Heather Gay is finally speaking her truth.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star stirred up quite a controversy and a rather in-depth mystery last year when she showed up on set with a black eye.
At the time, Gay refused to explain how she got this injury.
A few weeks ago on air, however, Gay pointed her finger at Jen Shah.
“I had to ride hard for [Jen] and I had to lie for her,” Gay told her colleagues, simply saying the wound was caused during some sort of night out with Shah.
She didn’t provide any further details.
“I blacked out. I don’t know what happened. … I cannot speak to anything other than I walked to my room and I blacked out and I woke up with a black eye,” Gay added, emphasizing, though, that Shah was the culprit.
Shah, of course, is serving a five-year sentence behind federal bars for orchestrating a nationwide telemarketing scheme.
This past Tuesday night, meanwhile, Gay was asked for more on the incident by Andy Cohen during part three of the show’s reunion special.
“Honestly, it was a lot of drinking and the next morning I woke up with the black eye, I knew I’d gotten it from Jen,” Heather told Cohen.
“I didn’t know how, but I knew I’d gotten it from Jen. She was the first person I texted, she came in the room, she said, ‘Did I give that to you?’ I said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll cover.’”
Gay admitted she covered for Shah out of fear.
“I had been covering for her for three years. I wasn’t going to to stop with the black eye. I was that in,” Gay continued.
“And I was too scared to say anything. I was terrified to say it, I was still scared to say it at reunion, I was still scared to say it in Bermuda.”
Gay did finally come clean during the aforementioned episode, which took place in Bermuda, because she was calling out Monica Garcia (who has since been fired by Bravo) at the time.
Gay went on to apologize to her cast members during the reunion, along with the network and audience for lying about the bruise for so long.
“I didn’t know how to navigate it myself. It was a horrible situation … I was scared and I did what I always do, I deflect with humor. It was in poor taste, it was horrible,” she said on air.
And when it comes to Shah?
“She was never my friend. She pretended to be my friend and I fell for it. I will not fall for a pretend friend again. I’m still worried about the retaliation.”
The reunion segment wrapped up with Cohen giving Gay the chance to send a message to the imprisoned Shah.
“I would say, I’m no longer your bitch and I regret believing in you. I regret turning on all of you in her defense.
“I regret fighting her fight, I regret disrespecting my children, my family and my opportunity here. And I would say I’m glad you’re in prison, or I might not have had the guts to do it otherwise.”
Shah, for her part, actually fired back last month at Gay.
“BRAVO, if I punched Heather in her eye, you guys would have footage to prove it,” wrote Shah on social media.
“It’s clear the show can’t live without me since I was brought up at the beginning, middle and end of season 4.”
