Quinn Fry - Season 3's Newest Member - -

From the Orange County Register



Quinn Fry is a little nervous about being the new "housewife."

The San Clemente resident is the newest cast member of "The Real Housewives of Orange County," which airs Tuesdays on Bravo. Fry will make her first appearance in the Dec. 11 episode.

She says she initially thought it would be fun to be featured on the popular reality TV series, but now, she's not so sure.

"It is a really scary thing," said Fry, 52. "I'm being real cautious. I know what can lie on the editing floor. I've already seen a few little pieces, and know there's a lot of editing going on."

Fry is no stranger to media. She's an Internet marketing manager and managing editor of an Orange County-based entertainment Web site. She also appeared as an on-air personality on Cox Communications' cable program, "OC Lifestyle."

When she was younger, she modeled in Northern California for newspaper ads, television and fashion shows.

In episode 6 of "Real Housewives," she is portrayed as something of a "cougar" – an older woman who dates younger men. She is simultaneously dating a 40-year-old named Billy and a 26-year-old named Jared.

"I generally date younger men," she says on the episode. "I haven't been called a cougar because I don't think they think I'm a cougar … they think I'm closer to their age."

"I don't think I'm a cougar, no," she said during a recent interview with the Register. "I think of a cougar as an older woman, going after, prowling for younger men. Some people that approach me, I don't even know what age they are. I'm not an aggressor at all."

Pamela Quinn Fry was born in 1955 in Fort Knox, Ky., where her father was stationed in the military. She moved to Orange County when she was a baby. Her mother was homecoming queen at Garden Grove High School and her father attended Santa Ana High School.

Fry moved to Arcata in Northern California when she was a teenager. She met her first husband there when she was 15 and married him after five years of dating. They had a daughter, Shannon, who now lives in Eureka. The couple divorced, and Fry moved back to Orange County.

She met another man here, a West Point graduate, and married him. They had a son, Colin, and then divorced. She has been a divorcée for about 14 years, according to Bravo.

"Sometimes people give up too soon on a marriage," she said. "What I learned from that is, I should have stuck it out. I just gave up too soon. That relationship shouldn't have ended."

She said she's still "extremely great friends" with Colin's father and the two have intertwined families and celebrate Christmas together.

Back in April, Fry saw a large ad in the newspaper for "Real Housewives" auditions and decided to try out.

"I saw the show twice last season. I was a little angry at how they portrayed Orange County women. I have such great friends here. They're strong, wonderful, generous, caring women. They happen to be pretty. But they're beautiful on the inside."

So she allowed the cameras to follow her and document her life. They shot dozens of hours of her during the summer – four to five months ago and 20 pounds ago, she said.

"I don't have that much to hide. I don't think I'm that much different than women out there dating right now. …I'm a normal woman that is just looking for somebody to love me, really."

In the Dec. 11 episode, the other housewives meet her at a Mission Viejo restaurant. They immediately launch into personal questions, such as her age and who her plastic surgeon is.

"I was nervous. I hadn't met them. … I wasn't ready for their cattiness. Women that I know wouldn't right off the bat say, 'How old are you?' I wasn't pleased with that night, the whole evening. It didn't go as expected."

Fry has also been a little surprised by all the negativity about the show on Internet message boards and blogs.

"Orange County has such strong negative opinions about the show," she said. "I read the blogs and the message boards – there's such strong negative opinions out there. They put you in a mold, in a category so fast it makes your head spin."

Fry says she and her family have strong connections to Orange County. She wants to portray a different side of her home county and how much it has to offer.

"I really would never do anything on purpose to hurt the opinions of people in Orange County, or have people draw any negative conclusions. I never want to portray this town in a negative way."