Real Housewives Fans Blast Star For ‘Messy’ Black Eye Storyline

Heather Gay

Bravo Heather Gay at the RHOSLC season 3 reunion.

“Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” fans are not buying Heather Gay’s explanation for the black eye she got while on a cast trip to San Diego. During the first part of the RHOSLC season 3 reunion that aired January 24, 2023, Gay was grilled about her shiner by host Andy Cohen, but she was all over the place with her responses, which frustrated viewers.

Here’s what you need to know:


Heather Gay Admitted She Doesn’t Know What Happened & Blamed Her Mormon Guilt for Her Cover-Up

rhoslc cast

Charles Sykes/BravoTHE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF SALT LAKE CITY — “Reunion” — Pictured: (l-r) Heather Gay, Andy Cohen, Whitney Rose, Lisa Barlow —

On the first part of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” season 3 reunion, Gay, 40, was in the hot seat as Cohen tried to get to the bottom of the mysterious black eye she turned up with after a night out with her co-stars in San Diego.

Gay admitted that she “blacked out” that night and doesn’t “know how it happened.” The Beauty Lab + Laser founder revealed that she woke up the next morning with no recollection of what took place and feared that if her cast mates knew she didn’t remember, they would use the opportunity to “rewrite the narrative” regarding what happened to her.

Cohen noted that an investigation was launched in an attempt to determine how Gay was injured, but nothing was found. The Bravo host also confirmed that there was “no additional footage” available from the evening that could have helped with the investigation.

“When production came into my room, I told them, ‘I have no idea, I have no memory,’” Gay said. “And then it spun out of control after that.  I take full responsibility, and I’m really sorry.”

The mom of three added that she never intended to “implicate anyone here, anyone on production,” and that her waffling on the story was due to her “own guilt and shame about blacking out and not being able to explain it.” She added that she still feels a lot of Mormon “shame” for drinking to the point of blacking out.

While some of her co-stars think she may have been covering for her friend Jen Shah, Gay said she confided in Shah the next morning because she “trusted” that she could help her come up with a cover story for the accident. She reiterated that she still does not know what happened to her eye.

Cast member Angie Katsanevas noted that after Gay’s black eye was exposed, she noticed that Shah was “quiet” and kept to herself.  “I had a very dark feeling that there was something that they knew that they weren’t sharing with the rest of the group,” she said.

On social media, fans reacted to Gay’s explanation, and many weren’t buying it.

“Nooooooo  OMG you really came to the couch with ‘I don’t know what happened’?! And ‘Mormon guilt’ about your drinking?? Come onnnnnn  Ugh, I really really reeeeeeally was hoping you were going to redeem yourself tonight. I held out so much hope for a Hail Mary from you. You didn’t,” one viewer wrote to Gay.

“Why is it so hard for you to just be truthful and honest with people? You have talked in circles, contradicted yourself and flat out lied,” another wrote.

“Heather, girl, you need to stop lying for once,” another viewer wrote. “Mormon or not, girl, just stop lying. Or at least stop trying to make other people look bad for your behavior, and if someone did assault you, then tell the name of the actual person who did it. But you flip-flopping back and forth then coming out and using your Mormon culture status is BS!”

“Blackout’ ‘Investigation’ ‘Didn’t want an investigation’ Story line is dwindling down so is it possible you did it to yourself for a storyline? Too messy,” another wrote.


Heather Gay Previously Teased That She was ‘Waiting With the Rest of America’ to See What Happened

Gay first displayed her unexplained black eye at the tail end of a December 2022 episode of RHOSLC. On the December 21, 2022 episode, “White Lies and Black Eyes,” she waffled on her explanation for the injury, first claiming she didn’t know what happened and later saying that both she and someone else also knew and didn’t “want to talk about it.”

“I didn’t say I don’t remember how it happened, I just said I’m not talking about it,” Gay teased. “It’s first rule about fight club.”

Gay also claimed she didn’t “want to get anyone in trouble,” before asking Shah to help her come up with “a cover story.”  In a confessional, she told producers she was trying to protect “herself.”

In December 2022, Gay told Us Weekly she was “waiting with the rest of America” to see clues as to how she got the black eye. She also downplayed the injury.  “Listen, it’s not the first time I’ve had a black eye,” the Real Housewives star said. “It’s probably not gonna be the last time I’ve had a black eye. You know, you wake up with a black eye, you move on, you make the best of it.”

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