Heather Gay was finally forced to address her mysterious black eye during part 1 of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City reunion on Wednesday night. The only problem was, she still had no answers.
"I don't know how I got the black eye," the 40-year-old told Andy Cohen and her fellow costars. "I blacked out. I don't know what happened. ... I cannot speak to anything other than I walked to my room and I blacked out and I woke up with a black eye."
Earlier this season, Heather stunned her castmates when, after a late night of partying with Jen Shah, 49, and Meredith Marks, 51, in San Diego, she showed up with the shiner on her left eye.
The mark — which Heather said at the reunion took 10 days to clear up — remained an ongoing topic of conversation for the rest of the season and on social media, as the Salt Lake City Housewives and fans alike debated what could have caused it.
Heather's story wavered throughout. The morning after, she said she knew what happened but was waiting for the person in the group to come forward. "I think we all know what happened, I just think we don't want to talk about it," Heather told cousin Whitney Rose, 36, after the incident.
But the Bad Mormon author was also sometimes vague, telling others she couldn't say for sure what occurred and that she did not want to talk about it.
At the reunion, Heather clarified why she didn't just admit outright that she was clueless as to what caused the injury.
"I thought if maybe they knew, somebody would maybe say something," Heather said, adding that she "started to remember" some things as the days went on and was trying to piece the truth together herself. "I thought, 'Some people here knows.' ... I assumed when I was on the show with cameras and cast, that somebody would give me the trigger that would make me remember. And I still don't know; I still don't know how I got it."
She also said that she didn't want to tell everyone the truth because she feared her costars could create a new story. "I was scared that they would re-write the narrative in a way," Heather said. "If I said I didn't know, then they could say anything they wanted."
It was also revealed that an investigation was launched by Bravo, but that it didn't bring about any clarification — Cohen saying "there was no additional footage" from the evening.
But the investigation itself created its own problems, Lisa Barlow, 48, reminding Heather that " caused so much damage" to all parties involved, who had to stay up late and figure out what happened.
"When production came in my room, I told them, I said, 'I had no idea,'" Heather recalled. "I said I have no memory and then it spun out of control after that and I take full responsibility and I'm really sorry."
Asked by Lisa why she didn't just say her memory was foggy from the booze filled night, Heather got emotional.
"It was humiliating," Heather said through tears. "I don't want to get drunk and blackout and have no memory of it. It was terrifying and it was humiliating. For me, I have a lot of Mormon shame about drinking."
Andy noted to Heather that it looked as if she was "assaulted," which she agreed.
Many have speculated that Jen, who at the time was on trial for her involvement in a telemarketing and fraud scheme, was "guilty too" and might have been the one behind the injury. She was seen partying with Jen late in the evening, and was the first person Heather called that morning when she woke up.
"I trusted her the most," Heather said, explaining that she initially called Jen to help her come up with "a cover story" while she tried to figure out what happened.
Was she to blame? "I think we joked about it," Heather remembered. "I don't know. This is why I didn't want to have these questions. I don't know how I got the black eye."
"If I knew Jen did that, I would cover it up, but that was not my intention," Heather added. "I was blacked out. Anything could've happened. I still don't know how it happened."
Jen may have been a hot topic at the reunion, but Heather's BFF was noticeably absent. Andy told viewers she was invited, but her legal team advised her not to come due to her case.
"I think she was a big part of the season so it'll be a big void," Heather said.
While not on the couch, Jen's presence was most definitely still there. At one point in the reunion, Meredith picked up the phone to give Jen a call after Lisa said Jen told the ladies that she and Meredith took the sedative pills Ketamine together, a claim Jen denied on speaker.
"It's pretty vile — it's called slander," Meredith said of Lisa calling her a pill popper.
"You're going to believe this over me? I'm not going to jail," Lisa fired back at Meredith.
Part 2 of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City reunion airs on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.