Real Housewives of Orange County: Lydia McLaughlin Tells Off Slade Smiley After Weight Jab

Wallflower, peacemaker, peripheral player …

New cast member Lydia McLaughlin has been all of the above on this season's edition of The Real Housewives of Orange County, but on Monday, the Dana Point, Calif. native finally got into the spirit of things, getting into heated words with Gretchen Rossi and her beau Slade Smiley, after Slade made one too many snide remarks.

The confrontation came after Slade — no stranger to snark — clandestinely nicknamed Lydia "cheeseburger," the joke being that the thin housewife never eats to maintain her wiry frame.

Lydia confronted Slade and Gretchen about his less-than-endearing habit, telling him, "I felt like it wasn't a joke, and it was not like you were making it directly at me, you were whispering it to Gretchen, so that made me feel bad."

Lydia then pointed out that Slade's side barbs have often left psychological scars on their targets that resulted in plastic surgery -- specifically, in Vicki Gunvalson's case, after he called her "Miss Piggy,' after which she got a nose job.

"Exactly, I'm so influential," Slade shot back, denying he was responsible for any of Vicki's frequent trips under the knife.

After a few more unpleasantries, Gretchen jumped in and defended her man, telling Lydia, "I really want to be friends with you and cool with you … but now you're starting to upset me."

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In an off-camera interview, Lydia, a mother-of-two, called out Slade again, saying he should learn how to treat women properly, before jabbing at Gretchen on the back end.