I’ll be honest: I didn’t have Gretchen Rossi returning to the Real Housewives of Orange County on my 2025 Bravo bingo card. But here we are, getting ready for the comeback of all comebacks. Gretchen was an interesting Bravoleb as she was not only drop-dead gorgeous, but someone wrangled a known playboy that no other Real Housewives star could bridle. Slade Smiley had quite the reputation for dating multiple housewives, but when he met Gretchen, everything changed.
Slade Smiley and Gretchen Rossi met behind the gilded gates
It came as a total surprise to viewers of the Real Housewives of Orange County when Gretchen showed up with Slade on her arm during Season 5. Slade had previously been linked to Jo De La Rosa and Lauri Peterson. Gretchen first came onto the series engaged to Jeff Beitzel, but sadly, he lost his battle with cancer in 2008. Their relationship gained a lot of traction due to the 24-year age difference. Just a year after her fiance’s death, Gretchen revealed in 2009 that she started dating Slade.
By 2012, the couple were out of their love bubble and dealing with some real-life issues. Slade had been accused of not paying child support by his ex-wife. Three years into their relationship Gretchen was starting to question if Slade was the right man for her. During a Season 7 episode, she told cameras, “I love Slade dearly, and I’m beyond supportive of everything he does, and when I met him, I fell in love with him, not his bank account.” Slade was arguing about his monthly child support. A court eventually ruled in his favor and lowered his monthly child support to $775.00. The small win seemed to satisfy Gretchen, too.
Gretchen Rossi popped the question
In 2013, the Gretchen Christine handbag owner decided to take matters into her own hands and propose to Slade. The father had planned on proposing to Gretchen back in Season 5 but took his sweet time, leaving the purse designer no choice but to take issues into her own hands. Gretchen chose to extravagantly fly Slade through downtown Los Angeles by helicopter to a rooftop where she was standing all in white. As Slade landed on the helipad, he quickly figured out he was not just attending another party. While the move was gutsy, some of the entertainment was a bit cringey.
Gretchen chose to write and sing an original song which she dedicated to her life partner. Even though The Time is Now single didn’t fly to number one on the Billboard charts, Slade was impressed enough to say yes. During the 2013 Real Housewives of Orange County episode, Gretchen shared, “What matters to me more than anything is you, and that I love you. You are the person I want to be with for the rest of my life, and I was allowing my past to get in the way of my future … And you are my future.” Naturally, Slade accepted, replying, “It would be an honor and a privilege to have you be my wife.”
Gretchen Rossi and Slade Smiley still aren’t married
The duo had planned a wedding for 2015, but the day came and went. On their supposed wedding day, Gretchen took to Instagram to share a photo of the couple out at dinner. At the time, she wrote, “Despite your busy schedules, always make time for date night to reconnect and laugh together.” In 2016, Slade had a vasectomy reversal, and in 2018, the couple announced they were trying IVF as they wanted to start a family. In December of the same year, Gretchen revealed she was pregnant. And by 2019, the couple were celebrating ten years together and the birth of their daughter, Skylar Grey.
Still going strong, Gretchen and Slade still have yet to tie the knot. The RHOC star told Scheana Shay Honestly, “It’s really just been the timing of everything. I started trying to have a baby, and that was so much money just doing the whole IVF thing and all that for four and a half years. And then, after we had the baby, we were just busy being parents.” But Gretchen still wants that white wedding. She added, “I’m not the kind of girl that’s like, ‘Let’s go down to the courthouse and get married.’ I want the wedding … I want to have more of the big hoopla.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County is available to stream on Peacock.
