Heather Gay finally revealed how she got her infamous black eye — and the reason is underwhelming.
via Page Six:
“I blacked out,” the reality star, 40, said on Part 1 of the “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” reunion Wednesday. “I don’t know how it happened.”
Gay’s admission came weeks after her co-stars and viewers speculated dozens of theories as to how the Bravolebrity got a serious shiner during a cast trip to San Diego.
“I woke up terrified. I had my phone plugged in, I was in pajamas,” Gay explained, adding that she was “scared” her co-stars would see it as an opportunity to “rewrite the narrative” if they knew she didn’t remember.
At the time the incident happened, Gay contradicted herself by saying she both did and didn’t remember – which left her co-stars and fans puzzled.
“I wish you had said that in the moment because it caused so much damage,” fellow “RHOSLC” star Lisa Barlow chimed in, adding that an “investigation was launched” to determine how Gay got hurt.
Host Andy Cohen clarified that Bravo did conduct an investigation, but they “didn’t find anything, and there was no additional footage.”
“When production came into my room, I told them, I said, ‘I have no idea, I have no memory,’” Gay claimed. “And then it spun out of control after that, and I take full responsibility, and I’m really sorry. It’s terrifying.”
The “Bad Mormon” author became emotional and started to cry as she explained that she felt “Mormon shame” at the “humiliating” and “terrifying” thought of blacking out and waking up with a black eye and scratches all over her.
“I know I blacked out. I woke up in a very, very high stress situation with so much shame and humiliation,” Gay said.
“There was no way to hide it, and I went to my thing, which is just humor and make it go away, and it didn’t go away, but I certainly do not want to implicate anyone here, anyone on production – it’s my own guilt and shame about blacking out and not being able to explain it.”
Gay also addressed one fan theory that Jen Shah “punched” her after drinking too much, which was fueled by the pair having a suspicious conversation the morning after the incident.
“I trusted her the most for coming up with a cover story when you blackout and you have a black eye,” Gay explained in response to why she talked to Shah, 49, first the next day.
“If I knew Jen did that, I would cover it up, but that was not my intention – I was blacked out.”
The mom of three further detailed that the last thing she remembers from the Marilyn Monroe-themed night was “joking around with the boobs” with Shah, going to her room and taking off her blonde wig.
“I don’t remember anything that I saw unfold on footage,” Gay said, referring to Shah, Meredith Marks and Angie Katsanevas being filmed entering her room right before 5 a.m.
Gay explained that she had hoped to hear or see something that would jog her memory but, unfortunately, she’s still as in the dark as she was when she first got the black eye.
“Anything could’ve happened, and I assumed when I was on a show with cameras and a cast that somebody would give me the trigger that would make me remember, and I still don’t know how I got it,” the Beauty Lab and Laser founder continued.
Cohen then turned to the rest of her castmates and asked for their thoughts on what happened.
Gay’s cousin and former best friend Whitney Rose – who previously denied being the source of the injury – said she thought Gay had an “accident” while she was intoxicated or that Shah “hit her.”
Katsanevas, 48, agreed and claimed that Shah was “quiet to herself” the next day that gave her a “very dark feeling that there was something that they knew that they weren’t sharing with the rest of the group.”
Meanwhile, Marks, 51, said she was “surprised” when Gay told her that she had blacked out because she “didn’t think anyone had that much to drink.”
Part 2 of the ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ reunion airs Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
