Jen Shah opened up about her fraud crimes and her 6.5-year jail time period in an interview carried out simply earlier than she surrendered to jail final Friday.
Hours earlier than the beginning of her sentence, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City forged member admitted to feeling a way of aid as she embarked on her time away from her household, together with husband Sharrieff “Coach” Shah and sons Sharrieff Shah Jr. and Omar Shah. She additionally appeared again on the second she realized she had carried out mistaken and teased her potential return to leisure.
“What I fear that most is that transition of not being able to hug and kiss my husband and my boys every day, and my mom,” Jen revealed throughout her February 17 interview with White Collar Advice. “But at the same time … I also feel hopeful and motivated to do a good job and make the most of my time away.”
According to Jen, she skilled “so much ambiguity” all through the investigation towards her. So, now that she lastly is aware of what’s “happening tomorrow,” she feels “a sense of relief.”
“I’m going to be able to put the past behind me and finally start truly healing and forging a new path,” she defined.
Recalling her March 2021 arrest, Jen mentioned her quick response was, “They must have the wrong person. They must have this all wrong. I didn’t do anything.”
“I was in complete denial at that time and for a long time throughout the process because I truly believed and was telling myself that I’m not guilty of these things that they’re accusing me of,” she admitted. “It was like I was in this tunnel and I was only seeing what I wanted to see.”
“I was lying to myself because I didn’t want to accept that I had done these things or that I had hurt anybody,” Jen continued. “I was lying to myself and telling myself what I wanted to hear … That wasn’t supposed to be my reality and that thinking fostered more bad decisions for me throughout the legal process.”
While Jen spent over a yr in denial, she in the end fessed as much as her errors with a responsible plea in July 2022, simply earlier than she was set to go to trial.
“The biggest thing for me was seeing an actual list of victim names,” she shared. “It became a reality for me at that point that there were actually people hurt from this … And that’s when I had to make the hardest decision of my life … I had to sit there and say, ‘I have to do the right thing now.’”
Looking again, Jen mentioned pleading responsible “was the hardest decision,” explaining that it took her so lengthy to take action as a result of her expertise was “really a journey and a process.”
“Because of the lie I was telling myself, and until I could come out from under that lie and see it, I couldn’t change anything else and I was never going to hold myself accountable or admit guilt,” she famous.
As she ready to start her sentence, Jen mentioned she was bringing simply two issues together with her to verify in: the Koran and an 18-page launch plan that may assist her “stay on track.”
“I’m going to be documenting and updating, [and] journaling my process. I want people to hold me accountable. I plan on publishing parts of the release plan [and] sharing it with everyone on the website,” she revealed. “I plan on spending the early morning time writing, reading … doing book reports … I’m trying to read to gain value and apply it, exercising, working on the release plan.”
In addition to wanting to offer again and assist different ladies, Jen mentioned {that a} large a part of her launch plan is repaying the victims.
“It’s voluntary. But for me, I wanted to make it mandatory,” she said. “I put an amount in that I’m going to be paying and I put it in there because once it’s in my plan, that’s going to hold me accountable.”
Jen additionally hopes to proceed working with the National Tongan American Society and return to leisure.
“[I’m hoping to get] back to where I’m back in the entertainment industry and doing it in a way where I am affecting positive change and aligning with the goals that I’ve laid out,” she defined.
In closing, Jen mentioned, “I’m sorry for letting the victims down and I want to, from this point forward, prove worthy. I want to make each victim whole. I want to prove worthy of the support that Sharrieff and Omar and Sharrieff Jr. and my mom, my brothers and sisters, have shown me throughout this journey.”
“It’s not just talk. I’m going to show you through my actions and through hard work,” she added.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season 4 reportedly started filming earlier this month.
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