Heather Gay Makes New Claim About That RHOSLC Black Eye

Heavy/Getty Heather Gay

Heather Gay is still unclear exactly how she got a black eye while filming the third season of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” despite previously claiming that her former co-star Jen Shah was responsible for her injury.

Gay mysteriously woke up with a black eye during a cast trip to San Diego in 2022. In an October 2024 interview with The Los Angeles Times, she admitted she did not remember anything about the incident. Gay then alleged to the outlet that she only knows how she got the black eye because Shah told her what happened.

Gay did not disclose what allegedly happened between her and Shah, instead saying she was brought up in a Mormon religion that taught her “to protect everybody but [her]self.”

This is the first time Gay has claimed that Shah incriminated herself in the mysterious incident.

According to BravoTV.com, Gay previously described the ill-fated girls’ trip as “rough.”  “I truly felt a little bit broken, a little bit beat up, figuratively and physically, and I just thought, ‘Just get through it,’” she said in 2022.

In February 2023, Shah began serving a 6.5-year prison sentence at Federal Prison Camp Bryan for her role in a telemarketing scheme. Her sentence has since been reduced and her expected release date from the Texas prison is now December 19, 2027, per E! News.

Heather Gay Dropped a Black Eye Bombshell on the Season 4 Finale

In the RHOSLC season 3 episode  “White Lies and Black Eyes,” Gay woke up with a black eye after a night of partying with her co-stars. When she first showed the shiner to Shah and Meredith Marks, she claimed she had no idea what happened.

In another scene, Gay told Shah she didn’t “want to get anyone in trouble.”  The scene was filmed before Shah’s sentencing took place in early 2023.

Gay pretended not to know who gave her the black eye for a full year. “I don’t know what happened,” she said during the season 3 reunion, per People magazine. “I cannot speak to anything other than I walked to my room and I blacked out and I woke up with a black eye. When production came in my room, I told them, I said, ‘I had no idea.”

Gay also claimed she went to Shah first because she “trusted her the most” to help come up with “a cover story.”

She even joked about Shah giving her the black eye. “If I knew Jen did that, I would cover it up,” Gay said. “But that was not my intention, “ she quickly corrected. “Anything could’ve happened. I still don’t know how it happened.”

It is unclear when Shah allegedly told her she was responsible for the black eye.

Gay dropped a black-eye bomb a year later during filming for the season 4 finale. In a now-viral scene, she talked about how her group of friends “ride or die” for each other.

“We are friends, and we have been through this [expletive] before with Jen,” she said in the season 4 finale, titled “Mysteries, Revealed.”

“For years, we were afraid,” she said. “I ate [expletive] every day for her. I felt like I had to lie to protect her, I did whatever it took.”

Gay then alleged, “I went on a book tour and defended her and took [expletive] for the fact that she gave me a black eye.”

The other cast members appeared shocked over Gay’s allegation about Shah.

Jen Shah Denied Any Involvement in Heather Gay’s Black Eye

BravoHeather Gay and Jen Shah.

After the RHOSLC season 4 finale aired on Bravo, a statement was posted to Shah’s Instagram story.  In her statement, Shah denied Gay’s allegation that she gave her the black eye.

“Bravo, if I punched Heather Gay in the eye, you would have footage to prove it,” Shah’s message read. “It’s clear the show can’t live without me since I was brought up at the beginning, middle and end of season 4.”

In January, Bravo host Andy Cohen responded to Shah’s statement on his Sirius XM show, “Andy Cohen Live.” “I don’t want to be Captain Obvious here but if we had footage don’t you think we would have aired it?” Cohen pointed out. “Do you think we wouldn’t have said, Heather’s saying ‘I don’t know how I got the black eye.’ And then don’t you think we would have cut to the footage with a chyron that said ‘4 Hours Earlier.’ Pop!”