Jen Shah is threatening to sue Heather Gay, Andy Cohen and Bravo for defamation and slander if she is directly accused of giving her former co-star and friend a black eye during the “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” reunion.
A rep for the Bravolebrity told Pvnew Thursday that Shah, who is currently in prison for fraud, “caught wind” of the reunion preview and “is most likely going to seek legal action” based on the “wording” used.
“If in the final cut of the three-part ‘RHOSLC’ reunion, Heather makes any direct reference to Jen Shah giving her the black eye, legal action will be taken by the Shah family against Andy Cohen, NBC Universal, Bravo, Shed Media, and Heather for slander and defamation,” they told us.
The preview for the highly anticipated reunion dropped Wednesday night, and, in it, Cohen directly asks Gay if “Jen gave [her] the black eye?”
“Yeah,” the Beauty Lab + Laser owner replies, leading the Bravo head honcho to ask her to explain “how it happened.”
Gay confirmed that Shah, 50, gave her the hefty shiner — despite previously saying she didn’t know how it happened — during the Season 4 finale aired Tuesday.
In the bombshell episode, the “Bad Mormon” author told newcomer-turned-villain Monica Garcia she felt like she “had to lie to protect” Shah amid her fraud trial.
“I did whatever it took,” Gay, 49, yelled. “I went on book tour and defended her and took s—t for the fact that she gave me a black eye.”
However, when making the apparent confession, Gay notably didn’t use Shah’s name. She also didn’t specify how she got the black eye.
“Heather makes reference to ‘she’ giving her a black eye, but does not mention Jen Shah’s name,” the rep pointed out, noting that they will likely take legal action if Gay does directly accuse Shah.
Shah’s rep also claimed that the network used “an ‘out of context’ clip to suggest that Shah was the culprit behind her black eye.”
Following the big reveal, the episode cut to a clip from Season 3 where Gay first revealed her black eye to Shah and Meredith Marks. She also had a series of scratches on her arms that she allegedly couldn’t explain.
Shocked, Marks asked Gay “when” it happened as they had all been together up until a few hours before.
“That’s what we don’t know,” Shah replied with a side glance at Gay. “We are walking through everything.”
Reps for Cohen, Gay and Bravo did not immediately respond to Pvnew’s request for comment. Meanwhile, reps for NBC Universal had no comment.
Following Gay’s confession, Shah took to her Instagram Story to combat the claim, arguing that if she had “punched Heather in her eye” then Bravo “would have footage to prove it.”
Her rep also told us that the network “conducted a full investigation after Heather was injured” but quickly closed it after they “found no record of any wrongdoing on behalf of the ladies, or Shah.”
Yet the former reality TV star believes she is being blamed for the injury because Cohen, 55, is still “butt hurt” that she turned down his offer to do a one-on-one interview following her conviction — which he brushed off on his morning radio show Wednesday.
“I had forgotten about the one-on-one with Jen,” he told listeners. “She is right. I did want to do a one-on-one with her [but] I don’t care about it anymore. I’m over it.”
Cohen claimed the reason they didn’t do the interview was due to Shah’s “insane” demands, such as a hefty payout and a docuseries about her final days of freedom.
He also responded to Shah’s assertion that Bravo was hiding footage that showed how Gay actually got the black eye.
“I don’t want to be Captain Obvious here, but if we had footage, don’t you think we would have aired it?” he asked sarcastically.
“Don’t you think we would have [shown] Heather 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 Chiron that said, ‘Four hours earlier?’”
Cohen then pointed out that just because there isn’t footage of the alleged altercation doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
Part one of the “RHOSLC” reunion airs on Jan. 9 on Bravo.
