Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse for Real Housewives of Orange County star Shannon Beador…they have.
To recap: After her messy divorce from ex-husband David Beador, the very fraught fallout and aftermath of which we witnessed on RHOC, Shannon dated John Janssen for three and a half years before breaking up in November 2022. Then she got a DUI, and in press interviews since then she’s alluded to “toxic people” being the cause of the downward spiral that led to said DUI. Then Janssen started dating another former Orange County housewife, Alexis Bellino, whom he’s back on the show with, and Shannon’s co-star Tamra Judge, who used to feud with Bellino, kinda-sorta took Bellino’s side in the whole thing, which led to a falling out between Beador and Judge.
During her relationship with Janssen, Shannon experienced a very public makeover (I hate that word but struggle to find a better one), in which she gained weight and lost weight and got fillers and had fillers removed, et cetera. Towards the end of her relationship with Janssen she was looking markedly better than when she was going through her divorce, and we were all very relieved.
Well, now, Janssen is taking credit for some of that glow-up, as he’s suing her for the $75,000 he says he paid for Beador to get a facelift, which he claims she hasn’t repaid him. The lawsuit alleges that Beador asked him for help while they were still together in early 2022, so he wired her $40,000, then gave her a personal check for another $35,000. He claims both of these amounts were given as loans and it was agreed Beador would pay them back with interest.
Beador gave this statement to PEOPLE:
“I am shocked and disappointed that John has filed a lawsuit. My attorney has been in constant communication with his counsel. I agreed to pay John what he wanted because I knew that attorneys fees would surpass the amount sought, but more importantly to eliminate the negative emotional components that come with a lawsuit. It is important that I continue to focus on the positive aspects of my life and move forward…John declined the offer becauase he refused to sign a mutal nondisparagement agreement. I was hoping that if I met his baseless demand we could at least use this as an opportunity to bring complete closure to this chapter in my life.”
She also claims that the money Janssen gave her was offered as a “gift,” which Janssens attorneys dispute.
“Ms. Beador’s defense that Mr. Janssen paid her the $75,000 as a ‘gift’ is completely meritless, which their e-mails and text messages will show. Mr. Janssen is saddened that Ms. Beador’s unwillingness to repay the loans made it necessary to file this lawsuit,” they said.
…Aaaand all of this is between seasons of RHOC, so we’re still in the dark as to how much of it we’ll witness on the new season.
