The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’s Mary Cosby claimed that her costar Lisa Barlow didn’t check in on her after she and her son, Robert Cosby Jr., shared a vulnerable moment on the Bravo reality show.
During the Wednesday, December 4, episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, a fan wrote in to ask Mary, 52, whether her castmates had shown their “support” after Robert Jr., 21, opened up to her about his substance abuse and mental health struggles during the November 27 episode of RHOSLC.
“I’ve heard from all of them except Lisa,” Mary answered, eliciting disappointed “ooohs” from the audience.
“But, you know, I don’t expect to hear from anyone,” Mary continued. “It’s fine.”
While Lisa, 49, has not spoken up about the emotional scene, she did nod along emphatically when Andy Cohen called it “one of the most raw, real and heartwrenching” moments in Real Housewives history during a November episode of WWHL.
Lisa’s costar Heather Gay did chime in, saying the scene reminded her that people watch reality TV to see people “tell their stories and for their stories to have impact.”
During the scene in question, Robert Jr. told his mother that he’d first taken Xanax at a party when he was 16 and later began to mix the prescription anxiety medication with other drugs.
“I started buying it. Then I started doing Xanax with acid, and then Molly with Xanax, because I really like Xanax, so I mixed it with everything, Xanax and cocaine,” Robert Jr. said, adding that a “turning point” came when he began taking Oxycontin, an opioid painkiller.
“I was taking 10 [pills] at once, and I couldn’t even feel it,” he admitted. Robert Jr. also shared that he “wanted to die” at one point in his life and said his mom was the “only reason” he didn’t take his own life.
Mary broke down in tears and vowed to help her son. She told cameras during a confessional that she was “very disappointed” with herself as a parent.
“I feel like I let him down somewhere. I'm very aware, and I do know that Robert did smoke weed. I do know he would eat edibles, but yet I just trusted him in my mind, thinking that's where he would stop,” she said. “And I was clearly wrong. I mean, clearly wrong. I missed the mark.”
Season 5 of RHOSLC began filming in February, and Mary shared on Wednesday that Robert Jr. is in a much better place now.
“He did go to rehab. He stayed for a month. He completed it,” she said on WWHL. “He did an excellent job. He came out a new person.” Mary added that Robert Jr.’s wife, Alexiana Cosby, “also went to rehab” and is “still in there.”
The mother-son duo “didn’t plan” to have the candid conversation on camera.
“He didn’t plan what he was gonna say and I didn’t plan,” Mary said. “I just said what I felt.”
