Vicki Gunvalson admits there are many uncertainties surrounding her living situation with her boyfriend. In the latest episode of My Friend, My Soulmate, My Podcast, the former The Real Housewives of Orange County star revealed that her longtime boyfriend, Michael Smith, is about to leave California. The couple began dating nearly three years ago and started living together at Vicki's house in Coto de Caza in 2023.
“Everyone is moving away, even my boyfriend,” she told co-host Christian Gray Snow and special guest Crystal Kung Minkoff, a former The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star. Vicki confirmed that she and Michael are still together, but he has accepted a job in another state that will require him to be away from home for an extended period. “Actually, I’m in Phoenix right now. He’s a developer, and he’s working on a project that will take several years,” she explained. “But we live together in California, and he keeps going back and forth, which is difficult. Now, that’s my new normal. So, I don’t know where I’ll end up.”
Christian reassured Vicki that she would be fine while Michael is away and encouraged her to visit him on the weekends.
“You can do a year,” Crystal added.
“It might be two or three [years], depending on how many projects,” Vicki clarified. “But I’m not a weekend person. I want to be with him all the time because I don’t like evenings. I can work during the day, but the evenings are the hardest part.” In another part of the episode, Vicki revealed that she no longer has family living on the West Coast since her daughter, Briana Culberson, lives in Oklahoma and her son, Michael Wolfsmith, is preparing to head to Europe.
“I don’t have family in California,” she said during the episode. “So it’s tough when you have life situations, like when you’re sick… My son is a world traveler, and he’s ending up in Barcelona, Spain. He just got a nomadic visa.” While Vicki will certainly miss her son, she said she fully supports his world-traveling lifestyle.
“I love to travel. The world is our oyster,” she said. “I always teach my kids… it’s not just about school, but the world we need to teach our kids about — different economic structures, currencies, and lifestyles. He’s really into the food quality in Europe. He doesn’t like what’s happening in the U.S., with our food quality, so he’s really focused on that. So, good for him.”
However, in a shocking revelation during the show, Vicki also shared a dark secret that had never been mentioned before. When asked why she seemed uncertain about her future, Vicki admitted that she has been struggling with a large amount of debt that she has quietly been carrying. “That’s something I’ve never publicly shared,” Vicki admitted. “Those debts are not easy to talk about. I’ve had to work really hard to manage and maintain my life in California. Sometimes, you face financial decisions that you don’t want anyone to know about.”
This secret has shocked fans, as Vicki had always presented herself as successful and wealthy. “When you live in a city like Los Angeles, people look at you and think you have everything, but the reality is, it’s not always like that,” she added, sharing that she had to borrow from non-traditional sources to sustain her lifestyle and help her family. “And I can’t tell everything, but I have a huge debt that I’ve tried to keep hidden, just because I don’t want people to look at me that way.”
The thousands of dollars in debt have put considerable pressure on Vicki, especially with Michael about to leave and her family no longer nearby. However, she emphasized that despite the financial challenges, she is still trying to find a way to push through and maintain her life.
“Life is not always what people see on Instagram,” Vicki concluded. “Every time I think I have it all together, another shock comes. But I’ll get through it, like I always do.”
