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Peggy Tanous: My Life After the Real Housewives

After beating postpartum depression, the RHOC alum embraced motherhood and released a fitness DVD.

By Marisa Laudadio Apr 16, 2014, 1:34 PM ET

What happens to our Real Housewives once they've left a franchise? Each week, we're looking into the lives of past cast members after their exits. This week, former The Real Housewives of Orange County star Peggy Tanous.

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She was a regular cast member for just one season, but Peggy Tanous isn't a Housewife who's easily forgotten. When she joined the cast of The Real housewives of Orange County in 2011, Peggy was a former model-turned wife and mother who brought a holistic, healthy leaning approach to her glamorous Southern California lifestyle.

Fans will remember that Peggy, who recently celebrated her eighth wedding anniversary with husband Micah, spoke openly about her struggle with postpartum depression during her time on the show—before her famous falling out with another Housewife, Alexis Bellino. (Adding fuel to the fire: Peggy dated Alexis's husband Jim Bellino in the '90s before he wed Alexis.) But exiting RHOC, Peggy has said, was something she felt she had to do. "I think leaving the show did alleviate a lot of my anxiety and prevent even stronger anxiety if I continued on with Season 7," she told WetPaint.

It wasn't an easy decision. "Right after I walked away, I did question if I had made the right choice, and I thought maybe I should have stayed another year," Peggy told Modern Mom. "I’m happy that I was on the show, and I'm also happy I left. It was good to jump in the water and then jump out," she added, "before it got too shark-ridden."

Soon after leaving RHOC, Peggy started posting a series of video interviews with local health, beauty and fashion personalities on her YouTube channel, "so I can connect with my fans," she explained. She's also working on a book, she's said, about "trying to balance being a mother, a wife, a friend, and doing it all with postpartum."

Although her book has not yet been released, Peggy finally put out a different passion project in late 2013: a fitness DVD called Peggy Tanous Total Body Workout With Your Toddler, which is available via her website. "This isn't another generic celebrity workout DVD. It has a very creative and unique spin to it—and one of its target audiences is moms," Peggy, whose 5-year-old daughter London costars (her youngest daughter Capri is 3), told Modern Mom. "It's an upbeat, 30-minute total body workout that enables busy on-the-go moms to work all parts of their body in a very easy, fun and healthy way."

In recent weeks, Peggy has been teasing a new show via her very active Twitter feed—but she's keeping the details quiet, except to share that it will "start filming this summer!" Still, she insists, nothing can compares to being a mom. "My daughters' happiest moments are when we're at home, cuddled up on the couch with a blanket, and reading or watching a movie," she told Modern Mom. "As a person who is always going, going, going, I'm learning to like having 'stop days' and embrace the art of doing nothing."

Would you want to see Peggy Tanous pop her head in for a visit on RHOC? Tell us in the comments.