Convicted on four separate drunk driving counts in February, Huger’s release comes six months ahead of schedule for what had been slated as a one-year stint.
WASHINGTON — Karen Huger will leave jail on Tuesday morning, marking an early exit from Montgomery County Corrections, ‘The Real Housewives of Potomac’ star’s legal team told WUSA9.
Convicted on four separate drunk driving counts in February, Huger’s release comes six months ahead of schedule for what had been slated as a one-year stint.
Huger was arrested in March 2024 by the Montgomery County Police after she was accused of crashed her Maserati into a median and then swerved off a road in Potomac.
An hour-long stretch of police body camera footage, released by MCPD, captured Huger’s arrest and questioning.
“Oh God, I’m lit,” Huger said as an MCPD officer led her into the Bethesda police station during her arrest.
“Yes, you are lit,” the MCPD officer said. “That’s why you’re here.”
Six months matched the amount of time the prosecution had originally requested Huger serve, although Judge Terrence McGann ruled in February to increase the sentence to one year. Before handing down his sentence, McGann pointed out Huger’s DUI crash in March of last year was her fourth drunk driving offense and said she was “filled to the gills with alcohol.”
The TV star faced five criminal charges and was found guilty on four of them; DUI, negligent driving, failure to control speed and avoid a collision, and failure to notify of address change. Huger was also found not guilty by a jury on one count of reckless driving.
Huger’s penalty will not end Tuesday though, as the reality star had also been sentenced to five years probation, with an added year behind bars if she violates the terms of the probation.
Before her conviction, Huger was a mainstay on the Bravo series, among a now-international franchise profiling the daily life and social drama of affluent women first across the United States and now around the world.
Known by fans as the Grand Dame of Potomac, 62-year-old Huger’s conviction ended her streak as one of three cast members on each season of the Montgomery County set since its premiere in 2016. The Grand Dame will be absent from season 10, set to premiere on Oct. 5, as the episodes were filmed after Huger’s conviction.
Blending reality with reality TV, Huger’s arrest became the subject of conversation on RHOP during its ninth season. The October 2024 season premiere featured a reenactment of the crash. Barred from driving, Huger’s co-stars joked about having to chaperone the Grand Dame.
“I’m driving Miss Karen,” co-star Gizelle Bryant joked in a confessional during the season nine premiere.
Huger had said she had to be more careful about what she revealed on air.
“I have to respect the law,” Huger told Bravo’s Andy Cohen, who produces the show, in October 2024. “But when I can speak about it, I plan to be open and transparent, as I always have been.”
Huger is not allowed to drive for one year after serving her sentence, based on her February conviction.
Huger is not the first Real Housewives star to have run-ins with the law. There were 16 other instances where Housewives stars encountered legal trouble. Two women — Teresa Giudice of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” and Jen Shah of the Salt Lake City show — were sentenced to jailtime.