Havy/Brravo Linda Darnell.
Monica Garcia’s mom, Linda Darnell, denied her daughter’s claim that she prayed she would become a cast member on “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”
Following the second part of the RHOSLC reunion on January 16, Darnell posted to X to shut down her daughter’s story—and call her a liar.
“Everything Monica says about me is a lie or half-truth,” Darnell wrote. “I NEVER applied/auditioned. Not S4 or any other. I’m an award-winning journalist and TV producer. That was the TV job in NYC –News Journalist/Producer. I already had the job. Reality TV is not my cup of tea. #RHOSLC.”
Darnell also shared screenshots of an alleged text thread with her daughter, dated February 16, 2023, in which Darnell insisted the Bravo reality show didn’t need her on it. “I need you,” came a response that appeared to be from Garcia.
“And I wanna be there for you. 100%. But I ain’t selling my soul,” Darnell apparently wrote.
Monica Garcia Claimed Her Mother ‘Said a Prayer’ to Get on RHOSLC
During the season 4 reunion taping, Garcia claimed her mother abandoned her to move to New York when she was 12. Host Andy Cohen asked Garcia, “What career did your mom go pursue when she left you in Pennsylvania?”
“Television,” Garcia replied. “Well, she got on TV,” Cohen said.
Some of Garcia’s co-stars said it seemed as though Darnell “wanted to be in Monica’s shoes.” “I was just going to say, for someone who left her 12-year-old to pursue a career in television, do we think her mom was kind of auditioning to be a housewife a little bit?” Cohen asked.
Garcia alleged that her mom prayed on it. Garcia explained that after her final audition with producers, she felt she “bombed” her own chances. “I totally effed up. I totally bombed it,” she recalled, adding, “My mom said, ‘Let’s say a prayer.’ And then she prayed that she would get it instead,” Garcia explained.
“She literally said, “Lord, if it’s not Monica, let it be me. Somehow, just let it be me instead,’” Garcia claimed.
On January 17, Cohen addressed Garcia’s claims on his Sirius XM show “Radio Andy.” “I felt really bad hearing her story,” Cohen told co-host John Hill. “And I believe every moment of her saying that when she thought that she botched her audition they prayed for Monica to get on the show, and then the mother at the end of the prayer said, ‘And if you don’t get cast let them cast me.’ And let me tell you something, I believe that that with every fiber of my being. My heart went out to Monica. I was like ‘Oh wow, that is rough.'”
Darnell previously posted to X to claim that she never wanted to be part of RHOSLC.
“Monica begged me to do this reality show with her. Begged,” she wrote in October 2023. “I didn’t want to do it. She told me all I had to do was cook and speak Portuguese. How did she return the favor? She did me dirty. Meanwhile, I would never compete with my only child–unless it’s sports. I’m too smart to try to go up against Monica, she’d chew me up and spit me out.”
“Lastly, I never abandoned her. I always put her needs above my own, even in her adulthood,” Darnell added.
Monica Garcia is Not Speaking to Her Mother
PeacockLinda Darnell and Monica Garcia.
As of the reunion taping, Garcia claimed she had not spoken to her mother since the season wrapped. She also reacted to her mom tweeting about the show.
“It’s honestly worse than I could have imagined,” Garcia said. “I knew that filming was going to be hard, and I knew that you guys were going to see some [expletive] because that is our relationship. But what my mom has done after online is, like, worse.”
Darnell’s mother has tweeted about episodes of the show and has called out her daughter multiple times. “Monica’s broken and anger is misdirected,” Darnell wrote in January 2024. “Her deep-rooted issues are with her biological father, not me. He broke her heart, not me.”
Despite their bad blood, Garcia said she does not regret joining the show or bringing her mom along to film. “I think my relationship with her has always been pretty volatile,” she told People. “I don’t regret bringing her on.”
The RHOSLC star added, “I think it’s something that people need to see, honestly, to not feel alone. … I definitely don’t regret it.”
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