When Jen Shah finally entered her guilty plea, she had to come to terms with how her unsavory business upended the lives of hundreds of vulnerable victims. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star also had to come to terms with how it affected her sons, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar.
In the aftermath of Jen’s indictment, one of them was pulled from their home by armed law enforcement officers. Then, they both had to grapple with watching their mom go behind bars for what was originally a 6.5-year sentence.
According to Jen, part of her rehabilitation in prison meant hearing directly from her two sons. She needed to know just how much this legal saga impacted their lives, so she had them write statements to let out their feelings.
The former Bravo star wanted to know how she “hurt” her kids
Jen recently spoke with People for her first interview since leaving prison, and during the chat, she explained just how much her family supported her throughout her stay. She said she felt “blessed” and “grateful” to have their support, but also needed to honor their feelings. She wanted to hear their perspective in their own words and encouraged them to write impact statements.
“I needed to know how I hurt them,” she explained. “I needed them to be honest with me and tell me everything. I needed to hear that raw feedback, because that’s the only way you grow and heal. You can’t get better if you don’t know what you did.”
Initially, Sharrieff Jr. and Omar, who are now 32 and 21, were hesitant to verbalize their emotions. They didn’t want to hurt their mom’s feelings. However, Jen said that their father, Coach Sharrieff Shah, convinced them that it was a “necessary” exercise that would help her, not hurt her.
They eventually sent the letters, which were read aloud to Jen during a group session in prison. Jen called that “one of the biggest turning points” in her healing journey. It set a solid foundation for her to come home to, and now, her family is stronger than ever.
“And there were a lot of tears, because that was hard. But I needed to hear it,” Jen admitted. “And I think that’s one of the reasons that we have grown closer as a family — because we had those difficult conversations, and I have faced those things head-on.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is streaming on Peacock.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK PRISON MAY HAVE CHANGED JEN FOR THE BETTER? ARE YOU GLAD THAT HER FAMILY UNIT SEEMS TO HAVE SURVIVED THIS LEGAL CRISIS?
