Shannon Beador felt like something of a superhero filming Season 18 of The Real Housewives of Orange County. “There was so much going on there,” she said in a recent interview, acting as though she was deflecting imaginary bullets. “Zing! Zing, Zing! With all the things that were coming at me.”
She knew going in that it would be a tough season. Five months before they started filming, Shannon was arrested for a DUI and leaving the scene of an accident. After crashing her car into a private home, she suffered a broken nose and a broken arm. Viewers were shocked when she shared a photo of her bloodied face during the RHOC season premiere.
“I’ve heard that certain cast members are thinking that I was looking for sympathy with that,” she sighed. “I really went back and forth about showing that photograph … Because now if someone Googles my name, you know, is that picture gonna show up … for the rest of my life?”
Despite being “humiliated” over her DUI, Shannon Beador hopes others can learn from her mistakes
Aside from the broken bones, Shannon’s worst injuries were to her pride and her self-esteem. Though she doesn’t remember every detail of that night other than a fight with her now-ex, John Janssen, she knows she drove angrily away from his house and crashed. She briefly lost consciousness and woke up shortly after arriving at the hospital. Shannon hopes that others will learn from her mistakes.
“I literally kinda went into hiding, almost,” she told ET of the weeks following her arrest. “I still am so humiliated about what happened … It’s just embarrassing.”
In court, she pled no contest to the charges. She was sentenced to three years probation and 40 hours of community service. Required to enroll in an alcohol program, she completed a 28-day treatment. In the midst of all the chaos following her accident, Shannon considered sitting out Season 18 to focus on healing. But in the end, she signed up for another season.
“I wished that I could [take a break], but I didn’t,” Shannon admitted. “You learn when you’re on the show for this long when you don’t go to a dinner you are going to be talked about at that dinner. So I needed to be there, too, to clarify. Because as you are seeing this season, other people have a completely different narrative about me and it’s incorrect.”
Moving past the guilt and the lies
“[The] way to move past the guilt and the shame of what happened is to for me to confront it head-on,” she explained. “I am so grateful that no one got hurt … I still have a lot of shame, but I am trying to create a positive out of it, in any way I can.”
But the hardest thing for Shannon to get past is the remarks calling her an alcoholic. She admits having had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol in the past. But she’s learned new ways to cope with her problems and limits herself to two drinks max.
“I knew that Tamra Judge was already gunning for me before the season started,” she confessed. “I have no fear of going against certain cast members, but it’s never fun to be up against Tamra.”
Every time she filmed with Tamra this season, Tamra called her an “alcoholic.”
“It’s crossing the line,” Shannon declared. “She has no knowledge, especially what I have been doing in the last year. She doesn’t know. So, it’s not OK with me.”
The ironic thing is that we’ve all witnessed Eddie Judge having to pull his wife out of the bushes on more than one occasion. That’s something we’re sure will continue to be brought up, the more Tamra pokes at Shannon.
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK SHANNON BEADOR’S DUI IS SOMETHING TAMRA NEEDS TO LET GO?
