The Truth About Shannon Beador

When Shannon Beador joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Orange County in Season 9, she immediately made an impression. Both expressive and quirky, she charmed viewers with her down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is attitude. Her life has also taken many twists and turns since the start of the show — and we've been fascinated by every juicy detail. From getting an inside peek into her "non-toxic" mansion worth mega millions, to her very public and painful divorce from David Beador, fans have cheered her on season after season.

As of this writing, Shannon is both reflective of her past antics on the show, and hopeful for some exciting future endeavors. In a lot of ways, she exemplifies the journey of many women who go through divorce and come through it with flying colors. The best part is, she has been willing to share everything with her fans. Here's the truth about Shannon Beador ... as told on her own characteristically frank terms.

Sadly, the vibe between Shannon Beador and her ex-husband David Beador haven't exactly been positive since their 2017 split. As she told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live, there's "a lot of anger on one side." Yet despite the fact that they're no longer a couple, Shannon has kept David's last name, and the reality star claims this didn't exactly sit well with her ex.

Recently, she revealed on the Reality of Reality podcast with Aliza Rosen that David had asked her "on angry day" to go back to her maiden name, Storms, saying she "[didn't] live up to the name [Beador]." However, she told Rosen she's keeping the name Beador for her kids' sake, just like her own mother did after her divorce.

Since the announcement, however, Shannon did change her name to Shannon Storms Beador on social media, causing fans to speculate whether David really just wanted Shannon to drop his last name to make it easier on his future wife, if he remarries.

One thing we know for sure — Shannon Beador doesn't keep her married name for social clout. Her elite economic status actually comes from her side of the family, namely her maternal grandfather Robert Shannon, who she confirmed in a tweet was the president of I. Magnin & Company (a department store that was super huge in its day, and was later bought by Macy's in 1988). As you might have guessed, that's how she got her first name ... so if she wanted to flaunt her status, it wouldn't really matter what her last name is!

Her ex-husband, David Beador, actually took issue with her privileged upbringing in one episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County, saying that Shannon was born with a "silver spoon" in her mouth. Shannon defended herself by saying, "I did grow up privileged. I appreciate it. I"m grateful for it, but I did work." She elaborated later in the episode that David was the first in his family to go to college, while she grew up "in an affluent family." In fact, Shannon was raised in the upscale community of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., which made Forbes' annual list of the country's most expensive ZIP codes in 2015, with a median home price of $3.2 million. Yowzers.

Shannon Beador admitted on the Reality of Reality podcast with Aliza Rosen that she knows that her reality show fame won't last. "It's really scary. ... This is very real for me to say. I'm on a television show and I'm very blessed and grateful to have this opportunity, but it's not going to last forever. And ... it's not like I can knock on another network's door and say 'Pay me this amount of money.' It's not gonna happen," she confessed. To get ready for the day she no longer receives a TV salary, Beador has created her own line of diet food called "Real for Real Cuisine" with QVC — an opportunity she told Rosen has made her "a lot more confident." 

If she does ever get axed from the show, Beador vowed she'd be honest about it. When Rosen brought up a past castmate who claimed that she "chose" to leave the show despite rumors of being let go, Beador joked, "I have made it clear that I'm not going to be one of those people that says, 'Oh, I just wanted to spend more time doing [something else]. I'm gonna say, 'They effen fired me when I gave them the best years of my life!'" Then, on a serious note, she said, 'When it's time, God has a plan for me, and I'm going to walk off into the sunset."

From David Beador to David Be-Gone: Shannon Beador has officially moved on from her marriage, and, as of this writing, is dating John Janssen. The two went Instagram official in July 2019 when Shannon shared a photo of them together. RHOC co-star Tamra Judge also posted a shot of the couple making out, and even her daughter Stella commented, "cutest" on one of Shannon's pics with her new beau.

Since we know you're wondering: Just like Shannon, John is also divorced, has three kids, and graduated from the University of Southern California (even though they didn't know each other then), according to People. He's also a partner in an insurance firm. 

She's gotten cozy with others since David, but maybe this is the one? So far there's no word on that, but when asked if she'd ever get hitched again, Shannon told Entertainment Tonight that she'd "love to someday be married with someone who ... is on [her] team." She said her ideal partner is someone "kind," "smart," and who "respects [her]," but that life without marriage is also "quite refreshing."

Fans of RHOC will remember how painful things got between Shannon Beador and her ex-husband David Beador leading up to their divorce. The star said she hit "rock bottom," telling AOL: "Here I was, on top of the world, with a husband who surprised me with a [vow] renewal and then, weeks after, my marriage started to deteriorate." Shannon went on to recall how she "started to self-medicate with food and go out too much."

Basically, Shannon was trying to recover from David's well-publicized affair, but felt pressure under the spotlight of the show. She recalled to AOL: "When my husband had an affair and we worked on things, at a certain point I felt pressure that I was the poster child for a good marriage after infidelity. When things started to crumble, I worried that people were going to think I was a fraud. I wanted my marriage to work."

However, looking back, Shannon told the Reality of Reality podcast that the show actually "kept [her] married longer than [she] would have been normally." She continued, "I felt a ... I don't want to say duty, but there were a lot of women who were going through what I was going through at the same time that would reach out — thousands of women — and I wanted to be supportive. I wanted to give everybody hope. I didn't want to throw in the towel. For myself and for everybody else."

"I hate being the reactive person, but somehow I am year after year," Shannon Beador told AOL. The star has had her share of meltdowns on the show, notably when she screamed at Kelly Dodd and flipped her the bird. Still, she told her castmates on Season 13 that she's "working so hard on being non-reactive," despite being frustrated by everyone constantly asking, "Are you okay?" She also vented in an exclusive to All Things Real Housewives, "If I hear the frickin' word crazy one more time ... it's just not nice!"

Beador told the Reality by Reality podcast that her on-air tizzies leave her mortified: "I come home and I cry for like two weeks ... because I'm embarrassed that I reacted, and oh my gosh, now it's on film and everyone's going to see it." 

Interestingly, new cast members of the show have often egged her on. She told AOL: "With Kelly Dodd, it was like, 'Hi, how are you?' and then bam: 'No wonder your husband cheated on you,' 'Eat up!'" I could go on, but we actually are friends now, ... But yeah, I think that some of them came guns a-blazing for me. Ahem, Lydia!" Or Meghan King Edmonds, for that matter. Who can forget her first year on the show, when she accused Beador of having "judgy eyes?"

Documents obtained by Us Weekly showed that Shannon Beador receives $10,000 a month in support from her ex-husband, David Beador. It sounds like a lot, but the final divorce settlement was way lower than the monthly $22,500 he was reportedly paying in a temporary settlement before. However, she's also got a $1.4 million payout to even out their property wealth. 

Earlier in 2019, when David was trying to fight the $22,500 monthly payment, he filed documents (via The Blast) claiming he believed Shannon made $1.4 million in 2018 while he only made $495,000. Shannon then filed her own documents in response, claiming that her monthly bills are even higher than the $22,500 (more like $30,000!). In her documents, she listed her expenses, which included spending "$12,000 on rent, $2,300 on groceries, $1,625 on eating out, $5,000 on education for their kids and $5,000 on entertainment/vacations." 

During a scene from the Mexico trip episode on RHOC, Shannon Beador revealed that she wears two layers of Spanx — a tank top and high-waisted shorts. Covered from her chest to her thighs, she obviously means business! But how does she still breathe, you might wonder? That unfortunately remains a mystery.

When asked by podcaster Aliza Rosen if she "still wears full-body Spanx," Beador replied, "Yes ma'am ... I wear about two a day. And you know what the thing is, I was wearing Spanx when I first started the show and was 118 pounds. It just smoothes you out!" She did confirm she doesn't sleep in Spanx, though. 

Beador gained 40 pounds back in 2017 due to stress, so maybe the Spanx boosted her confidence back then. However, she definitely doesn't need them as of this writing, since she's officially lost the weight since her divorce. The proud owner of a new bangin' bod, Beador said on Watch What Happens Live that she even flashed her abs to her ex-husband ... presumably Spanx-free. She told host Andy Cohen: "I lifted up my Cut Fitness shirt, I go, 'Take a look at this!' I don't know why I did it! And [her daughters] Stella and Adeline were in the car and they go, 'Mom, wow!'" As for her ex's reaction, Beador says he simply congratulated her.

Shannon Beador, along with castmates Vicki Gunvalson and Tamra Judge, are known for their wild antics — and their Season 13 girls' trip to Mexico didn't disappoint. In fact, they had such a good time (15 tequila shots in one night!) that Shannon said that she doesn't even recall everything. Before the episode aired, she told Bravo's The Daily Dish podcast, "We're all looking forward to seeing what we did, because we don't remember."

Afterward, she told podcaster Aliza Rosen that the show's crew helped get her up to speed. "Production the next day said, 'That taco stand was pretty cool.' And I go, 'I didn't go to a taco stand," and they're like, 'Yeah, you did.'" Calling the whole thing "sloppy," the star said at one point, she also spoke effortless Spanish. "Somehow, some way, when I got that tequila in me, I could speak fluent Spanish. So Vicki's like, 'Who put a quarter in you?' ... I was talking to the medic [presumably referring to Tamra breaking her foot that night], saying, 'Put her in a boot, she'll be fine.'" 

Beador also said (via Bravo) that even though some details were a little hazy, she was "grateful" for the experience. "Watching back the ugly parts of a boozy night is uncomfortable and not the most fun. But at the same time, I laughed out loud as I was reminded of some of the events of the trip." 

As soon as Shannon Beador joined RHOC, she became known for her near obsession with protecting her family from toxins, particularly radiation. She actually hired a "green consultant" to help her detoxify her home, and even had "an electromagnetic radiation meter" installed in her home back in 2014 (via Bravo). So, it wasn't surprising when she also delayed getting her kids cellphones because she was afraid of what it would do to their brains. In one of her earliest appearances on the series, Beador said, "I have seen countless reports that state that when you put a cellphone to your head, you're radiating your brain. I might be wrong, but from what I know, it's not good for you."

By 2017, it was clear she hadn't changed. When one of her daughters injured her wrist in basketball game and ended up in the ER, Beador had no qualms about barging into the room where her daughter was being treated to make sure the X-rays weren't harmful. She posted on Instagram in reference to her daughter: "She was not happy that I️ came in the X-ray room at the urgent care, but wanted to make sure they used a low radiation!"

At 55, Shannon Beador has a brand new look physically, but in other parts of her life, she's been a little old school. Take, for instance, her classic home decor style: In a video tour of the home she shared with her ex-husband, she described her 6-foot Baccarat crystal chandeliers gilded in gold, as well as her antique furniture, complete with ornate details. 

She defended the traditional aesthetic against a comment apparently made by castmate Heather Dubrow in her very first blog post for Bravo, writing: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and clearly a traditional home does not mesh with Heather's style, but I personally associate traditional design aesthetic as timeless, classic, and elegant. I am proud of my "grandma" style because it does remind me of my grandmother, who was a woman of impeccable taste." In June 2019, however, Beador moved into a brand new pad to start her new life as a single woman — so we'll see if she keeps her old fashioned taste or goes for an upgrade!

Documents obtained by Radar Online show that in 2003, Shannon Beador's ex-husband, David Beador, was "charged with assault and battery 'against a cohabitant,'" which resulted in a restraining order. Shannon has vehemently denied there was ever any abuse, despite reports that David "completed three years of informal probation, 10 days in a work program, [and] a voluntary batterer's treatment program." Instead, she said she called the police to stop a verbal argument, saying (via Star), "I just thought that if I called the police, the fight would end. We've moved on; it's over and done." 

According to People, castmate Vicki Gunvalson fueled speculation that Shannon was abused by David, claiming she had "pictures" to prove it, which the tab speculated "could have been" photos from an unrelated incident that "Shannon showed Andy Cohen during the RHOC Season 11 reunion." During that same reunion, Shannon insisted, "I would never stay in a marriage if I were beat up. I would never teach that to my children." Shannon then laid into Gunvalson for giving life to the rumors, saying (via E! Online), "What you have done — now this is on the show and it's in the universe, and there will be people who will go up to my children and say, 'Your father beats your mother.' You're despicable. I will never, ever speak to you again."  However, the two later rekindled their friendship on Season 13, when they took a girls' trip to Mexico.