“What's so difficult is that it’s, like, we're in a vortex where all of the hate is based on things that aren't true,” John, 62, exclusively told Us at the Us Weekly + Pluto TV Reality Stars of the Year Party at Los Angeles’ Dream Hotel on Thursday, October 10. “And me having no voice has been very difficult.”
He added, “Then, Lex feels the responsibility to try and help me and then she gets criticized for that. It's a tough no-win deal.”
Alexis, 47, meanwhile, chimed in, adding that the couple is “in a no-win situation."
“It's OK 'cause now it's done,” Alexis told Us during Thursday’s party. “We can close that door and open the door to the wedding.”
Alexis Bellino and John Janssen, Shannon Beador.
Alexis and John were first linked in late 2023, less than one year after he split from Shannon, 60. After going public with their romance and getting engaged earlier this year, Alexis rejoined the cast of RHOC as a friend after her initial season 8 exit in 2013.
Throughout the currently airing season 18, she was at odds with Shannon over her relationship with John. The exes are also currently involved in a lawsuit after Shannon allegedly refused to pay back John the $75,000 he had spent on her previous facelift. Shannon initially agreed to give John half of the amount but changed her mind after learning he had damning footage from her September 2023 DUI arrest. When Shannon offered to pay the sum in exchange for signing a non-disparagement clause, he refused.
“I am the one that has the videos and nothing has ever come outta my mouth that I was ever gonna show them to anybody,” John stated on Thursday. “That was never a possibility.”
He also posited that Alexis “regrets” mentioning the videos’ existence on the show.
“I thought I [spoke about the videos] off-camera. Like, you film for 12 hours and I was with my good girlfriends,” Alexis explained. “You think you do something and then it's like, ‘Oh shoot, the cameras were rolling. I didn't even remember that.’ I told friends about them off-camera, I thought. And so, it is what it is, but I don't really have any regrets 'cause the truth is the truth and we have truth on our side.”
Alexis Bellino and John Janssen attend Us Weekly And Pluto TV's: Reality TV Stars Of The Year at The Highlight Room on October 10, 2024.
After Alexis was asked if she had “empathy” for Shannon amid the ordeal, she questioned whether “anyone [has] empathy” for her.
“What about me? I had to be on a show just lost my mom [and] wasn't eating, wasn't sleeping, was barely getting out of bed, filmed a show and still put on my big girl panties to go film with his ex-girlfriend, which is just as hard,” Alexis, whose mother Penelope died earlier this year after a lengthy health battle, said. “I'm tired of hearing about that. I have sympathy for her, but at the same time it's, like, I had to do a really fricking hard job and I got beat down the entire season.”
John, for his part, alleged that Shannon is “masterful at eliciting sympathy that she doesn't deserve.” He quipped, “I know I'll take heat for that, but it's the truth.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County airs on Bravo Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
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