Heather Gay Still Has A Black Eye
On Night 3 of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City girl’s trip to San Diego, the Witches of the Wasatch Mountains were still sitting around the table at the Greek Dinner. Whitney Rose leaned across the table, looked into Heather Gay’s one good eye and asked her point blank, “How did you get a black eye?”
Heather, staying true to form, decided to play dumb and answered Whitney‘s question with another question, “I have a black eye?!” She then proceeded to have a fake argument with Jen Shah, sitting to her left. “You said I looked fine! You said, ‘You look great. No one’s gonna notice. Just show up and be funny.'” So far not funny, and didn’t everyone already know about Heather’s massive shiner?
Heather stuck with her story that she woke up with a horrible black eye, scratches and bruises all over her body. She added, “We’re still unsure about what happened to my eye,” all the while staring accusingly at Jen, as if waiting for soon-to-be Prison Barbie to confirm or deny her story. “There’s theories . . . What would you say, CSI?” Jen just looked silently guilty.
You know, I watch a lot of police procedurals, and when witnesses repeat the same story word-for-word, it’s usually a sign that they’re lying. Not one to miss a thing, Detective Whitney started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. “I’m trying to figure out what Heather is saying without actually saying it. Because she keeps looking to Jen to ask Jen what happened to her eye, which makes me feel like Jen, in fact, had something to do with the black eye.” You think, Whit? She might not be the sharpest thorn on the Rose (see what I did there?) but she gets there eventually.
After pretending she and Jen “re-enacted” all the scenarios that could have caused her mysterious injuries, Heather finally repeated, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Danna Brings Up The Forbidden Topic: Jen’s Legal Case
In an effort to change the subject, Danna Bui-Negrete chose the somewhat questionable topic of Jen’s legal issues. Saying that the whole trip has been “somewhat awkward” and that she just wanted to “be as real as I can with you,” Danna blurted out, “Someone that I know shared something with me. It’s someone that I really trust, that I’ve known for a very long time.”
Jen kept interrupting with, “Who? Who? Give me a name!” But Danna was on a roll and couldn’t stop herself. “Supposedly they know someone that worked for you that said that your company or the work that you’re doing was very sketchy, and they pleaded guilty to whatever the allegations are and now they’re an informant,” Danna said.
Sounds like Danna was referring to Jen‘s former assistant/friend Stuart Smith, who originally claimed innocence, but later changed his plea to guilty (as did Jen). He has not yet been sentenced.
Predictably, this was the point in the conversation where Jen lost her sh**, screaming, “What you’re talking about is my life! Check . . . your . . . source! The Constitution says you’re innocent until proven guilty!” Jen jumped up, ran into the house and stomped up the stairs. Her faithful lapdog Heather was nipping at her heels. Topic successfully avoided.
As soon as Jen was away from the table, the rest of the women continued talking about Jen’s legal issues and whether or not she would go to jail. Whitney promised that if Jen is proven guilty, “I’m willing to go have a conjugal visit.” Again, not the sharpest tool in the shed. As I was laughing out loud about Whitney having to “switch teams” for Jen, Danna and Lisa Barlow explained to her that it wouldn’t be a “conjugal” visit unless she was going to have sex with Jen. That’s a whole different kind of friendship, Whitney.
Meanwhile upstairs, Heather and Meredith Marks were consoling Jen after her meltdown. Heather suggested that the quickest way to distract the others from talking about Jen’s legal issues would be to say, “Why don’t we talk about how Heather really got the black eye.” Jen agreed, “Let’s do that!”
Heather continued, “They’re gonna go . . . zip, and we’re not gonna tell ’em. You know why? Cause they don’t deserve to know. Cause they already do, and they just want us to say it out loud. . . . I’m loyal to the core, but snitches get what? Stitches.” Wow. And just who would you be “snitching” on, Heather? Could it be Jen? Cause we all know it was Jen. We just want you to say it out loud.
Cue Meredith in a production confessional. “Wait, what? . . . I’m so confused at this point, but I wish Heather would just say who hit her. It’s unsettling not knowing.” Oh, come on, Meredith. You know. We all do.
As the evening winds down and Lisa leaves to catch a flight back to Salt Lake, Heather declares, “Black eye, black heart. I just wanna go home!”
RELATED: Bravo Uninvites Jen Shah From The Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City Season 3 Reunion
The Saga Of Heather’s Black Eye Continues
Back in Salt Lake City, Heather stopped by to see Angie Harrington in her palacial home. Angie, of course, wanted to know all about the black eye she’d “heard about” from Angie K., Danna and Whitney two days earlier. Heather told Angie, “It’s just a dumb black eye,” and remained adamant that she has “no recollection” of how it happened.
Angie questioned Heather’s story. “There’s a part of me, and tell me if I’m wrong, that, like, feels like you’re protecting somebody . . . You have to understand, as your friend, I’m very concerned,” Angie stressed. “If someone did this to you, nobody’s okay with it.”
When Angie asked if Heather would ever tell her who did this to her, Heather flatly stated, “No.”
In a production interview, Heather was asked, “Is there a part of you that’s hoping somebody else will say it? Or are you hoping that it never gets said out loud?” To which Heather answered, “I just hope it goes away.”
Angie assured Heather that she has her support. “If someone did this to you, you do not have to protect them,” she added.
Jen Goes To Therapy On Camera
Over at Chez Shah, Jen chatted online with her therapist, Ernest. She shared with him that she hasn’t been sleeping well and that she feels like she’s “not in control.” She worried about “inching closer and closer every day to trial.” Jen told Ernest, “I wake up every morning, and there’s this level of uncertainty, like what is gonna happen today? What are my attorneys gonna call me with today? What is the government going to send over today?” Jen was struggling with being in a deep, dark place, where she was dealing with “another level of depression [and] daily anxiety that is paralyzing. ”
Jen‘s therapist advised her to set up the support structures that she’ll need. “What are you gonna need from family? What are you gonna need from friends? You have to start making requests, because you can’t be a Lone Ranger in all of this.”
Jen was feeling a lot of guilt about the affect her legal troubles were having on her family, especially her son Omar, who’s in high school. She sobbed, “No kid should have to go through this, right?” Her older son, Sharrieff Jr. is applying for medical schools and shouldn’t have to worry about his mom on top of his other concerns. Jen concluded, “I don’t want to put my family through this. They don’t deserve this.” As much as I feel Jen brought this mess on herself by being greedy and scamming old people out of their life savings, as a mom, I can’t help but feel sorry for her family, who really doesn’t deserve what’s happening to them.
Speaking of mental health, Meredith had a fashion show to raise money for people with mental health and addiction issues, in honor of her nephew, who has struggled with both in the past. When Angie K. and Danna showed up to support her party, Meredith treated them to an “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed” rant (Bravo even posted a “Meredith ‘I’m Not Mad’ Counter” onscreen — nice touch!) Meredith was upset that the conversation about Lisa‘s SEC filing was brought up at dinner in San Diego. She even pulled the “Danna you were on the trip because I got you there” card. Wow. Meredith’s kind of a bitch.
In a production interview, Angie K. acknowledged, “You actually still seem kind of mad, Meredith.” Angie and Danna quickly excused themselves to go visit the bar, just as Lisa strolled into the event wearing her pajamas. I’m sure they were high fashion and very expensive, but they really did look like pajamas.
Jen and Coach Shah brought a check to clear the debt that Angie K. told Jen she owed them for Coach’s birthday party. As nasty as his wife is, Coach is a class act and always a gentleman. Jen told production, “I sure hope Coach never finds out that I spent $80,000 on Meredith’s party and only $13,000 for him.” Well, he did if he watched this, Jen.
Again Angie brought the snark in her production interview, when she said, “All I know is that I’m going to run to the bank after this event and cash that check before the government freezes her account.” Yikes.
The Mystery Of The Eye
Heather pulled up at Whitney’s house with Peeps in hand. I’m a big fan of never showing up to someone’s house empty-handed, but Peeps? That’s odd. She sat down at Whit’s kitchen island, arms crossed. The body language was fierce.
Whitney told Heather she’s been worried about her since the trip. Heather fired back with, “I had no idea you cared!” But Whitney claimed that even though they’re “in a weird space,” she never stopped caring about her cousin.
Heather said, “Well, that’s what was so confusing is I never felt like you stopped caring about me, so to find out that, like, we were on a friendship break you never told me about, it was like a stab to my heart, you know?”
Heather accused Whitney of basically not knowing anything that was going on in Heather’s life. “You don’t even know how I got my black eye.” Uh, oh. Here it comes.
Whitney said, “Well, I wanna know this. Do you really not remember [how it happened]? Cause you’ve said, ‘I don’t remember.’ You don’t want to talk about it. You’ve said you’ve been assaulted. You’ve said if someone knocks on your door at 4 am, don’t answer the door.” When Heather chuckled, Whitney asked her why she was laughing.
Heather answered, “Because it’s all — it’s all just funny to me and true, and part of the mystery of the eye.” Whitney finally asked what everyone wants to know, “Did someone do that to you?”
Dodging the question, Heather said it wasn’t even the conversation they should be having right now.
Whitney insisted that she was concerned about her cousin and all the pressures she has on her as a single mom and as a business owner, but Heather just smiled cryptically. Whitney went on, “I don’t know if it’s just like you don’t remember cause you were drinking. You and Jen were having the best time ever, extremely intoxicated with your tops off, running around putting your boobs on people.”
Heather joked, “Jen’s boob did it. It’s a force of nature.” Whitney said, “Why won’t you tell me, Heather? Did you black out? Or do you know what happened?”
Heather finally admitted, “I remember how I got it. And other people know how I got it, too.” Upset by this information, Whitney asked, “So why do those people know and I don’t?”
Heather snarked, “Cause I was on a friendship break . . . And I don’t actually know if I would tell you, cause the trust has been broken.” Ouch.
“I am sorry that you feel like you can’t trust me with it,” Whitney apologized. “But I want you to know that you can. I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m not going to turn it against you. I am a safe place for you, and it’s really sh**ty that you feel like I’m not, but I am,” she added.
But Heather was not in the mood to forgive. She told Whitney, “I think that this whole friendship break has been a really horrible, sh**ty experience for me, and I don’t think you really care, because it feels like you think you can just break it, and then when you’re ready, pick it up, and I’m gonna be funny, and I’m gonna take up for you, and I’m gonna defend you, and I’m gonna fight our battles like a team, but that’s not how it works.” She added, “When you break something, it’s broken, and it’s never as strong as it was.” That’s not true. I’ve heard broken bones are actually stronger after they heal. Get your facts straight, Heather.
Heather continued in her production interview, “I think Whitney was looking for drama where there wasn’t any, and she wanted to curry favor with other friends in the group, and so she put me on the altar and sacrificed me and sacrificed our friendship, and she put me on a ‘friendship break,’ and she just figured that I’d take it. That I’d take it, and then I’d forgive her, and that I would come back begging for more.”
Heather told Whitney, “I feel very sad that Bad Weather has been, like, a dark raincloud over your head. Be free, young Whitney. I will not hold you back any longer. And live your best life.”
Heather felt taken for granted that Whitney would assume that their friendship could ever come back to the way it was. She told her cousin, “Let’s just love each other and give each other space.”
I feel bad for Whitney. I think her feelings were hurt when Heather made fun of Whitney’s resurfaced memories of having been abused as a child. And Whitney’s suspicions about whether Jen’s is guilty or innocent of her legal allegations put a wedge between her and Jen’s Ride-or-Die Heather. It’s sad to see their close friendship fall apart. It did seem as though Heather was relishing breaking Whitney’s heart, though. She’s learned well under Jen’s tutorship.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK HEATHER AND WHITNEY’S FRIENDSHIP WILL EVER BE HEALED? WHAT DO YOU THINK REALLY HAPPENED TO HEATHER’S EYE? DO YOU THINK MEREDITH WAS MAD?
[Photo Credit: Chris Haston/Bravo via Getty Images]
