Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo, Abaca Press/INSTARimages
While also suspecting that her former boyfriend John Janssen, 62, didn’t want to settle his $75,000 lawsuit against her, looking ahead to The Real Housewives of Orange County season 19, and reacting to Gina Kirschenheiter‘s unexpected loyalty, Shannon, 60, explained her “real life” comment, dished on dating and moving, and shared where she stands with Alexis.
“Nowhere,” Shannon confirmed on the October 31 episode of The Viall Files.
Although Shannon said that she does want to put John’s lawsuit behind her, she said she didn’t “know if the other side wants to put it to bed.”
She then made it clear that if Alexis was to return for season 19, she would not be seen with her on-camera.
“If everyone wants to bring Alexis back, have a nice time with her. I’m not filming with her ever again,” she shared. “I’m not gonna put myself through that again. It was really, really difficult.”
Looking back at a comment Alexis recently made in which she suggested that she too had a hard time filming season 18 with Shannon, Shannon pointed out that Alexis didn’t need to be there before noting that she “took her place” on RHOC years ago.
“I took her place, sorry, and I’m still here after 10 years. Who knows if I’m here for year 11 but for now, 10 seasons and I’m still sitting here,” she declared. “I think it’s pretty clear that it was a lot for me. I don’t know that I really said anything unkind.”
Following the 17th season of RHOC, which saw Shannon being highly critical of Gina, 40, who had gotten a DUI, the woman struck up a friendship, which Shannon admitted to being taken aback by.
“Absolutely … [And] I feel badly for not accepting her. Because for a while, right after her divorce, we did spend time together and I really enjoyed her,” she shared. “I feel badly for everything that I did to her that was unkind. We have an amazing friendship right now, we really do. And I feel horrible about the stuff that’s coming out right now [about Gina’s boyfriend Travis Mullen] on the show. As soon as that comes up, I don’t want to talk about it cuz it’s gonna be on the show.”
“I don’t want to hurt her so I just shut down,” she added of claims that Gina quit drinking after pushing Travis down the stairs.
Shannon also felt bad about sharing an old text with Tamra Judge, 57, in which an alleged past lawsuit against Jennifer Pedranti‘s fiance, Ryan Boyajian, 46, was discussed.
“Me talking about that all of the sudden sheds light on it and I felt really badly about that,” she stated.
Shannon was then questioned about the scene in which she discussed RHOC and her “real life.”
“There are certain cast mates that might not show you everything but I do. So what I meant by that statement was, when the show’s over and I’m not getting along with this person, I can not speak to them until we film again. You can shut it off. I can’t shut it off,” she explained. “I still have a lawsuit. There are still things going on that I can’t just say, ‘Okay, we’re not filming anymore and I don’t have to deal with it for a couple months. And that’s what I meant.”
Also, during the podcast appearance, Shannon confirmed she’s “moving this week” and offered an update on her dating life after flying to Mexico to film Love Island, an upcoming series on Peacock.
“Where I am today, I don’t know that I would have gotten to this point if all the things hadn’t happened,” she shared. “So at some point, I’ll say I’m super grateful for it all. If I can say I’m happy today that’s a good thing. I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier. And I’m by myself. And that’s the thing.”
“I didn’t go on a date for a year because I wanna know that I will be okay. I want to find that partner but if I don’t, I’m gonna be okay by myself,” she noted. “I don’t know that I’m ready for a relationship right now and I think that’s okay. I want to have fun … I did meet people on the show and I’ll just leave it at that.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County season 18 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Bravo.