The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City aired Part 3 of the Reunion Special on Sunday night.
All season long, Jen Shah’s intense legal troubles have been a hot topic of discussion — and a source of pain for her family.
Sitting down with her castmates (but not Mary) and Andy, Jen opened up about the charges and her experience.
Unlike all of her alleged co-conspirators, Jen is not changing her plea to “guilty.”
There were some aspects of her case that Jen could not, for obvious reasons, discuss.
She can’t discuss her defense strategy. She can’t get into what she would say to her former assistant.
But what Jen could tell Andy Cohen and her castmates and the audience was where she stands.
“I’m fighting this. I am innocent,” Jen insisted at the Reunion.
“And I will fight for every person out there that can’t fight for themselves,” she claimed.
“Because they don’t have the resources or the means,” Jen continued, “so they don’t fight.”
“I will fight because No. 1, I’m innocent,” Jen went on.
“And No. 2, I’m going to f–king represent every other person out there,” she added.
Jen characterized her defense as one on behalf of those “that can’t fight and hasn’t been able to.”
Obviously, not everyone has been Team Jen this season, and understandably so.
In addition to a lot of personal issues, a lot of her cast mates have hinted (or outright said) that they suspect that she is guilty as charged.
However, that doesn’t mean that no one is giving her any emotional support.
“I love Jen. I don’t care if she’s guilty or not,” Heather Gay announced.
“I believe her, too. And I want the best for her and her family and I’ll be in court every day and I will fight for her,” she continued.
“She’s in the fight of her life,” Heather acknowledged. “We got your back. We love you.”
Jen pleaded not guilty to the federal charges against her.
She has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundrering.
Recently, as we reported, Jen got a new trial date of July 2022 rather than March.
Stuart Smith, of course, changed his not guilty plea in November of 2021, pleading guilty to three charges against him.
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with telemarketing, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstructing an official proceeding.
It is widely speculated that the volume of guilty pleas in association with this case will be very bad for Jen.
Jen described this entire experience as “devastating,” but added a positive spin to it.
“You’re stronger than you think you are,” she observed.
“If you can get through the impact of the initial news or whatever you’re going through,” Jen advised, “you’re going to be OK.”
Jen did affirm that, despite the trauma of the situation, she felt that his had in some wasy brought her family closer together.
She also acknowledged the horror of her son being held at gun point by law enforcement, despite no charges against him.
Whatever viewers may think of Jen, we all know how easily that situation could have turned into a tragedy. No one should go through that.