Real Housewives of Orange County's Shannon Reveals Her Husband's Mistress Befriended Her: "It's So F--ked Up"

Shannon says her husband's mistress befriended her during the affair

By Chris Harnick Aug 11, 2015 1:33 PMTags
The Real Housewives of Orange County, TRHOOC, Shannon BeadorPaul Drinkwater/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank

Shannon Beador continues to put it all on the table on The Real Housewives of Orange County. Shannon, who is back for her second season on the Bravo reality show, has been open about her husband's affair. She has discussed it in her confessionals and brought cameras to her couples counseling, but she has yet to discuss the matter with her cast mates other than Vicki Gunvalson. This has made for some refreshingly real conversation between the two and some shocking revelations.

While on vacation in Mo'orea, Shannon revealed David's affair began shortly before she met Vicki, Heather Dubrow and Tamra Judge last season. And it went on for a while—"a good eight months." In her confessional, Vicki said she knew something was up when Shannon and David joined her and Brooks Ayers in Mexico last season. "David was really checked out. It wasn't surprising to me," Vicki said of learning about the affair.

"It was a long time and a lot of lies," Shannon said. And the length of the affair isn't the worst part.

"I became friends with her when it was going on, which I think is demented and sick," Shannon said. The mistress and Shannon even spoke about the state of her marriage.

"It's such a big form of betrayal," she said. "It's so f—ked up."

In her Bravo blog, Shannon revealed she didn't recall having that conversation with Vicki until watching that episode. "When David left me and moved out last June, Vicki dropped everything and took me to dinner to be there for me. I will never forget that because it was absolutely the worst day of my life," she wrote. "I had no recollection of my conversation with Vicki until I saw it on the episode. It brings up a lot of emotion in me."

"I knew something very different was going on in my marriage when I first met Vicki, but never in my wildest dreams did I think that my husband was having an affair. What made it so difficult for me was that his mistress infiltrated my life, befriended me, and vocally displayed an interest in my marriage. That is the ultimate violation of the title of this episode ‘Girl Code,'" she said in her blog. "I thought I was gaining a friend, but she was basically acting, only interested in gathering information for the benefit of her affair with my husband."

In her conversation with Vicki, Shannon said she and David would not be where they are today had his affair not happened. "David has chosen me. We are in an amazing place. And our family is happily living together as one unit. I am grateful for Vicki's friendship and appreciate that she has respected my request to not tell the other women about my painful experiences in the last year," she said.

The Real Housewives of Orange County airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo.

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)

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