Meet Gretchen Rossi, the newest member of the Real Housewives of Orange County.  She spoke to E!'s Marc Malkin, and the information she provided guarantees there will be no shortage of drama in the show's upcoming season.

Gretchen was engaged to Jeff Beitzel who was ill with acute leukemia during the season's filming.  Apparently, behind Gretchen's back, the other housewives called her a "gold digger" because of their 23-year age difference.

(BTW, as someone once asked me, aren't you supposed to be married to be called a housewife? I guess being engaged, divorced, living together, or single with children all qualify.  Welcome to the 21st century!)

Gretchen denied being a gold digger, and told E! that she refused to marry Jeff while he was ill to prove that she was with him out of true love, not just his money. 

I think people would have made assumptions if I had married him during that time, and that's not the reason I was ever with Jeff,' Gretchen says, now 31. 'It just wasn't…I really wanted to marry him when he was healthy enough to walk down an aisle. Jeff asked me many times to marry him while he was in the hospital and I said, 'I'm not doing that.' "

Unfortunately, Jeff passed away last September, after the season completed filming.

In addition to the housewives' accusations about Gretchen's motives for being with Jeff, Gretchen spoke of their insensitivity about his illness.  At one point Gretchen was discussing Jeff's illness with the other housewives, but housewife Vicki Gunvalson wasn't interested.

Vicki is just typing and couldn’t care less about what I'm saying. And then afterward, she's like, 'I don't want be chitchatting about death,' " Gretchen said. "I was like, What?"

I wasn't sure any housewives could top the drama from The Real Housewives of Atlanta, but I could be wrong.  The Real Housewives from the OC's fourth season started last week, so we'll have to see!

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