Real Housewives of Orange County's Tamra Judge Shares She’s on Autism Spectrum

Tamra Judge is learning more about herself.

The Real Housewives of Orange County star shared that she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder during her first therapy session.

"I am on the spectrum," an emotional Tamra said during the Oct. 15 episode of her and Teddi Mellencamp's Two Ts In A Pod podcast. "We're trying to work through that. I have a really hard time processing stuff. I have a lot of sensory issues—sound, light, touch."

She noted that her diagnosis helped her understand why she felt and behaved the way she did during different times in her life.

"I'm a person that just thought that things were black and white," the 57-year-old admitted. "I grew up with a family that didn't have a lot of empathy or love, so I just transpired that into my adult life. But after talking and going through everything and my emotions, I have a hard time with empathy and feeling other people's feelings."

Teddi emphasized that she doesn't believe Tamra lacks empathy. "You're just seeing things in a certain way," she added. "That's how you're responding to them."

Tamra, who has been on the Bravo show since 2007, also reflected on her unhealthy coping mechanisms when tensions were high onscreen.

"How I make it through the show is drinking," she explained. "I'll drink and then all this suppressed s--t that's going on within me comes out because my guard is down."

Often, an autism diagnosis makes other experiences in life make far more sense. Tullulah Willis shared earlier this year that she didn't learn she was autistic until well into her adult life, which is a common occurrence for women.

"This is the first time I've ever publicly shared my diagnosis," the youngest daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis shared on Instagram in March. "Found out this summer and it's changed my life."

Meanwhile, Holly Madison was also diagnosed later in life at 43, even though she had long suspected something was different about her.

"I've been suspicious of it for a while because my mom told me that she was always suspicious that that was a thing," she said on the Talking to Death podcast in December. "I always had trouble socially, not recognizing social cues, not picking up on things the same way other people did."

"But I just made excuses for it," the Girls Next Door alum said. "I thought it was because I grew up in Alaska, and then around middle school, moved to Oregon and I thought, 'Well, that was just a big social change.' So I'm just very introverted. Like, that's always how I wrote it off. But I went and got diagnosed earlier this year, so now I know."

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