The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 2 is premiere on September 12th and it’s guaranteed to be an epic one since it was first revealed that Jen Shah’s arrest for alleged fraud and money laundering was caught by Bravo cameras. As if a Shah-rrific meltdown wouldn’t just carry the whole rest of the season, but the emotional fallout between the friends will bring a lot material as well.
There has been speculations as to how the rest of the cast will react. One can look to the fellow Real Housewives of Beverly Hills dealing with Erika Jayne’s legal issues as a case study of sorts. Garcelle Beauvais and Sutton Stracke are the only cast members questioning Erika’s involvement. The rest are all about her victim status, though in America, it’s innocent until proven guilty.
If the Season 2 trailer is any indication, it looks like Lisa Barlow may be the Sutton of this group. She has business dealings and values her reputation. So it’s no surprise that Lisa is not answering Jen’s calls in one of the clips. Heather Gay will swoop in as the stormy-weather friend, and be there to support Jen no questions asked. The rest may play nice to Jen’s face, but speculate behind her back like Dorit Kemsley.
In a recent interview with BravoTV social’s Donald Adler and Real Housewives of Potomac star Gizelle Bryant, Jen spoke about what she learned since her arrest and who her real friends were. The trio spoke on Instagram Live Tuesday to discuss the upcoming RHOSLC season.
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The first question for the “Spilling Ice Tea” segment asked Jen to identify which cast members supported her after the arrest. “Heather,” Jen answered, as reported by Entertainment Tonight, “my girl Heather Gay was there for me from jump. Heather was there. She was like, ‘Girl, where you at? I’m coming. What do you need?”
“But who’s there for you when you really, really need them,” Jen continued, “Heather showed up for me. No questions asked. Two in the morning, three in the morning, five in the morning. That’s been invaluable to me because I don’t have to wonder or wade through all the bull.”
Jen admitted that she was disappointed with how Lisa reacted initially. She explained, “I was very, very close with Lisa [Barlow] and that’s honestly who I expected to pick up the phone on the first ring … and you know, it took a minute. It took a minute for her to process and go through whatever she was going through.”
It seems that after Lisa processed the whole situation, and perhaps got a thumbs up from her attorney, she did come around to support Jen. One pep talk that Jen shared on the podcast was that Lisa advised her to support her own family first. “[Lisa was like], ‘I was your friend then, I’m your friend now. I know you’re innocent and I’m going to stand by you,” Jen revealed, “you need to stay strong for Coach and for the boys. This is a chapter in your life. This isn’t the full story.'”
RELATED: Lisa Barlow Says Jen Shah’s Arrest “Won’t Change” How She “Treats Jen As A Friend”
Whatever the feelings from the group or from fans, Jen still has time in court to argue her case. RHOSLC fans may like to bash her on social media or blog posts, but she maintains her innocence. Jen lamented, “what people don’t understand is, here in America, you’re innocent until proven guilty. I’m innocent. And I believe this is not just my test, this is everyone else around me’s test. How are my people going to respond?”
TELL US- ARE YOU SURPRISED THAT HEATHER SUPPORTED JEN? SHOULD LISA HAVE SUPPORTED JEN INITIALLY? HOW WILL THE OTHER CAST MEMBERS REACT?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
