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Vicki Gunvalson's Brother Bill Steinmetz Says He's "Astonished" by Brooks Ayers' Lies

RHOC star's sibling talks to E! News about the cancer treatment controversy

By Beth Sobol, Francesca Bacardi Nov 12, 2015 5:21 PMTags
Brooks Ayers, Vicki Gunvalson, Billy Steinmetz, William SteinmetzBrian To/FilmMagic; Bravo

Even Vicki Gunvalson's brother, Bill Steinmetz, is shocked by Brooks Ayers' lies.

While the fallout of Ayers' cancer treatment scandal continues to unfold, Steinmetz tells E! News exclusively that he couldn't believe what was happening, even though there were "red flags" popping up.

"I'm astonished. I'm floored that he would bring paperwork with him that's false," he tells us. "I don't understand the thought process."

Lies aside, Steinmetz admits that he and Ayers had a relatively good relationship given the limited amount of time he spent with his sister's now-ex-boyfriend. Looking back now, however, he believes he was duped just like many of Gunvalson's Real Housewives of Orange County co-stars.

"I was with him maybe 10 times and they were mostly on vacation or when I would go out to visit my family in California. Brooks and I had a good time together. We were both into sports and football," he explains.

Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

"I had no reason to believe he didn't have cancer. I believe my sister and whatever she told me, I believed it," he continues.

His close relationship with Vicki and is faith in her, he says, allowed him to trust the situation and even caused him to defend Ayers. But that has since changed.

"I was the only one who had his back during the duration of the relationship because Vicki was telling me all these good things about him," he reveals. "Now I think I've been conned."

Steinmentz, who owns Stateline Construction, Inc. and Snap Fitness in Mundelein, Illinois, also tells us that other members of his family did not believe Ayers' story from the get-go but were encouraged to support Vicki in any way they could.

"The other side of my family—my other sisters and my niece—didn't believe anything," he says. "My mother didn't at first but then after a while, she was like, 'Whatever makes Vicki happy, you guys just have to accept it.'"

In the meantime, Steinmetz is trying to make sure his sister is getting through the controversy, despite the fact that she has also been caught lying about Ayers' situation. "Vicki's doing ok. We talk every day. She doesn't know what to believe," he says.

"Once she fully believes he completely lied and was trying to take her money, then she'll wake up. She may push things under the rug, though, because she doesn't want to believe it."

Even though Ayers lied about his cancer treatment, a source told E! News that Gunvalson is "absolutely still in love" with him, but Steinmetz believes their relationship is over for good.

"I think they're probably done because of all the lies. I'm glad that its' over," he admits. "I didn't really understand why he picked up and went to another coast. That was a red flag. Supposedly he had a job in Orlando and now he doesn't."

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)