Either Bravo has connections at the Department of Justice or luck is simply on their side, but Real Housewives Karen Huger and Jen Shah’s prison sentence keep getting shorter and shorter.
Shah, the former The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star, is currently serving a sentence in Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas. She was initially sentenced to a six and a half years for money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2022, but has since seen her sentencing reduced three times, culminating in a current release date of Nov 3, 2026.
Meanwhile Huger, an OG Housewife of The Real Housewives of Potomac who was sentenced to two years in prison for driving while intoxicated, will be released next week on September 3rd after serving just over six months.
Both Housewives' impending release dates raise questions about their future in the Bravo-verse.
The network is no stranger to welcoming Bravo-lebs back into the fold after they serve time or engage in (to put it lightly) ethically dubious behavior. Famously, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice came back to the show after 11 months for tax fraud. And while not sentenced herself, Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Erika Jayne was heavily legally enmeshed in the crimes of her estranged husband, Tom Girardi, who was found guilty in August 2024 of stealing tens of millions of dollars from his clients, including the families of victims of a 2010 plane crash in Indonesia.
Shah's arrest made national national news and shook up the Bravo world when it initially happened, even intersecting in the filming of RHOSLC when the FBI raided a Housewives-occupied sprinter van in search of Shah (who had already fled the scene). Shah maintained her innocence throughout the rest of the season, but eventually pleaded guilty, leading to the vocal frustration of her cast mates and boss, Andy Cohen.
Cohen even called Shah out for her lies and social media antics after she accused Cohen of being "butt hurt" over her self-professed refusal to do a one-on-one interview (Cohen countered that her stipulations for the sit down were "insane").
Still, though, many fans of RHOSLC have an interest in seeing Shah back in the fold. Only time will tell, though, if the network (or Shah's former cast mates) will allow her back. It's possible that her crimes, which largely affected the elderly, were too far for even the ever-messy Bravo cinematic universe.
As for Huger, the 10th season of RHOP just wrapped filming without the Grand Dame of Potomac, so we'll (sadly) be missing her potential return to the franchise (unless Andy swoops in with the camera, as he's known to do). Knowing Bravo, it's hard to imagine Huger not returning to the show for a redemption arc, unless she chooses to forgo a return herself.
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