RHOC: Tamra Judge’s ex-husband Simon Barney reveals cancer diagnosis

The former RHOC cast member was briefly on the show while married to Tamra Judge, but has stayed out of the public eye for the most part since the show.

Simon Barney appeared on The Real Housewives of Orange County during Tamra Judge’s three seasons until the pair divorced in 2011 after 13 years of marriage.  Simon told PEOPLE that he was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer and wanted to get ahead of the news.  He said, “I wanted to speak before someone else does and uses their words, not mine.”

Simon says he is going into the fight with optimism after first noticing symptoms in May.  The doctor initially thought it was just an infection but the final diagnoses was stage three cancer of the throat.  The PEOPLE article notes that the “cancer had spread into Barney’s throat, tonsils and lymph nodes.”

Tamra and Simon share three children together, Sophia (age 14), Sidney (age 21) and Spencer (age 19).  Since leaving the show, Tamra has been repeatedly saying that she’s been “privately dealing with things,” which we can assume are related to Simon’s illness now.  Simon is doing both radiation and chemotherapy to hopefully stop the spread of the cancer.  He’s going radiation five times a week and chemotherapy three times a week for a total of seven weeks of treatment.

On the bright side, the news has apparently brought the kids and their parents back together.  Tamra and Sidney have been on the outs for years but are apparently speaking again.

And all of the kids, including Ryan Vieth, have been speaking with Simon more frequently.  It sounds like in addition to an aggressive treatment plan, Simon has his whole family rallying around him for support.  Fight on, Simon.

The Real Housewives of Orange County is currently filming for Bravo.