Bravo chief Andy Cohen is involved in the lives of all Housewives past and present. As the executive producer of all franchises, he is the unofficial spokesperson for all things Bravo, and Housewives are his main focus.
When Jen Shah surprised everyone and ended up in court Monday to change the plea in her fraud case, the media wanted to know everything about it – including what all of her castmates, and her boss, thought of her decision.
Andy is speaking out on how he feels about Jen’s decision and how he feels about her now.
Andy Cohen admitted he doesn’t know how to feel about the news
On Monday, Andy was on-air with his SiriusXM show, Radio Andy, as news broke that Jen Shah had decided to change her plea to guilty for her upcoming wire fraud trial. When the news broke, of course, he had thoughts.
“I don’t know how to feel about this, Jen Shah pleading guilty,” Andy told co-host John Hill, who was a guest on his show that morning. John said, “Right, when you say you’re guilty of something, it may mean you’re guilty.”
Andy sounded like he was giving Jen the serious benefit of reasonable doubt when he said, “All it means is she’s changing her plea.”
Andy went on to say that he thinks Jen is a nice person, and even with all of the chaos in her life, she took time out to celebrate Andy’s new baby daughter. “And I was like, ‘Jen Shah, with everything you have going on, that you thought to send to send Lucy a gift…,'” he told Hill. “I just thought that was so nice of her.”
Andy made the obvious comparison of Jen Shah to Teresa Giudice
Teresa Giudice, the OG of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, infamously spent time in prison after being charged with fraud in 2014. She was later released and returned to RHONJ with open arms from Andy and the network.
Andy admitted, “I also think what I’ve found regarding viewer response to some of these moments that have happened, some of the viewers are more outraged when there are… actual victims that you can look at.” and continued, “When you look at Joe Giudice defrauding the government of some tax money, I think you wind up getting more upset when you know that there are victims.”
There were many victims of the crimes Jen Shah has admitted to, many over the age of 55 and on a fixed income.
With Jen changing her plea, she will avoid a lengthy and expensive trial but face up to 168 months in prison and large monetary restitution. While she awaits sentencing in November, Bravo cameras continue to roll on Jen and her family, which will be a major storyline for RHOSLC Season 3.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is currently on hiatus on Bravo.