RHOC Star Accepts ‘Mean Girl’ Label in Response to Co-Stars’ Relationship Claims

“The Real Housewives of Orange County” season 18 has started, and the drama has already heated up between longtime Housewife Shannon Beador and returning RHOC star Alexis Bellino, who rejoins the cast as a Friend of the Housewives.

Bellino, who is dating Beador’s ex John Janssen, took to social media on July 13 with a response to Beador telling People Magazine that she and Janssen had dated in 2023 prior to Beador’s hit-and-run DUI in September 2023.

“I know whatever I’ll write, I’ll be painted as the mean girl, but I’ll gladly take the public beating if it will calm the Storms,” Bellino wrote over a screenshot of the People headline. “Shannon, your obsession with John needs to end. I know my relationship with John has been a saving grace for you, as you have been eagerly mentioning our names in every interview in an effort to bypass all accountability for your arrest. I ask you with all sincerity to please stop exploiting us in your manipulative sympathy tour. John and I just want to live happily in peace, and we wish you the same.”

Bellino added a soundtrack to her post, with Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” playing under her message.

Shannon Beador Claims She & John Janssen Secretly Continued Dating After Their Initial Split

Bellino’s comments come after Beador told People that she and Janssen rekindled their friendship after he “blindsided” her by ending their romantic relationship in late 2022.

“For about six months, he dated someone else and I dated someone else but after that, we reconnected,” Beador shared. “Both of us told everyone, ‘No, we’re not back together,’ but we were acting like we were back together. I think deep down, he and I both knew that it was never going to work. So, I wouldn’t say we were back together publicly, but we were together privately, for about six months.”

Janssen shared his side of the story with People as well, saying, “Several months after our break-up, I attempted a friendship with Shannon. As we both privately agreed and publicly declared, there was never an intent to rekindle our relationship. Any suggestion that we were back together as a couple is a mischaracterization of the situation.”

When Did Alexis Bellino & John Janssen Start Dating?

While Beador and Janssen continued some kind of relationship after ceasing dating, they’ve stopped interacting publicly since Beador’s September 2023 DUI (In the RHOC premiere, Beador shared that she had driven to Janssen’s house and gotten into an argument with him prior to her accident). Since ending his relationship with Beador, Janssen and Bellino connected and began their own relationship very quickly.

As Bellino shared in the RHOC premiere, “November 18 is the day that John Janssen walked into my life. I met John at [The] Quiet Woman — Shannon does not own Quiet Woman, I’ve been going there for two decades, but anywho — John walks in and ends up sitting at my booth. We tried to fight the feelings. After week two, John and I knew. That was it. I don’t know Shannon, not friends with Shannon, and unfortunately, your heart wants what it wants. And here we are, take us or leave us.”

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Henry Sinnott is an entertainment reporter who covers HGTV, The Voice, American Idol and Teen Mom for Heavy. Henry is based in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Binghamton University. He loves all things comedy and reality TV. More about Henry Sinnott