“RHOC”’s Tamra Judge Opens Up About Her Recent Emotional Reunion with Estranged Daughter Sidney

Tamra Judge may be making amends with her estranged daughter.

On the season 19 reunion of Real Housewives of Orange County, Judge got emotional as she shared that she recently reunited with her estranged daughter, Sidney Barney, 26. The reality TV star shares her kids, Sidney, Spencer and Sophia with ex-husband Simon Barney. She is also mom to son Ryan from a previous relationship.

“She came to the house, and she was going to lunch with Sophia, and I went outside and we hugged,” Judge said while holding back tears. “We talked about life for about 30 minutes, and she’s very sweet.”

“Then she said, ‘Mom, can I hug you goodbye?’ And she hugged me, and I just held onto her for so long, and I just said, ‘I can’t let you go. I just can’t let you go,’ ” Judge said. “It was just a really, really special moment. She’s coming around.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.  

Judge has been working to rebuild her strained relationship with Sidney for years. The pair’s relationship fell apart soon after Judge and Sidney’s father Simon divorced in 2011. Their contentious divorce sparked a custody battle, and in the years that followed, Judge and Sidney stopped communicating entirely, as did Simon and son Spencer.

Though Judge and Simon were legally granted equal custody of their three children upon their split, Judge relinquished custody of Sidney to Simon after their daughter opted to live with him full time.

Judge and Sidney appeared to be on the road to fixing things back in 2017 after the two reunited at Sidney’s high-school graduation. However, months later in August, Sidney called out her mom in a lengthy rant on Facebook and criticized her for, among other things, making their reunion public, even though she said she asked her not to.

“Not even two weeks after I graduated she posted a photo of me and shared it with her one million followers knowing that it would get picked up by the press,” Sidney wrote in the post.

She added, “The one thing I asked and have been asking for 4 years now has been to not talk about me because I don’t want to be in the spotlight.”

Then in 2020, Judge said her ex-husband’s diagnosis of stage 3 throat cancer had brought the family closer together and changed everyone’s perspective. Both exes said that everyone was now speaking again, while Simon said his contact with Judge’s son Ryan had increased.

“The kids were split after the divorce and chose sides but, at the end of the day, none of that matters,” Judge told PEOPLE at the time. “All we have to do is rally together to make it through this.”

After she was fired from RHOC in 2020 ahead of its 15th season, Judge returned to the show in season 17 after a three-year absence. In 2023, Judge told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that her relationship with her estranged daughter was “good.”

Asked how her relationship with Sidney is, Judge said, “Good. I actually saw her at Sophia’s graduation and things were nice.”