 39, via Instagram Stories Wednesday evening. ‘I’m disgusted and completely hurt by your actions.’
On Tuesday, King told Page Six that she was skeptical of Bellino’s new boyfriend John Janssen, 61, and the fast start their romance had gotten off to.
King took part in a game with Page Six titled ‘Show the Shot or Take the Shot,’ in which the outlet dared ‘her to reveal the last text message she got from Bellino.’
King told Page Six that she had warned Bellino that she felt Janssen – who formerly dated RHOC star Shannon Beador – showed a number of ‘red flags;’ and that she felt he could be manipulating Bellino via coming onto her very strong in the beginning, a practice which is termed as ‘love-bombing.’
King said Bellino ‘just said, “Thank you for your love and support” because I was texting her like, “Be careful – it seems like he’s love-bombing.”‘
Bellino took to Instagram Wednesday evening to express her anger toward King for what she felt was an invasion of her privacy, effectively ending their friendship.
‘Really??? I am not only in shock… I’m completely heartbroken because I thought you were my true friend,’ Bellino said on Instagram Stories, addressing King in what appeared to be a screenshot of a text message.
The Hannibal, Missouri-born reality star continued: ‘Maybe read this text to Page 6: “I thought Meghan was my friend and concerned for my vulnerable heart; however, she’s actually the one who just chose fame over a friendship to disclose certain private texts that were FALSE and taken out of context.”‘
Bellino, who parted ways with former fiancé Andy Bohn in September, defended Janssen’s character, saying that he ‘is not a narcissist,’ and that King’s ‘information is wrong.’
The second panel of text on her Instagram Stories was splayed along a screengrab of an April 2022 story from E! News documenting King’s efforts in vain to try and regain a spot on the popular Bravo reality show.
The headline read: ‘This Former RHOC Star Says She Tried to Rejoin the Cast for Season 16 But Was Rejected.’
Bellino coolly wrapped up in saying, ‘Find a different friend to use, Meghan O’Toole King McDill Edmonds Biden Owens.’
The last names were reflective of King’s past marriages: To attorney Brad McDill between 2007-2011; to former MLB outfielder Jim Edmonds from 2014-2021; and to President Joe Biden’s nephew Cuffe Biden Owens between 2021-2022.
In the segment with Page Six, King noted that she had never met Janssen, but her past experienced helped her detect potentially-troublesome traits based off how his relationship with Bellino was unfolding.
‘I’m sure he has a lot of lovely traits,’ she said, ‘but after being in a narcissistic relationship myself and done a lot of healing from that, I just see things that have been put out willingly by both of them, all of them, that kind of lead me to believe that there might be some red flags in the way that John approaches a relationship.’
King, who told the outlet that she had also spoken with Beador, 59, as of late, said that she did not want to get involved in potential problems between Bellino and Beador over Janssen.
‘I just wanna be the one to lend my love and support,’ she told the outlet. ‘Because I know that no matter who you are or how much I like you or dislike you, we’re all in a very unique position with having our personal lives out there.’
She added, ‘We’re all apart of this Housewives club, so I just wanna make sure that we band together when the time is right.’
In the April 2022 story, King – who appeared on RHOC between 2014 until 2019 – told E! News that she had auditioned for a spot on the show’s 16th season but ‘didn’t get it.’
King did not to be too upset over the decision, as she said that while she ‘had so much fun’ during her time on the series, other major life factors she was dealing with at the time would have made it difficult for her.
‘I don’t think I would have been able to have done it,’ she told the outlet. ‘It’s a time commitment, and I’m in St. Louis. I would have had to move and everything.’
King said she believed she didn’t get the spit because she’s ‘a little bit boring’ with her ‘Midwest sensibility.’
She added, ‘Like, I’m kind of just a normal person, you know, but I do interesting things.’
