Mary Cosby Wants Jen Shah Erased From Real Housewives History

If there are two "Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" stars who majorly clashed on the show, it's definitely Mary Cosby and Jen Shah. The ladies famously feuded in Season 1 when Cosby said she could smell a hospital when Shah came around. Shah felt this was insensitive because she'd recently been visiting with a sick aunt who'd been hospitalized. They clashed again when Cosby made a racist comment in the show's sophomore season, stating, "When I think about Jen, I see heartless, I see a thug. Like, you know, those Mexican people that make all those drugs," (via EW). 

With such intense run-ins, it is not terribly surprising that Cosby's disdain for Shah escalated when she was arrested and ultimately convicted for running a telemarketing scam that targeted elderly people. Even with her own unsavory remarks and controversial living circumstances, including most notably being married to her late grandmother's second husband, Cosby has remained vocal about Shah's legal troubles. In fact, the Bravolebrity feels so strongly about Shah that she would like to scrub her fellow original castmate from the show's history completely. 

"RHOSLC" is rooted in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lisa Barlow may be the only practicing Mormon on the show, but Heather Gay, Whitney Rose, and Season 4 newcomer Monica Garcia were all once a part of the LDS church at some point. Jen Shah was raised Mormon as well before converting to Islam when she got married, and Mary Cosby is Pentecostal. 

Therefore, with such a strong religious backdrop, this could be the reason why Cosby believes Shah is giving the series a bad name. During DIRECTV's Christmas party on November 30, 2023, she told Page Six, "I'm just trying to get, like, the stain off the show from her, trying to re-innovate the show." The "stain" in question was Shah being arrested on fraud charges in the middle of filming before ultimately being forced to make her exit following Season 3, which naturally gave her castmates quite a bit to talk about. 

According to Cosby, she hopes to "create a whole 'nother place [...] a safe place" amongst the cast. That does not include Shah, though there is a possibility that she could still return to "RHOSLC," even with Shah now being used as the show's scapegoat (which we're already totally over). Still, with Andy Cohen expressing support for Shah following her guilty plea, anything is possible.

In July 2022, Jen Shah pleaded guilty to the extensive fraud and money laundering charges levied against her. Her former co-star, Mary Cosby, wasted no time voicing her opinion in a quickly-deleted Instagram Story, writing, "Thou shall not steal [...] Shascamming," followed by the hashtags "#prayersanswered," "#Godsfavorite," and "#guilty," (via Reality Blurb). After Cosby scrapped the image from her profile, several "Housewives" blogs captured it and began spreading it around.

Cosby may have been vocal about Shah's criminal issues, but she has also had her own run-ins with the law. In April 2021, the church leader was charged with two class B misdemeanors after she was found to be unlawfully housing an unidentified teenager, who was seeing the "RHOLSC" star's son at the time, without the consent of their parents, per The Salt Lake Tribune. 

Cosby pleaded not guilty in June 2021, with her representative telling People, "Mary is saddened that she was dragged into another family's domestic situation but is confident that this misunderstanding will be cleared up soon." The charges were eventually dismissed in September 2022. Cosby's case may not have been as serious or highly publicized as Shah's, but it certainly did not help with the show's image, which Cosby in particular seems concerned with.