Editor’s note and content warning • This article discusses suicide. If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24-hour support by calling 988.
On the latest episode of the Bravo series, Jen Shah says that online bullying by the husband of a “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” friend caused her to attempt to take her own life.
Jen tells the other Housewives that when she learned about the @shahexposed Instagram page, “I almost committed suicide. I tried to, OK?” she says. “Because your friend (Chris Harrington) is heartless and decided to drag me and my entire family.”
(Bravo) Chris Harrington, Angie Harrington, Meredith Marks and Seth Marks on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
Harrington, the husband of Housewives wannabe Angie Harrington, has admitted that he was behind the page.
Jen later says that her husband, University of Utah assistant football coach Sharrieff Shah, “had to take me to the hospital. So that’s why the Angie-Chris Harrington thing hit my husband so hard, because I did try to take my life.”
Jen acknowledges that people don’t always believe what she says. She says, “What the [expletive] do I have to say? … When I finally kill myself, everybody will be, like, ‘Oh, she was telling the truth?’”
Jen has been shown to lie often on the show, such as professing her innocence to federal wire fraud charges, to which she later pleaded guilty. (Her sentencing has once again been postponed; it’s now scheduled for Jan. 6.)
But experts warn that people who share that they have had suicidal thoughts should be taken seriously. According to the American Psychological Association, the more common lie about suicide is that someone is concealing that they have thought about suicide.
Jen’s friends might benefit from advice from the American Federation for Suicide Prevention, detailing what to say when a friend mentions that they have considered suicide: To show support, to let them know you’re listening, to keep them talking, and to suggest they seek professional help or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Elsewhere in the episode:
• The Housewives play games at the beach • Including a “sand castle war” — Heather Gay, Jen and Angie Katsanevas vs. Whitney Rose, Meredith Marks, Lisa Barlow and Danna Bui-Negrete. Heather takes it way too seriously, and Whitney acts like a child and runs over and wrecks the other team’s castle.
• They all dress up like Marilyn Monroe • The theme for the night is that all seven women dress up like Marilyn Monroe — complete with blonde wigs — and go out and party. “Maybe we will finally say how we feel if we don’t recognize each other,” Whitney says.
(Fred Hayes/Bravo) Whitney Rose and Heather Gay on "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City."
• The argument between Heather and Whitney intensifies • Whitney says she has to go on a “friend break” from Heather, and later adds, “I don’t think I’ve felt this let down by a friend before.”
Heather says, “For me, loyalty is a [expletive] deal breaker. Deal broken.”
• Whitney thinks she has ESP • Whitney says she’s a “vibes girl” so she knew Meredith was going to start talking about rumors about Lisa before she actually did. Meredith is understandably perplexed.
• Topless and sort of blurred • Heather and Jen pull down their tops, rub their bare breasts against each other and laugh. (It’s blurred … but not altogether blurry.) Jen gets in the pool topless. Then she rubs her bare breasts up against the window, a few feet from Lisa and Danna are inside the house. They all laugh.
Heather exhorts the other women to remove their tops. Angie H. says, “Heather, I’ve never seen this side of you.”
The next episode of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” airs Wednesday, Dec. 21, on Bravo — 7 p.m. on Dish and DirecTV; 10 p.m. on Comcast. Previous episodes can be streamed via Peacock or on demand.
