'RHOC's' Shannon Beador and Heather Dubrow's Beef Explained
Updated Aug. 3 2023, 2:50 p.m. ET
When it comes to disagreements, The Real Housewives of Orange County cast always understands the assignment. And, unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for the ladies to turn from friends to foes quickly.
In Season 17 of RHOC, OG Heather Dubrow is once again fighting with her on-again, off-again friend Shannon Storms Beador. After a previous season of feuding, Shannon and Heather are back to where they started following Heather’s comments about Shannon’s boyfriend, John Janssen.
So what did Shannon do to Heather? Keep reading to find out!
What did Shannon Beador do to Heather Dubrow on ‘The Real Housewives of Orange County’?
During Season 17 of RHOC, Shannon and Heather finally seemed to be on the same page. Heather even shared in confessionals that she was worried their friendship might change amid the return of one of Shannon’s “Tres Amiga,” Tamra Judge, who returned for Season 17 after a two-year hiatus. However, as the season continued, Heather and Shannon began having problems regarding Shannon’s romance with her then-boyfriend, John Janssen.
In Season 17, Ep. 9, “Loose Lips and Relationships,” Tamra, Shannon, and RHOC alum Vicki Gunvalson went to dinner for a “Tres Amigas” reunion. As the ladies enjoyed a few cocktails, Tamra revealed to Shannon that Heather had been talking about her and John’s relationship with two of their co-stars, Emily Simpson and Gina Kirschenheiter.
“Can I be honest with you?” Tamra asked Shannon during the outing. “Evidently, Heather’s been telling Emily and Gina that the relationship with you and John is s--t.”
Shannon asked Tamra to explain further what Heather said about her relationship. Tamra said she only knew that things were “not good” between them, and Shannon became visibly upset as she stressed Heather’s gossip could “destroy” her and John’s relationship.
“You guys don’t know what this is gonna do, that’s all,” Shannon said to the crew members in the scene. “If someone’s talking about arguments that we had — not OK. He is, like, super private, and he’s gonna f–--king lose it.”
Shannon then called Heather multiple expletives, including “motherf---er,” and said she has nothing for her frenemy other than her middle finger whenever she sees her again.
Heather Dubrow had nothing negative to say about Shannon and John’s relationship on camera.
Although Heather reportedly told Emily and Gina that Shannon and John were having problems, she told Tamra the exact opposite about their situation on camera. In another Season 17, Ep. 9 scene, Tamra and Heather met for lunch and discussed Shannon’s relationship.
Tamra told Heather that Shannon and John seemed “super happy” and stated she had gone out boxing with them. After taking a subtle but intense pause, Heather agreed that John and Shannon seemed happy was vastly different from what she apparently told Gina and Emily. Heather also denied saying anything about Shannon’s boyfriend, though Tamra isn’t buying it.
“Interesting, Heather, because you’ve told me the complete opposite, and you’ve talked s--t to Emily and Gina as well,” Tamra said in a confessional. “I don’t know if Heather has forgotten what she has said in the past, but I wanna test her — see how far she’ll lie.”
Gina tells Heather about the rumors Shannon has been spreading about Nicole's lawsuit against Terry.
Heather and Shannon came to blows during ‘RHOC’ Season 16.
While Heather denies saying anything untoward about Shannon and John’s relationship, the drama came after their previous altercation in Season 16.
Early in the season, Shannon revealed on camera that Heather’s friend Nicole James received a botched breast augmentation from Heather’s husband, Terry Dubrow, that she, in turn, sued him for. We later learned that Nicole’s lawsuit was dropped almost immediately, but the allegation made waves among the Housewives.
Heather, Nicole, and Shannon on 'RHOC'
The drama continues when the Dubrows throw an extravagant dinner party, and all hell breaks loose. Gina told Heather about the rumors that were circulating about her husband. Enraged, Heather immediately confronts Terry with the information and threatens to quit the show.
Nicole was previously romantically tied to Kid Rock and married to Roman James, who filed for divorce in 2018. Although Nicole and Heather have known each other for nearly a decade, Nicole’s surgery predates their friendship.
Heather told StyleCaster that she was blindsided by news of Nicole’s lawsuit and blamed producers.
Heather explained, “If there’s a piece of information that can help someone and you need to tell them, you do it at an appropriate time. Something that happened almost 20 years ago, [a lawsuit] that was dropped that there was nothing to do about. Why is this a thing?”
The RHOC star said that she “felt betrayed” by Bravo, but she puts most of the blame on Shannon. “You’ve been on the show eight years, Shannon. You know when you tell someone, it’s going to get back.”
Shannon, Heather, and Gina discuss the rumors surrounding Nicole's lawsuit against Terry.
“One has to know when you’re on a reality show, when you’re having conversations, whether it’s on or off-camera, those are conversations that will be on the show,” she added. “There’s a code in this show. You don’t go after each other’s kids and you don’t go after careers. I thought this was a huge violation in some ways of both.”
Heather soon forgave Nicole and, with time, also forgave Shannon, or so we thought. After their most recent dispute, it seems like Heather was possibly holding onto Shannon’s rumor for a while now.
New episodes of The Real Housewives of Orange County air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on Bravo.
