'RHOC' Star Vicki Gunvalson Is Done With Brooks

Over the course of 10 seasons and 10 years of The Real Housewives of Orange County, no single individual has managed to cause more drama than Brooks Ayers, Vicki Gunvalson's long term boyfriend and lightening rod for all of the series' biggest scandals for four seasons now. But as of Season 11's June 20 premiere, where do Vicki and Brooks stand? The couple officially broke up in November of 2015, and while they had an on-again, off-again relationship in the past, this was the last time the two were publicly a couple — they've even both gone on TV and given interviews to People about the end of their relationship. And while the last few times this happened, the couple wound up getting back together after just a short break, this break seems pretty permanent — I don't think you will see Vicki Gunvalson going back to Brooks anytime soon.

If you missed out on the near-constant Brooks drama, here's the deal: after Vicki's divorce from longtime husband Donn, she began dating a new man, Brooks. And while Brooks may have superficially made Vicki happier, everyone else in her life didn't trust the guy. Most notably, Vicki's daughter, Briana, strongly distrusted him. And troublingly, there were reports of Brooks talking about abusing women on tape with Briana's husband, Ryan Culberson, though Ayers denies this, explaining himself in the E! interview below.

This all came to a head in RHOC Season 10, when Brooks claimed he was suffering from cancer. One cast member in particular, Meghan Edmonds, was insistent that something was off, and even went as far as to attempt to uncover the truth by calling his doctors. The other Housewives' detective work may have been invasive, but they were right — Brooks did fake medical documents, which he admitted to E! in November, though he claims that he does have cancer and only fabricated the documents. Brooks gave E! the following statement:

"Words cannot express the deep regret that I have in fabricating documents to 'prove' to the world that I, in fact, have cancer. What I did was wrong and inexcusable. I acted alone, without Vicki [Gunvalson]'s knowledge, to produce documents for a reality TV show in hopes of putting doubts about my cancer to rest ... I never intended to disclose my actual medical records or details about my private and personal medical history, thus the rationalization of presenting documents that weren't true simply for a 'storyline' for the show.

From this day forward, my own personal journey with this disease will remain private as I initially intended over a year ago ... My sincerest apologies to my family, friends, loved ones, and those who are battling this horrid disease for any additional pain and/or stress that I have caused."

In March, People reported that Brooks still maintains that he was diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2013.

Now, Vicki and Brooks have been broken up for a year, and Vicki seems to have held to her promise to Us Weekly from November 2015 where she said she would no longer speak to Brooks. Instead of getting back with him, Vicki now has a new boyfriend, Steve Chavez Lodge, representing just how far she's come since the end of Season 10. He's even a big hit with her daughter, according to Us Weekly, which should make things a lot easier if they get more serious.

Now, Vicki's relationship may be in the eleventh season of RHOC, or she may be embracing her singlehood for a while. Either way, though, it seems like Vicki has finally, completely, moved on from Brooks romantically. Who can say whether or not Vicki will be able to rekindle her friendships with her costars after years of the damage done by the relationship with Brooks, but I think this breakup, which was a long time coming, is good news for the OG from the OC.