PHOTO Gretchen Rossi is unrecognizable in new makeup-free selfie

Gretchen Rossi dared to go bare in a new selfie.

“My Happy Place at the end of the day; with my boys cuddled in bed, no makeup, ready for beauty sleep,” the former Real Housewives of Orange County star, 37, said of the picture. She added the hashtags #feelingblessed #lovemy4boys and #grateful.

Although most people who commented were supportive of makeup-free picture, Gretchen told Us Weekly that isn’t usually the reaction she gets when she ditches her artificial lashes, eyeliner and lipstick.

“I don’t post those pics very often because people are so rude and condescending, especially because I am a true blonde,” she said. “But when I get people commenting saying, ‘Thank you for being real, and for being proud of who you are with or without makeup,’ it makes dealing with any negative comments worth it. My goal is to help inspire and uplift as many women as I can to be comfortable in their own skin.”

As for what else Gretchen’s been up to since leaving RHOC in 2013, she recently said she’s focused on expanding her Gretchen Christine Collection and spending quality time with fiance Slade Smiley.

“When you’re filming full time and so caught up in the drama and the crazy, you kind of forget all the other stuff that’s really important in your life and you don’t have as much time to do all that,” she told Us Weekly last month. “So it’s been really nice to have time to focus back on things that are really important to me.”