Jen and Sharrieff Shah were not present for the Season 3 reunion/season finale of “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” but their presence hung over the program and dominated much of the discussion.
The women talk about why Jen suddenly pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges, speculating that she did it to protect her husband, an assistant football coach at the University of Utah. And none of them has heard Jen express any remorse for her crimes.
For more juicy details, read the full recap.
Jen’s guilty plea
Heather Gay theorizes that because Jen “got arrested on camera … it was hard for her to realize that these charges were not just part of the show.”
Whitney Rose interjects, “In some way, she almost became, like, idolized because of it.”
Lisa Barlow adds, “It fed her ego a little bit. Not a little bit, a lot.”
Has Jen showed any remorse or sympathy for her victims? All four Housewives say no.
Casting shade on Sharrieff
Whitney says that Sharrieff is a “lovely person,” but she questions whether he’s “too good to be true.” She, Lisa and Heather all speculate (without evidence) that Jen pleaded guilty to protect her husband.
Heather says she thinks Jen’s decision to change her plea to guilty was “financial,” because it was “not worth rolling the dice because it’s going to be so expensive.”
Jen’s defense fund
Heather says the Shahs solicited their friends for money for Jen’s legal bills. Lisa, Heather, Meredith and Whitney did not contribute; but Angie Harrington — who Jen fought with repeatedly during Season 3 — did.
Andy vs. Meredith
Host/executive producer Andy Cohen pushes Meredith hard about why she flipped from being Jen’s biggest detractor in Season 2 to her biggest supporter in Season 3.
“Months before any of you had this information, I was informed by a very reliable source that Jen had made an attempt on her life,” Meredith says. “And with what I went through, I wasn’t playing with that.” (In previous episodes, Meredith has talked about how she and her family struggled after her nephew tried to take his own life.)
Whitney’s childhood trauma
Whitney says she unlocked her memories of childhood trauma after she “started having ... all these health problems.” She adds that she “never imagined that I’d be questioned about it. That I’d get hate for it” from both fellow cast members and viewers. She adds that she has not spoken to her (unnamed) abuser.
Fights and more fights
There are a lot of accusations, a lot of shouting, a lot of attempt to talk over one another, all of which boil down to — there is no end in sight to the nasty battles between Lisa and Meredith, Heather and Whitney, and Heather and Lisa.
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