Trigger warning for addiction and mental health. 

While the episodes that aired this week had quite a few heavy moments, the outside stuff happening in the Bravoverse was light and fun – and of course, chaotic. Andy posed one of the ‘messiest questions’, asking Porsha who she would shag, marry and kill between Cynthia’s exes. John Janssen gave an in-depth interview about the night of Shannon’s DUI, which explains why he may not have been on board with the non-disparagement agreement. Lisa Barlow tried her hand at djing. There’s some weird soft-swinging lesbian drama going on in Utah with the Mormon women. And as it turns out, Kathy Hilton might just be a good sister after all. 

 

Lastly, the WickedxReal Housewives edits are literally the best thing to grace the internet in a very long time.

Mary and her son Robert Jr. have a powerful conversation about his substance abuse

I think it’s fair to say that the conversation that took place between Mary and her son this week on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was one of the most powerful conversations in the history of Real Housewives, if not the most powerful dialogue we’ve ever seen be exchanged.

It’s been clear all season long that Mary is very concerned about her son, Robert Jr. And when she pays a visit to his room to have a conversation with him about what’s been going on in his life, he truly bared it all. And so did she.

 

Robert reveals that he’s been taking Xanax. She asks why, and he explains that he’s been having issues sleeping, so he sometimes mixes pills like Adderall and Xanax together to balance out the effects. She asks if he’s unhappy, to which he responds that without drugs, life is like “chicken unseasoned”, and drugs add seasoning to it. This simple explanation – one not linked to a unique, individual trauma, but instead a very general feeling so many might have, really helps the audience understand how everyday people get caught up in the dark underbelly of experimentation and addiction. 

 

She asks when he started and he explains that at age 16, he first started with marijuana before moving on to pills, then acid, molly and cocaine, and oxy. He describes there being a point in time where he would take 10 at a time and not being able to feel it. Mary listens, tearfully, offering no judgement, but all the help she can, saying she refuses to support his habit. 

“I just feel very disappointed with myself, I feel like I let him down somewhere. I’m very aware and I did know Robert would smoke weed and eat edibles. But I just trusted him in my mind and thought that’s where he would stop. I missed the mark,” she said in a confessional.

She reminds him that a lot of people don’t wake up, and it’s clear she’s referring to people with potentially lethal drug addictions. Robert admits that there were moments he wanted to die, moments he “felt like a stain” and like the world wasn’t for him. Mary tries to explain the impact his death would have on her and thanks him for not giving up. Then, she tells him this:

“You’re my friend. You’re my son.”

 

There was something about her calling him her friend before she called him her son that really hit me. Because a friend is someone you choose to love, a family member or relative is someone you’re expected to love. And sometimes, for someone who struggles with addiction, the reminder that people love you out of choice and not obligation can be so powerful.

Mary is a very religious person, and sometimes, religion can come with a lot of judgement. But as she listened to her son detail his drug use, it was clear that there truly was no judgement. Pain, sure, and boundless love, but no judgement. And the fact that he was able to be so open and honest with her was a testament to the nature of their relationship. 

Substance abuse is not spoken about enough in general, let alone in marginalized communities, and particularly in religious communities. So for him to be baring it all in front of cameras in an American city with some of the strongest, most historical ties to a church was incredibly powerful, just as much as it was to see her listen to and support her son, despite the very visible pain it’s caused her.

 

Mary received a huge outpouring of support immediately following this episode. Fans, celebrities and Bravopersonalities alike flooded her social media sending her love, prayers and praise for her and her son’s vulnerability. The impact this scene will have on families who have been affected by addiction is indescribable. 

Erin shares her abortion story with her dad

This week, Erin sits down with Jenna and the pair discuss an upcoming Glamour interview Erin has been asked to do against the backdrop of a particularly volatile time for women’s health and body autonomy. Erin is friends with Samantha Barry, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, and having shared her story with her about getting an abortion when she was 18, Samantha invites her to share her story with the magazine, too. But ahead of the interview coming out, Erin knows she has to tell her dad. Despite the pair’s closeness, this is something they have yet to discuss. 

Just as she did with Samantha, in front of cameras and lights, Erin sits her dad down at a bagel shop and she looks petrified. But at her dad’s urging, she releases her fear and begins telling him the story of being 18, just starting college, and discovering that she was pregnant. She describes going online, looking for a clinic and going there by herself, saying that she was terrified of telling him at the time. But in true girl dad fashion, he says he would’ve supported her. 

 

Those of us lucky enough to have truly dependable dads know the nature of the tears that fell from her eyes after that revelation. They weren’t sad tears, they weren’t tears of regret, they were the kind of tears that come with the realization that you are loved. Unconditionally.

“The fact that there’s zero judgement on his face is the best part,” she said in a confessional. 

Later on in that confessional, she describes not being aware of just how much it had weighed on her that she had kept this secret from him for all these years, so you really come to understand and appreciate the relief she clearly felt after having this conversation with him.

But there are two things that make this scene powerful. The first is her revelation that when she told her mom, years after the fact, her mom revealed that she, too, needed an abortion when she was younger. And when she asks her dad if he’s ever been through it, he revealed that he had, when he was younger, too.

The second thing, though, is that Erin’s dad had been battling some health issues in the weeks leading up to this scene, and he ended up passing away four months after this conversation. To cameras, she just so accurately conveyed the grief, celebration, and gratitude that can coexist in the loss of a truly amazing and supportive parent. And…Erin recently announced that she’s pregnant with her fourth child.