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Credit: Charles Sykes/Bravo
Angie Katsanevas’ husband Shawn Trujillo addressed the cheating allegations, which, according to castmate Monica Garcia, were spread by Meredith Marks, and who he blames for it.
He also shared where he stands with Whitney Rose, who first addressed the situation on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, and he revealed what it was like to tell his daughter about the rumors.
According to the unsubstantiated gay rumor, Shawn was cheating on Angie with multiple boyfriends in Salt Lake City. Both Shawn and Angie have denied this is the case.
Speaking on Behind The Velvet Rope With David Yontef podcast, Shawn addressed why he was so emotional in the scene with his wife while they discussed the rumor.
“The emotion for me was, you know, the initial thing was anger, right? So somebody that has the, I guess, the wherewithal to make up a lie like that. So I was angry to start. And then it quickly flipped to my daughter. My thoughts started to move towards her,” he said. “The last thing that I’d ever want her to think is that I would do something like that to her mother. So for me, that’s where the emotion flipped. And anyone will be able to tell you that it’s hard for me to even mention her name without getting emotional.”
He then shared what it was like to tell his daughter about the situation.
“We were able to address it with her and it was a real organic conversation. I think you’ll see some of that,” he expressed. “[I asked myself] how long do I have to hold on to this information before I have to have a sit down with her and let her know what’s happening so she’s not caught off guard at school with friends or whatever. So that led to the emotion as well. We had an amazing conversation. She is so grounded and smart … She chuckled. She had a really good time with it. And you know, it was fun.”
When asked if they considered quitting the show after the cheating allegation, Shawn declared: “We never once thought of quitting the show … The one thing that we don’t do is let people win in that kind of way. You know, I will say that there are roller coaster moments where it’s like, oh my God, what have we done? … but yet nobody’s gonna beat us like that.”
He then addressed the idea that people can lie on the show. “People can continue to lie and that’s the unfortunate thing. Right? … And then when you’re in a more public platform, the hard part is anything can get legs … I do know that there’s probably going to be other stuff as we get down the road here. And that’s okay.”
Shawn claimed he and Angie aren’t upset with Whitney for bringing up the rumor on camera, but he suggested that Meredith and Monica were “both responsible in their own way. Meredith, as you’ve seen from seasons past, she’s always the one that’ll plant the seed and then she’s always got somebody that’ll run away with it and that’s similar to what happened here. And you know, I say shame on both of them.”
Shawn was also asked about the backlash against Meredith over the idea that she would out someone’s sexuality. After the episode aired, Meredith filmed a scene with her son Brooks, who recently opened up about breaking up with his boyfriend, and some fans claimed Meredith was using her son’s sexuality to defend herself against the backlash.
“My opinion is that there were some strategic conversations behind the scenes. And I believe that after that episode aired, there was a whole bunch of back-peddling happening. And you know, she’s a smart woman. And I think she took the opportunity to leverage her son and things like that, knowing that this didn’t land quite the way they wanted it to,” he said. “My thought is, you know, if I were a cheater and if that were a thing, say that. Don’t make it about sexuality. I think they tried to do that to, you know, push the knife in a little bit deeper and it didn’t land the way they wanted it to.”
Shawn hinted, however, that Meredith perhaps didn’t plant the seed: “Maybe Monica made it up. And then there was some conversations back and forth and you know, we’re still really unclear where it exactly came from.”
He eventually stated, “My perspective on this is that [Monica’s] using this as an opportunity to create storyline for herself … There’s not a lot of logical thinking that happens when she starts battling it out with people. So she’s willing to go as low as she absolutely can to hurt, destroy or defame anybody on the cast. Nobody’s exempt … And you know, she certainly doesn’t run around in the … the gay community that we participate in Salt Lake City. So, to me, it’s just a blatant lie to create story and just try to hurt somebody.”
Regarding Monica’s on-screen fights with her mother, Shawn expressed, “I would just never bring [my parents] on a national television to try to expose the situation in that kind of way. You know, for me, it’s just reckless, it’s messy … So for me, I questioned the character of this person.”
Shawn then doubled down on the claim that Meredith is no longer welcome in their home. “When somebody comes for our character, our money, our family … they don’t get a second chance with me,” he explained, “If Angie ever tried to convince me that she needs to have Meredith here for any particular reason, I will not be here for that. So I will not engage in any kind of a relationship with her moving forward.”
Reacting to Monica’s claim that she went to the ER after falling down Angie and Shawn’s basement stars – which allegedly weren’t up to code – Shawn stated, “I didn’t know that happened when we [had] that party … To me, it’s just another layer of the messiness and the weeds that she’s willing to get into to sort of create and perpetuate certain narratives that make her a victim … I don’t want anybody to get hurt in my house, but the way our house is designed, we can do whatever we want with it.”
He went on to say, “I’m sorry that she fell, but I can’t take responsibility for that. From what I understand from some of the people that kind of witnessed the thing, it was just like she slid down on her butt. So it’s like, I don’t know how legs and stuff like that got involved.”
Live Viewing Thread – This is also the live viewing thread for tonight’s RHOSLC season four episode. Feel free to chat and comment below as the episode airs tonight on Bravo at 9/8c.
