Lisa Barlow Compares Being Close With Jen Shah To Meredith Marks Being Friends With Whitney Rose And Heather Gay

Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is back for Season 2, and I love it! Last season, HBIC Jen Shah was visiting her pal, Meredith Marks, when she flashed her vagina at Meredith’s college-aged son, Brooks Marks. He wasn’t Shah-Mazed and was traumatized by the experience.

During the Season 2 RHOSLC premiere, the only cast member speaking to Jen was Lisa Barlow. Jen had supposedly been liking and reposting homophobic comments directed at Brooks. Lisa wanted to broker peace between Meredith and Jen, but Meredith refused to move forward.

Jen has fractured her relationships with her co-stars because of her bad behavior. During the girls’ trip to Las Vegas, Jen got up in Whitney Rose’s face. Jen called her bestie, Heather Gay, a racist on social media. She also fat-shamed Heather.

In a jaw-dropping development, Jen was arrested on March 30, 2021, on federal fraud charges relating to a telemarketing scheme. She was charged with money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Her trusty assistant, Stuart Smith, was also arrested and faces the same charges.

Jen plead not guilty, as did Stuart. Jen “is maintaining her innocence” to her fellow Salt Lake City Housewives. Lisa stated, “So, when that [arrest] happened, I was surprised. Jen’s situation doesn’t change who I am as a person and how I’m going to treat Jen as a friend, but it was a lot,” Lisa remarked. Since Jen’s arrest, Heather is also supporting her. But Lisa and Heather’s actions have upset Meredith.

“My issues are not simply from her indictment,” Meredith explained. “Does it surprise me that [Heather and Lisa] chose to stand by her?” Meredith said. “Kind of, only because they had had other issues themselves prior to this.”

During the most recent episode of RHOSLC, when Lisa talked to Jen about why Meredith was upset, Jen didn’t back down. In her mind, Brooks was fair game because he dissed her vagina. Oof.

RELATED: Lisa Barlow Explains Why She’s Standing By Jen Shah

According to Yahoo!, in an interview with We Should Talk, Lisa explained how her bond with Jen affected her long-time friend, Meredith. Spoiler alert: it isn’t good. “When we started season one, Jen and Meredith were best friends, to the point where they were going [to] sleepovers and I wasn’t included,” Lisa shared. “[…] I keep getting accused of seeking out a friendship with Jen, and I understand the intention behind that, but there was no seeking out […].”

The Vida Tequila mogul continued, “When you see someone hurting, it’s not in me — I’m a sensitive person — it’s not in me to be like, ‘Oh, sucks to be you! Sorry, b****, you deserve that!’ I’m not that girl.” Lisa comes across so strong that she doesn’t seem sensitive. That does explain why she hasn’t dropped Jen.

“I saw Jen hurting, I listened to her. […] Watching her go through things, I felt empathy for her and compassion,” Lisa stated. “There’s nothing wrong for that. I’m not going to apologize for that.”

Lisa addressed Meredith’s friendship with Heather and Whitney. At the Season 1 reunion, Lisa coined the term “Whitney and Heather-Bad Weather.” Lisa and Heather argued during the reunion about how long they had known each other, and Heather accused Lisa of prioritizing her friendship with Jen over her relationship with Meredith.

“On the flip side, what people need to understand is, Meredith is close friends with Whitney and Heather. How do you think that makes me feel? You all watched the reunion,” Lisa remarked. “I’m not mad at Meredith, I don’t have any expectations on her to change that.” Sure, Lisa.

RELATED: Lisa Barlow Thought Heather Gay Was In Trouble When Police Showed Up To Arrest Jen Shah

“I truly mean it when I say, ‘Be friends with anybody you want,’ but they did things that hurt me. Heather posted awful things about me on social media, Whitney posted jabs at me,” the tequila company owner said.

“They treated me poorly. I felt like I reacted to how I was being treated — I didn’t create situations,” Lisa continued. “I reacted to situations, and you can’t be mad at me for being kind to someone when you’re being kind to people that haven’t been nice to me. It goes both ways,” she added.