Category: Jen Shah

Season 4 of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City came to a close with Part 3 of the reunion where Heather Gay opened up about Jen Shah giving her the infamous black eye.

The 49-year-old Heather revealed during the RHOSLC Season 4 finale in Bermuda that Shah was the one who gave her the black eye.

Tuesday’s Part 3 of the reunion showed brand new footage from the morning after the black eye – though there still is no footage of the black eye happening, as Gay told Shah that she would cover for her.

The reunion also featured Monica Garcia – who it was reported just hours before Part 3 that she was leaving the show – opening up about being a part of the troll account Reality Von (Tea)se, which she claimed was started to expose Jen Shah, who is currently serving six and a half years on a conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge.

Host Andy Cohen said Heather, ‘shocked the world’ when she said during the finale that Shah gave her the black eye, but when Heather was asked how it happened, those details are still a bit fuzzy.

‘I mean, honestly, it was a lot of drinking. And the next morning, I woke up with the black eye. I knew I’d gotten it from Jen. I didn’t know how, but I knew I’d gotten it from Jen,’ Heather admitted.

‘She was the first person I texted. She came in the room. She said, “Did I give that to you?” And I said, “Don’t worry. I’ll cover,’ Heather admitted, as Andy asked why she wanted to cover for her.

‘I don’t know. I was scared of her, I think. I had been covering for her for three years. I was not gonna stop with the black eye. I was that in, and I was too scared to say anything. I was terrified to say it. I was still scared to say it at reunion. I was still scared to say it in Bermuda, but as I sat there, watching this happen again, I realized that, like, I was contributing, kind of,’ Heather said.

Andy added that they had brand new footage to share, with a title card stating that, ‘Security footage from Heather’s room was reviewed immediately. The audio was unintelligible.’

‘At the time, Jen and Heather both said they were discussing a different topic. Heather now claims this footage shows them discussing the black eye,’ a second title card read.

Jen is seen entering Heather’s room in San Diego in April 2022 and sitting down on he couch, as Jen is heard saying something that Heather says is, ‘Thanks for letting me borrow this.’

Heather then explains that Jen says of the black eye, ‘I did that to you? I can’t believe I did that to you.’

Heather says she told Jen, ‘Don’t worry about it. I got you,’ adding, ‘She was upset. We were both upset.’

Host Andy Cohen adds, ‘Well, Heather, Jen has continued to deny she gave you the black eye,’ as Heather starts apologizing to everyone.

‘Let me just start by saying I’m sorry. I’m sorry to you. I’m sorry to…you guys,’ she says of her fellow cast, her voice starting to break.

‘I’m sorry to the network. I’m sorry to the audience. I didn’t know how to navigate it myself. I knew that it was becoming bigger and more than I could handle. It was a horrible situation, and I have lived through this, and I knew the relentlessness of what would come, and I lived a lot of that from it. A lot of Reality Von (tea)se was fixated on the black eye. And I… I don’t know how to say other than, like, I was scared, and I did what I always do. I deflected with humor. It was in poor taste. It was horrible,’ Heather said, as Andy added, ‘I don’t know that it was humor.’ 

Andy added that she probably ‘started freaking out’ when lawyers became involved,’ and she admitted she did.

‘I started freaking out because I didn’t have that– all I had was that she had told me she had done it and that I said I’d cover for her,’ Heather said, as they show footage of Heather talking to Jen about a cover story, where Jen suggested, ‘a spider laid eggs in your eyeball. Or you might have poison in your eye.’

Heather added, ‘I couldn’t say how it happened,’ as Andy added, ‘You went as far as to lie on your book tour and say you thought you fell into a bedroom cabinet. At another book tour stop, you said someone may have broken into the house and hit you, but production edited it out because of a non-disparagement clause between the rental company and production,’ as Heather started laughing, but Andy took her to task.

‘I have to say, it’s not funny to accuse the producers or the production company of covering up a crime and an assault,’ Andy said.

Heather responde, ‘It’s not, and there was… It’s not funny. And that’s why I led with I’m sorry. I would have never have come clean if I didn’t… If this hadn’t happened. You know what I mean?’ as her voice started to crack.

She added, ‘I took a lot of hits for the black eye,’ from the fans, adding, ‘I mean, I didn’t go on social media for six months, and I was too scared to accuse or say anything otherwise. I’m still scared. I don’t even wanna have to do it now. 

Andy asked, ‘Is the grace that you are… Asking of everyone now the same grace that should be given to her?’

‘I can’t answer that question because the way that I handled it was to internalize and to–to– and I’m not gonna–it’s not noble,’ as Andy added, ‘Well, but you did… you accused production, which is not internalizing it.’

Heather added, ‘I mean, I didn’t make an accusation. I said it could have been– I mean, it was a joke. I said a good-looking producer, you know, like, we made jokes about rough sex. It was like, it was clearly in absurd humor, and it wasn’t posted online. It wasn’t perpetuated. It was not like that, Andy. It wasn’t. But to take it on myself and to repress it and make it my responsibility, I was the victim, but I was also supposed to be the person that, like, told on her, and I didn’t have the capacity to do that.’

Andy added, ‘Look, you lied to production, Bravo, and even at one point said that maybe a producer had done it to you, which is very serious because it puts people’s reputations and jobs at risk. Did you ever go to her and say this is getting bigger than…

Heather said, ‘Yeah, we talked about it a lot. She said, “Unless they can show us the footage, we deny.”‘

Andy asked if Jen ever thanked her for covering for her and Heather admitted, ‘No. Jen Shah? She was never my friend. She pretended to be my friend, and I fell for it. And I will not fall for a pretend friend again.’

‘I was a different person then, and I was worried about the retaliation. I’m still worried about the retaliation. But there’s been some distance. There’s enough distance now, but it’s more than that. I was a different person when I started the show, and the person that would eat that s**t then is not gonna do it now. And it–it was a really pivotal moment for me in Bermuda. I was sitting there. I kind of thought… That you would say… “The gig is up. I’m sorry, and I-I wanted to be here so badly that I did all of this,” but you didn’t. You spun it. You deflected. And as I sat there thinking like, this is familiar to me, I’ve been there before, and I, in fact, defended this behavior, and I’m not gonna do it again. I never want to revisit this type of toxicity. And if this is part of the job, then maybe… It shouldn’t be part of the job.’

One of the other big revelations of the reunion was that Monica Garcia finally fessed up to being a part of the internet troll account Reality Von (tea)se.

When asked directly by Andy if she was posting to that account, she said, ‘I am part of the page. Yes. I did not set up the account. I didn’t name the account or open the accounts.

She admitted to posting under the account but clarified, ‘not all of them,’ adding the site started in 2021 when the show was on the air, but after her time working for Jen Shah.

‘I don’t know if I had given my evidence yet,’ she said, but when Andy asked if she had given her statement against Shah she said yes. 

When asked what the ‘point’ of the site was, Monica said, ‘It was to expose Jen. It was to expose the truth of how she was treating her employees, and that’s what it was.’

When Andy asked about the posts about other RHOSLC stars, Monica said, ‘I don’t feel like that page was made for talking s**t on these ladies. I honestly feel like that page did not come for any of them.’

Andy asked Heather if she had, ‘documentation of things that were posted by this account’ that hurt her and she said, ‘Yeah, absolutly. They’re still up.’

Heather added that one of the posts was a quote from Jen Shah that called Heather, ‘a tranny twin’ and a ‘manatee’ though Monica said she was just posting what Jen Shah had said about Heather, insisting, ‘We were sticking up in your defense.’

An argument between Monica and Heather ensued as Monica insisted, ‘It wasn’t a lie. It was Jen calling you an awful name. We were trying to expose how abusive she was to you. Do you not understand that?’

Heather insisted, ‘You are not a hero in this, Monica. You are not a hero,’ as Monica insisted, ‘I’m fine being the villain in your story, Heather, ’cause you’re the clowns in mine.’

They showed more examples of hurtful posts like, ‘Y’all’s grandma is still pretending she can get a black D,’ but Monica insisted she didn’t write that one, adding, ‘That doesn’t even sound like me,’ but Heather said, ‘It sounds exactly like you.’

Monica added, ‘That’s because we wanted you guys to see. I’m not denying any of that,’ though Lisa Harlow said, ‘But it’s literally so deceptive to not know that it was you trying to engage.’

Lisa insisted that Monica is a bully and doesn’t deserve a platform when Monica pulled out a Burn Book, which upset all of the other ladies. 

She showed the Burn Book to Andy, but he didn’t quite get the point of putting the book together.  

‘It sounds like in trying to expose Jen, what you did was hurt all of them,’ Andy said, but Monica insisted, ‘That was not the intention. 

Andy added, ‘If Jen called her that, and you guys posted it, then what you’re doing is perpetuating something mean about her,’ asking how it’s helpful.’

Monica tried to explain, ‘I literally just said that I see how that hurt you, but I’m telling you that,’ but when they said they don’t get it, Monica adds, ‘You guys aren’t listening,’ but Andy says, ‘Well, they are.’ 

Monica insists, ‘We were trying to get out how awful she was. I am sorry that that ended up hurting you.’

Andy added, ‘I gotta tell you something. I’m kind of amazed that you’re so surprised that they’re pissed off by this.’

Monica said, ‘I really am. Because they were such big fans of the page,’ adding they all were, but none of them said they were. 

Andy asked if they posted positive things about the women and Monica said, ‘We did post positive things about the women. We did try and support them. We did say nice things,’ but Heather scoffed at that notion.

‘Because it’s one out of 10,000. You’re not a hero,’ Heather said, as Lisa added, ‘Based on the things she wrote, she did not like any of us. So, why do you wanna be our friend? Why do you wanna be here with us? Because based on everything you wrote, you f***ing hate us. 

Andy asked, ‘Do you wanna be their friends, or do you wanna be on the show?’ Monica responded, ‘I think both can be true, to be completely honest. I genuinely feel bad because, truly,’ but Heather added, ‘I don’t think you do, but that’s fine.

Monica yelled, ‘What is wrong with me wanting to sit on this couch?! You don’t think I belong here, right? Because that is what you have– you have said several times,’ she said to Lisa, and while Lisa said she has never said that, they showed video of her doing so.

Andy adds, ‘Her plotting to get on the show is not a crime,’ though Lisa adds, ‘That’s not a crime. You going against all of us is the crime. If you were so noble in your actions, then why didn’t she tell us all to begin with? Why didn’t she say, “I had your backs. I’m here for you guys. I love you guys”? You didn’t lead with that. You got busted and you f***ing had to cover your ass.’

Monica insisted, ‘I did not get busted. I knew from the jump that this was gonna come out,’ but Andy asked if she knew, why not lead with it?

‘Because when we made this page, we said to the grave, and it wasn’t just me. There were other people involved,’ Monica said.

Lisa alleged that she got all the leaked videos she used, ‘because she logged into their security system and was watching them for months. You logged into Jen and Sharrieff’s security system.’

Monica insisted, ‘I didn’t log in. It was mine,’ adding that Jen, ‘asked me to put it in my name, yes.’

Andy asked, ‘You had ability to watch Jen in her home and hear what she was saying, is what you’re saying,’ and Monica said, ‘If I wanted to, yeah.’

Another argument ensued as Monica yelled, ‘But the fact that you’re– you’re more mad at me for recording Jen throwing s**t at human beings than you are mad at Jen for doing it?! Do you hear yourself?! That’s psychotic! That’s psychotic. That’s psychotic.’

Andy adds that Lisa accused Monica of ‘stalking’ Jen because she drove by her house a lot, and another shouting match ensued. 

Heather showed a video of Monica driving by her house, adding that she has ‘probably 20’ other videos. 

They showed footage from some of the other videos, and when Andy asked what she was hoping to find, Heather insisted, ‘She wanted to get on the show, Andy,’ but Monica insisted it was about Jen.

‘This was about Jen! Do you understand that?!’ and Monica insisted that the FBI asked her to drive by her house, adding, ‘Yeah, and she also owed us money.’

When asked what they were hoping to find, Monica said, ‘Catching her driving and drinking,’ as Monica added, ‘She was being watched by several people.’

Andy seemingly had a hard time believing that as Monica added, ‘They said any evidence I have that she’s drinking and driving,’ which the others thought was funny.

‘You guys are a**holes. This is why there’s a Burn Book,’ Monica insisted, but they kept laughing when she tried to clarify.

When asked why she kept driving by Jen’s house, Monica said, ‘I mean, well, we were curious, and also we were keeping an eye to see if she was gonna drink and drive, because that would be violating her probation.’

Angie Katsanveas joked, ‘Were you gonna put a light on and pull her over and then give her a breathalyzer?’

Monica added, ‘You call the police when you see her driving drunk,’ as Monica snapped, ‘Why are you coming at me?! Why are you defending a criminal?!’

Andy asked, ‘If she was driving by her former employer’s, who was up to no good in the hope of…catching her or adding more evidence, why do you care? She wasn’t driving by your houses. If she never stalked you guys, why do you care if she drove by Jen’s house? Like, what do you care?’

Heather adds, ‘The capability it would take for a human being to befriend someone as a fan, to beg to work for them, to then to get the chance to work for them… then to infiltrate their lives, to become their assistant, to install cameras in their home, to watch their security footage, to take every opportunity to take that, then post it and then spread it on social media, that raises a few alarm flags for me and makes me think I don’t necessarily want to be their friend. Because if she did that to Jen, she will do it me. And she, in fact, has. So, to hire someone that contributed that and profited off of it and then lied about it and then sat here with a Burn Book…’

Heather said this ‘ruined’ her experience of being a housewife, adding, ‘Every Housewife on every franchise would say, the only hard part about this job is the trolls on social media. That are relentless about ourselves and about our families, about our businesses, and if you could eliminate that or at least create a gap or at least hold someone accountable, it would change the experience for all of us. And you would get higher caliber women willing to expose their lives on television.’

Monica added, ‘”Higher caliber women.” So, someone like me doesn’t belong here? That’s exactly what I’m saying.’

Lisa added, ‘You guys brought her on knowing that she wanted to f***ing take every single one of us out, and nobody gives a f**k.

Lisa adds that Monica said someone in production knew that she ran Reality Von (tea)se, stating, ‘The first time I interviewed, I talked about it in my home with production, that this was their plan.’

An incredulous Andy said, ‘You told them in casting? If you said, “I run a burner account,” we wouldn’t have cast you.

The reunion began with a number of clips including one of Meredith Marks churning butter during one of the retreats, and some of the Housewives doing impressions of the others.

Lisa also spoke about having ‘glam’ every day and having a makeup artist on retainr, adding the last time she did her own makeup was,’ probably 2019.’

‘Like, I told John, I’m like, I’m gonna die with glam and draped in diamonds. Those are my…things,’ Lisa said.

Mary Cosby clarified that she was not body shaming Heather, adding, ‘I was not body shaming her at all. That didn’t even come to my mind. That was not my point. I have no reason to do that. And I think she looks really good, especially today. I guess she shamed me, ’cause she looks great.’

When Andy asked Mary about her ‘future’ with the group, she added, ‘I’m just gonna continue being me, and if people are willing to open up and accept me in the–in this group as a group, maybe I would. But as long as that… That push out, like, like Whitney acts like she’s terrified of me, which she’s not. She’s always got something to say.’

Whitney Rose admitted, ‘I was always in the beginning scared of disappointing you because I actually was… So, the fear that you were feeling isn’t fear, ’cause I’m not scared of you. I was always scared of upsetting you or disappointing you.’

Mary asked, ‘Why? How is that whatever developed into a friendship?’ Whitney admitted, ‘Because what comes out of your mouth after.’

Mary added, ‘What do you mean what comes out of my mouth after? -That means you don’t know me.

Meredith added she had some ‘words’ with Mary and they squashed their beef quickly, adding, ‘So, maybe I can give you guys some lessons on how to navigate Mary.’

They also discussed the rumors that Angie was part of the Greek Mafia, which Monica seemingly started on camera first.

Meredith says, ‘I got a dm that was– was predominantly, like, a variety of financial records that all tied back to things that Monica had told me coming back from Palm Springs about Angie that I didn’t know about prior to that.’

Andy asked Monica if she had anything to do with the DM about Angie’s finances, as Monica said, ‘No, but I would admit that.’

Meredith says, ‘You told me you had evidence of everything you told me on the plane to Palm Springs,’ but Monica disagrees. 

Monica admits she did not talk to anyone else about the conversation she had with Meredith, as Monica admitted that she got the same DM from the same account. 

Angie says, ‘I just really need everyone to be respectful for a minute, because this is my business, and it’s really important that I have the opportunity to address this. Um, basically, what they are accusing me of is being a schemer and being a fraud. And I’ve been working for 30 years. I’m self-made. This takes away from my credibility. It’s reckless to my business, and it feels like it was a takedown, like they wanted to ruin me as a business owner.’

When Andy asks, ‘Who’s they?’ as Angie says she doesn’t know, admitting that, ‘Monica has been pretending to be my friend and betrayed me the minute that she could.’

Andy said, ‘You can’t bring something out in front of the cameras, like the gay rumors and the thing, and then say, “I didn’t say it, I didn’t say it,” because it’s you saying it.’

Andy said, ‘But you’re bringing it to life on worldwide television,’ before another shouting match ensued.

Towards the end of the reunion, Andy said of Jen Shah, ‘I’m so surprised that we are all this time later still cleaning up the mess of this person who really had such a chokehold on everybody. If she’s watching this, you would say what to her?’

Heather says, ‘I would say… I’m no longer your b***h. And… I regret believing in you. I regret turning on my– all of you… [Sniffles] In her defense. I regret fighting her fight. I regret… Disrespecting my children and my family and my opportunity here. And I would say I’m glad that you’re in prison ’cause I might not have had the guts to do it otherwise.’

Andy added ‘Listen, the theme here seems to be that Jen has made people do things that are not maybe characteristic of who you really are. So, is there any grace there to be given to Monica at all?’ 

Heather said, ‘I appreciate what you said, Monica, and I think that you’re right. But the way that you handled it, and the way that it affected me and the way that you came in today, it hurt me more, and it didn’t resolve anything for me. It made it clearer to me and more real to me about my own boundaries and how far I’ve come. I mean, that collectively, how far we’ve all come, because this is the best season we’ve ever had. We enjoyed each other so much. We enjoyed every minute of it.’

Andy added, ‘So, knowing all those good things that have happened, is it too insurmountable for you guys to move on as a group? I guess that’s the question. We may not answer it today. You all may need a little bit of time.’

Whitney said, ‘I have to be very careful and protect boundaries that I’ve put up with relationships that are not safe in my life. And there has to be a clear line of trust for me to be able to move forward. And right now… I think I’m even more confused leaving the reunion. So, I don’t trust Monica, and I don’t trust my ability. Like, I have–I can’t put myself in that situation right now. So, I don’t have a strong answer for you other than no. That’s all I–the only word I can say, and I’m sorry I can’t give you a better answer. This whole thing is triggering for me and what I’ve been through personally in my life, and I tend to say the wrong things at the wrong time. So, my answer is just no.’

Andy asked if Monica could have said anything to make this ok, but none of them agreed there was anything she could have said. 

Andy gave Monica one last chance to say her piece, and she says, ‘I mean, I think there’s a ton that’s been misunderstood, but…’ and when Andy asked if she wanted to say anything else she just said, ‘No.’

Just hours before the reunion, it was revealed that Monica was leaving the show after just one season.