You know the old Real Housewives curse? Happy couple shows up – great marriage, great house, great kids. By season three they are having affairs, crying in closets, and siphoning money to offshore bank accounts. It’s no secret that reality television has played a major role in divorce petitions. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City might shake up that theory, however.
Meredith Marks, who is not Lisa Barlow, is starting things a bit different. She comes out of the gate with a relationship in trouble and viewers will see attempts to navigate issues while cameras invade their privacy and follow their every move. We’re still getting to know this cast, and some surprises are definitely in store (I’m looking at you, Mary Cosby). Now Meredith shares how she went from happily ever after to irreconcilable differences, and wound up somewhere in the middle.
I really need either Meredith or Lisa to change their hair. It gives me flashbacks to the dark times of Real Housewives of New Jersey and those twins. Our newest Housewives franchise takes a look at fresh territory, Salt Lake City. It’s home to the Mormon headquarters and plastic surgery quite a change from the big city. Originally hailing from Chicago, Meredith and her family transferred to SLC for business. But shit hit the fan for Meredith before she stepped out of Illinois.
In a surprising twist, Meredith had problems in her marriage before Bravo called. So when if this one ends in divorce, I’m not sure we can chalk it up to THE CURSE. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Meredith gave some details. She and husband Seth Marks moved to Utah seven years ago for Seth’s job as an executive at Overstock.com. The couple wed in 1996 and have three kids. Meredith and Seth allowed Bravo cameras to document a marriage already in peril, bypassing the usual formula of watching a family slowly deteriorate because fame is an evil bitch that makes you sacrifice decency for money.
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But trouble was brewing long before the invasion of a crew sitting in their living room. Seth filed for divorce from Meredith in August 2019, citing irreconcilable differences, according to Cook County records. In December 2019, Seth dropped the petition, which was curiously around the time of his wife’s FILMED 48th birthday. We were treated to this very interesting celebration in the RHOSLC premier, and if you’re taking notes, hubby Scott did not attend the festivities.
When asked what fans can expect, Meredith replied, “I think that what is already somewhat clear from the trailers is my husband and I are dealing with being empty nesters. We have had a bit of a volatile relationship for many years. When you’re empty nesters, it’s sort of a ‘do or die’ situation. You have to finally say, OK, we can’t keep playing this game anymore and separating and reconciling for our children. We’ve got to figure out now, what’s really going to happen? What do we want? Do we want to be together for just ourselves now?”
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Meredith continued, “Is it just about the kids? In which case, what’s the point of staying together? And I think most people probably go through that at some point or another. I’d be pretty surprised if they didn’t.” Did they not consider, oh, I don’t know, marriage counseling instead of opening their agitated existence to the masses?
Upon reflection, Meredith thinks some scenes will be hard to watch. “I don’t know if I would say it was so difficult to film because after a short time, you get very used to the cameras being around and you kind of just live your life.” She admitted, I think what’s going to be difficult is to watch those scenes. I think that’s going to be very hard on me emotionally.”
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Then Meredith-not-Lisa was asked about the current status of her marriage, seeing as Seth has already tried to bail. “Well, I can tell you that it [the divorce] was dismissed. I can tell you that much, so we’re obviously not getting divorced.”
Meredith teased, “I don’t want to give too much away because I want you guys to watch and see and be invested in the whole process.” Hello, Foreshadowing is holding on line one.
I fail to recall any time reality television actually helped a marriage from the depths of despair. Next season we will either get a vow renewal or a full divorce. In the interim, it will be interesting to get to know the cast and their family dynamics (looking at you again, Mary). Stay tuned to see if Meredith salvages her troubled union or finds herself another victim of… THE CURSE.
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TELL US- DO YOU THINK MEREDITH AND SETH WILL LAST? WHY DO YOU THINK THEY CHOSE TO FILM A MARRIAGE IN TROUBLE? VOW RENEWAL OR DIVORCE?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]
