As one of the few housewives of color on Bravo, Jen Shah is not here for the “double standard” when it comes to criticizing her onscreen behavior. The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star recently opened up about how some of her white co-stars described her actions as one of the two women of color on the show.
Jen has made her voice heard on the premiere season of RHOSLC. As the newest housewives franchise on Bravo, the new cast introduced themselves with a bang. But, Jen made the loudest bang of the bunch as she set the season on fire with her verbal catfights with the cast. In addition to arguing with Mary Cosby, Jen also became at odds with Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose, and Lisa Barlow. There were a number of scenes this season where Jen became an emotional wreck at different public events. Though she opened up about her mental health struggles on the show, she still was on the receiving end of criticism from fellow housewives.
The Tongan and Hawaiian housewife recently opened up about how she feels about allegedly being called “scary” by Meredith and Lisa Barlow. The latest episode showed a blowup at Jen’s husband’s birthday party after she reacted to being told the two housewives were reportedly “scared” of her. “It means something different to us,” Jen told Page Six this week. She went on to compare her behavior to co-star Heather Gay who also had a recent blow-up. “Heather came on there and was like, ‘I’m going to cut a bitch.’ Everyone laughed,” Jen recalled. “If I said that I’d be in handcuffs, they’d be dragging me over to the jail if I said that.” She continued. “There’s this double standard and I hope that we can get some education from it and people can make some changes… I don’t think it’s coming from a place of being malicious. I think it’s coming from a place of ignorance.”
In addition to being one of two housewives of color on the show, she is also raising two Black sons. The reality star shared how her reality with raising a family of color is much different than her white co-stars. She shared how she drives along the road whenever her son goes for a run at night. “I’m afraid they’re going to see a black boy,” she said. “And they’re going to think, ‘Oh, my gosh, he’s robbing someone’s house and running away.’ You hear those stories all the time. And as a mom, it scares the crap out of me.” She also prevented her oldest son from doing a road trip to Las Vegas because she thought cops would accuse him of driving a stolen luxury car.
“These are the things I have to deal with that my [white] castmates don’t,” the Bravo star explained. “That’s why it’s for me it’s so hard, it’s so dangerous to label a person of color or to accuse them of something when they’re just freely throwing around terms.” It was recently revealed that the show was greenlit for season two. We’re sure Jen will be back for vengeance next time around.
