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Meredith Marks questioned Monica Garcia’s “secret service” claims regarding Jen Shah, hinted Heather Gay’s black-eye mystery could be solved, and revealed the backstory to the Bathtubgate drama with Whitney Rose.
On the season four premiere of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Monica claimed a friend in the ‘secret service’ warned her to put distance between herself from Jen, who was arrested two months later. Monica later became a witness in Jen’s case.
In an interview with Us Weekly, Meredith addressed Monica’s introduction to the group.
“I had never met Monica until the snowball day, and she came off as high-energy, wanting to have fun,” said the 51-year-old. “She definitely brings a lot of energy, and I was cautiously optimistic.”
Meredith expressed confusion, however, over Monica’s ‘secret service’ claims.
“The first thing that really went through my head — and maybe I’m missing something here — but the first thing that occurred to me is that the Secret Service is not the FBI, and to the best of my knowledge, it’s just presidential security,” said the OG. “And I’m not sure what Jen did that has anything to do with presidential security. So, the whole thing just seemed odd and didn’t add up to me, to be totally honest.”
The star also discussed how Jen’s absence affected season four. “The dynamic shifted for sure. I mean, she’s a big personality,” she said. “You’re going to see a change, but it wasn’t just just Jen being gone. It was Mary [Cosby] being back, Angie [Katsanevas] being full-time, Monica coming in. It’s a lot of moving parts. So, I don’t know that I can pin down what I would attribute to Jen versus anything else.”
When Meredith was asked if fans will ever learn what actually caused Heather’s black eye – and if she knows the truth herself – the star answered “maybe” to “both.”
Meredith also told the outlet that she indeed read Heather’s Bad Mormon book, despite the author’s on-camera assertion that her co-stars never read it.
“Maybe I didn’t speak up in the moment or I don’t remember what unfolded there, but I did actually read Heather’s book — or 90 percent of it,” Meredith exclusively told Us on Wednesday. “There were some portions I skipped through, but I thought she did a great job. Heather is very well-spoken and she’s witty and funny, and I thought she did a fantastic job with the book.”
Regarding her drama with Whitney (who insulted her bathtub habits with husband Seth), Meredith expressed, “Obviously, it’s somewhat petty … Baths are very important to me, so people who know me — as I think most of the viewers know — it’s something that’s an important special time for me, a time for me to unwind, relax. I take very little time to myself.”
Meredith indicated, however, that her issues with Whitney had more to do with their history. “She just has attacked a lot of things that are important to me, like my father’s memorial or whatever,” said Meredith. “And then it’s always another reason for it. Like, ‘Oh, I was told this, that or the other.’ … Well, that’s great, but you still said it, so great, you’re being shady. Good for you. You still have consequences to your actions.”
Live Viewing Thread – This is also the live viewing thread for the RHOSLC season four. Feel free to chat and comment below as the episode airs tonight on Bravo at 9/8c.