In some unexpected news for Real Housewives of Salt Lake City fans, Whitney Rose has given an update on her relationship with her father. Viewers may recall meeting Steve Lesh back in Season 1, just before he and his daughter had (another) falling out.
See, the RHOSLC Season 4 reunion took an unexpected turn during Part 2. Given everything that Monica Garcia and her mom, Linda Darnell, had been through in Season 4, she felt the need to discuss their growing estrangement.
Monica’s words prompted Whitney and Heather Gay to spare some empathy, opening up about their relationships with their parents. On top of sharing an update on her father, Whitney also explained how she got on better terms with her mom again.
How Whitney’s relationship with her mom changed
After Monica shared her piece about Linda, Whitney opened up. “Even with my own father, Monica, it took watching for certain things to trigger in my brain of [I can’t accept this],” she explained. At that point, Andy Cohen asked about where she was with her mother. Whitney prefaced her comments by saying, “This might make me cry.”
She said, “There was a good decade where — and [I’m] sorry Mom, because we’re in such a better place now, but I have to speak the truth. There [were] birthdays where my mom didn’t even text me, or Christmases, and that was very hard.” That would likely be hard on anyone.
But things were much better now. As Whitney explained, “Having a toxic father and then not a relationship with my mom, for us to be able now to work on it, build on it, and, like, she texts me about the show and all the time how she’s proud of me.”
But how did the reconciliation come about? Whitney said, “We finally were able to have a very honest conversation about my childhood, and a big factor was removing my father.” And speaking of Steve, Whitney plainly said she was not in touch. “It’s just not a relationship that I can open that door. I can’t, and he’s avoiding me as well.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City Season 4 Reunion Part 3 airs Tuesday, January 23 at 8/7c on Bravo.
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