Meredith Marks and Lisa Barlow have had their ups and downs on the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. But ahead of season four, Meredith admitted that when it comes to their current relationship, they are “better” now than they were last year.
While discussing her new podcast with husband Seth Marks, dishing on Jen Shah‘s absence, and speaking of Mary Cosby‘s return, Meredith, 51, also offered an update on her relationship with Lisa, 48, explained her ties to Real Housewives of New York City‘s Erin Lichy, 36, and shared her thoughts on newbie Monica Garcia.
“My kids are really excited [about the podcast]. I think they have to be guests sometimes because it’s fun,” she shared on the September 4 episode of Access Hollywood‘s Housewives Nightcap.
According to Meredith, her new podcast, Hanging on by a Thread with Seth and Meredith Marks, will be based on relationships.
“Obviously, there will be a big focus on romantic relationships but we can discuss parent-child, we can discuss different friendships, different sibling relationships, all kinds of relationships. So they’re excited for us and I’m vying to get them on as guests,” Meredith stated.
As Meredith and Seth prepare to launch their podcast, Meredith is also bracing herself for the airing of season four, which includes new housewife Monica.
“She’s definitely a little feisty. She has a lot of great moments. So I think that we’ll see some ups and downs with her but she definitely has her opinions and is not afraid to voice them,” Meredith teased.
In addition to the introduction of Monica, fans will also be seeing the return of Mary, 50, in the new episodes.
“Mary and I have stayed in touch through season three, maybe not in talks as much as normal because she was taking some space for herself, but we had stayed in communication and having her back is great,” Meredith said of her co-star’s comeback. “She brings an element of humor at the most unexpected times and unexpected ways and that lightens things a lot. She’s very candid and very honest with her opinions, love them or hate them, that’s up to you but they’re there and her delivery tends to be highly entertaining.”
When Meredith was then asked if any of her castmates weren’t happy to see Mary back in the mix, she noted that everyone seemed quite welcoming of her, regardless of past drama.
“I don’t really know for sure that anyone was not happy about it. No one expressed that to me,” she confirmed. “I think even the people that she maybe didn’t have strong relationships with missed her at some level. I think she was very much welcomed back.”
Ahead of the RHOSLC season four premiere, Meredith made an appearance on RHONY alongside Erin, who she says she was introduced to by a mutual friend.
“I think she’s fabulous,” Meredith declared of Erin. “We don’t know each other that well but we’ve had some fun times and I really like her a lot and she invited us to come to her event and we popped by. We weren’t there long because I’d actually filmed Watch What Happens Live that night so I did a quick run-by on our way and said hello and she’s great. She really is, like, real-life great.”
While the majority of the season three cast returned for season four, Jen, 49, who is currently incarcerated in Texas for fraud crimes, did not. And while she admittedly had some fun times with Jen, Meredith didn’t necessarily miss her during season four.
“I had ups and downs with Jen, so Jen, when everything was great, can be really great and when it’s not great, it’s really bad so it just really with Jen, it depends where you’re at with her,” she explained of their dynamic. “When she’s on your team she’s extremely supportive and when she’s not, it’s not real fun.”
Moving on to her marriage to Seth, which has experienced hardships in past seasons, Meredith confirmed they are in a great place.
“It has been incredibly uphill. There’s bumps in the road, of course, but we’re generally speaking in a fantastic place, probably the best ever,” she shared. “Occasionally, communication breaks down and we need to go email the therapist and sort of get set back on the right path but everything’s really good on that front.”
“The reality is I think almost every couple at some point when they’re hitting all of these milestones, whether it’s been you’ve been married for multiple decades at this point, you have children that have left the house, you have all these issues going on and it’s a confluence of stuff pretty much at the same time,” she continued. “And most people go through some rough patches. I think that usually when it works out, you just don’t hear about it because why would they? Usually, you only hear about the ones that don’t work out.”
Also during the interview, Meredith was asked if she and Lisa will ever be as close as they once were.
“It’s not just about me and Lisa, it’s about friendship in general — I don’t know if we could go back to where we were because things change,” she noted. “When things happen, things evolve and even on a perfectly great trajectory, relationships evolve and they move forward in some capacity so in my view, it was never getting back to where we were. It was about trying to establish a new friendship, a new relationship, and see where it leads.”
“[But our relationship] is better than last season,” she added.
Live Viewing Thread – This is also the live viewing thread for the RHOSLC season four premiere episode. Feel free to chat and comment below as the episode airs tonight on Bravo at 9/8c.