Monica Garcia
(Photo by: Gizelle Hernandez/Bravo via Getty Images)

Monica Garcia Claims Affair and Mormon Excommunication Is ‘Old News’

Monica Garcia made quite a splash as the newest member of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast. At first, she drew interest from her co-stars as a former employee of Jen Shah. But she made even bigger waves when she revealed her affair with her brother-in-law.

Monica was sleeping with her husband’s sister’s husband. The affair led to her excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, often called the Mormon church. She told her co-stars in a game that Whitney Rose suggested, wherein the girls would tell each other something interesting about themselves. The answers were rather mundane, save Monica’s.

Recently, the newest RHOSLC star got the chance to speak with The Messenger about the affair, her husband, and her time on the show so far. Her answers showed a surprising amount of maturity from the new Bravo star.

Monica Garcia’s relationship with her husband

Monica and her husband divorced in 2013, got remarried, and are now divorcing again. But the relationship is still very amicable. “It’s actually been pretty funny because he reads things in the press and online more than I do. He’ll call me probably once a day, ‘This is a lie. That’s not true, [etc]’ as far as what he’s seeing being said about me. So he’s actually very protective.”

He also signed off on the kids appearing on the show. “He [knows] Monica’s going to do what she wants to do, but I think he knows he can trust me to make the right decision for our children. They live with me full-time. He’s on the other side of the country, so he knows that I know our dynamic right now better than him, so he knows he can trust me to make that choice.”

Monica then explained why the relationship is still so good between them. “I am the mother of his children, and we have a mutual respect. Just because we didn’t work out doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s a great father and provider.”

Why Monica told the ladies about her affair

Monica shared her thoughts on Whitney’s suggested game in Palm Springs. “That was a very interesting dinner because Whitney made it very clear [that] it needs to be shocking. ‘Let’s get to know you on a deeper level.’ And then they’re like, ‘I journal, and I like birds.’ It was just, I’m like, ‘What? This is crazy? This is me getting to know you? This is shocking?’”

She continued, “Everyone in my life has already known about my affair … it’s old news. This is something I’m telling the women now because I’m getting to know them, and that is a big part of my past, and it formed who I am today as far as having to bear the scarlet letter and deal with being excommunicated and cut off from my community and family and friends.”

As for the results of her affair, she explained, “I one hundred percent understand I did that to myself. I’m not trying to come in here with this victim mentality, but I am trying to come in with these women. This is what it is. This is what you get, and I want them to have all the pieces of that.”

Real Housewives of Salt Lake City continues Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.

TELL US – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF MONICA’S SHARED SECRETS? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HER TIME ON RHOSLC SO FAR?

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