Jen Shah will have to “find herself another Heather Gay.” The Beauty Lab + Laser founder famously uttered the words to cousin Whitney Rose during a particularly heated exchange this past season of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. But it seems Jen should have been the recipient.
Heather spent a good part of Season 3 creating boundaries and calling Whitney out for crossing them. Yet she stood by the disgraced marketing executive. At the time of filming, Jen had yet to change her plea to guilty. Presumably, those that stood by Jen did so in the spirit of believing their friend as she was proclaiming her innocence.
The dynamic changed after Jen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July 2022. Heather told Us Weekly why she has since distanced herself from her former bestie. “I was labeled ride-or-die because I had a friend that was looking at me and telling me she was innocent,” Heather said. “Everything changed for me when she pled guilty.”
Heather continued, “Now my focus is on the victims and her family and the collateral damage of this crime that she perpetuated and admitted to perpetuating. And I just hope that everyone can be made whole,” she added.
It would be detrimental to any RHOSLC housewife to be associated with Jen now that she has been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison. She is to report to prison February 17, 2023.
Meanwhile, Heather is on the interview circuit because her book, Bad Mormon, comes out on February 7, 2023. She explained how writing the book provided emotional growth and closure.
“It was a really difficult season. But also I was coming out of writing this book, and this book was a cathartic emotional experience for me, and I’m really, really proud of it,” Heather explained. “It’s kind of fascinating, that coincidence that the season’s ending and the book is launching. That, to me, feels like going from really unsteady ground onto something that I can stand behind every word of.”
Will Heather be back for another season of RHOSLC? Well, that depends on the longevity of the show. The cast shuffle on Season 3, coupled with Jen’s incarceration leaves the future of the show in question. However, there have been rumors that Mary Cosby will be back as a “friend” of the housewives.
“I’ve thought a lot about it, because as you see in the book, this was me getting pulled into this … and you see me meeting all these women, and now we’re kind of all in shambles,” Heather stated. “So, I don’t know what the future is as a Housewives fan. I wanna see everybody on TV forever. But I don’t know what’ll happen to Salt Lake City. It’s too soon to tell,” she added.
As for the book, Heather concluded the interview by telling fans what they can expect from Bad Mormon. “I hope that for anyone who’s ever been in a situation where they felt like becoming their authentic self really was going to conflict with their family’s expectations of them, that is who I hope will relate to this story,” the author said.
“Because we want to honor our childhood, we want to honor our parents, we want to honor those traditions, but we also want to honor who we are and respect our own experience and take our lives back for ourselves and not do it out of expectations for the ones that came before.” She added, “This book is my way of just reclaiming my story.”
TELL US- ARE YOU SURPRISED HEATHER FINALLY DISTANCED HERSELF FROM JEN? ARE YOU INTERESTED TO READ BAD MORMON? WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR RHOSLC?
[Photo Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images]
