The Real Housewives of Orange County fans got a surprise when season 18 premiered in July: the appearance of Tamra Judge’s youngest daughter, Sophie Barney.
Last seen on the Bravo series in Season 5 when she was just five years old, Sophia disappeared from the airways after Judge, 56, divorced Sophia’s father Simon Barney, who refused to sign a statement that Sophia — along with two children, Spencer, 23, and Sydney, 24 — appear on camera.
For years, Judge continued filming while Sophia and her siblings remained in the background. Only Ryan Vieth, 38, Judge’s grown son from her first marriage, would appear from time to time.
“As a mom, I felt terrible,” Judge tells PEOPLE. “I’d even say, ‘Can you just shoot them from behind walking up the stairs so people know I have kids?’ Because it was really hard for me. We’re supposed to be completely transparent on the show, and here was this whole part of me that just never I couldn’t show.”
It wasn’t easy for Sophia either. “It was frustrating to hide in the shadows,” she says. “I had to tiptoe around the cameras all the time. And watching my mom do that my whole life, it felt like something was happening in my life that I was kind of a part of, but always an outsider.”
Sophia Barney.
Tamra Judge/Instagram
When Spencer turned 18 during season 13, fans got to see him celebrate his birthday with Judge and his family on TV. And when Sophia reached her milestone this year, she showed up, too.
“As I got older, I wanted to be a part of it, so I’m happy,” she says. “It just seemed a lot easier; like I didn’t have to feel like a stranger in my own house.”
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So far, the experience of participating in reality TV has been easy for Sophia. But she’s seen the other side of reality TV firsthand, through the backlash her mother has received over the years.
“I just don’t see the Tamra Judge that everyone else sees. I see my mom,” Sophia says when asked what she thinks about the comments she reads online about her mom. “These people, they only see her on TV and that’s not the person she is. The life we have together, she’s nothing like that. So I just think they’re uneducated and the things they say on the internet, they’re the ones who look like idiots .”
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Tamra Judge on ‘Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen’.
Charles Sykes/Bravo via Gett
The two “live a very mellow life,” says Judge. “I’ve always separated that world from them. We don’t walk red carpets. We don’t have paparazzi taking pictures of us. We don’t act like a big deal at all.”
“We’re very normal,” notes Sophia. ‘We just go to HomeGoods, to the mall, to thrift stores. It’s very cold.”
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“She’s my best friend,” adds Judge. “What, I don’t think many people would understand because they haven’t seen our relationship over the years.”
Judge tells PEOPLE that she’s always tried to give all of her kids the space to be who they are. And this gave Sofia the space to express herself creatively, both in the art she creates and in the clothes she wears.
Sophia sees herself one day working in the entertainment industry in some capacity. “I make music; I produce and I sing,” she says. “And I like design and art and things like that.”
The teenager is also into vintage fashion, which she posts on her Instagram. “I never fit the Orange County mold at all,” she says. “I never cared, not even when I was younger.”
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Judge recalls the many different hair colors Sophia had over the years. “I think she did all the colors; pink, blue, whatever,” recalls the Vena CBD founder. “Her hair was brown while filming this season, then it went red towards the end of the season and now it’s back to blonde.”
“A lot of parents say, ‘No, you can’t do that.’ But I’ve always wanted my kids to express themselves the way they want to express themselves,” Judge continues. “I guess it comes from my own experience growing up, because I never listened to what other people told me; I had to learn from my own mistakes. So that’s the kind of mom I am.”
“I accept them as they are, not as I want them to be,” she adds.
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And Judge is proud of who all her children are — including Sydney, from whom she’s still estranged.
“I’ve been blessed with the best kids ever,” Judge says. “You know, I went through a very public divorce and I think they felt indirect at the time. But they’ve all grown up to be very solid, down-to-earth people who all have their values in the right place. So I consider myself very lucky.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays (9 p.m. ET) on Bravo.
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Source: HIS Education